Coyotes seson preview - Who let the Desert Dogs out?

[HalifaxDrunk]

Welcome to Arizona, it's a Dog Eat Dog League!


After missing the post season in 2005/06 and then stung by the disappointment of last spring's early exit in the first round of the CPHL Playoffs, the Phoenix Coyotes have spent the summer remodeling a lineup that delivered 94 points last year. Resigning UFAs was the name of the game, re-inking Mats Sundin, Michal Handzus, Pavel Kubina & Chris Neil were the cornerstones for this season.


Some of GM Drunk's renovations have been forced upon him, such as the free-agent defections Mike Johnson, & Sandis Ozolinsh (Yeah, like we wanted him back anyway). Others, meanwhile, have been self-imposed, such as the trade of starting goaltender Curtis Joseph to Colorado in exchange for winger Josef Vasicek and back-up goalie Yan Danis, the move shaved a multitude of millions from the Yotes cap. Rather then lose free agent Radim Vrbata for nothing GM Drunk traded him to San Jose for 24 year old defenseman Milan Jurcina. Drunk also trimmed forwards Serge Aubin, Andreas Johansson and Ramzi Abid, while adding free agent Ronald Petrovicky.


The result, however, leaves the Coyotes in position to once again be among the playoff hunt in the Howe Conference as the core of the team remains intact.


Plus, the team still has goalie Vesa Toskala, considered by many to be among the game's future elite goalies. Toskala backed up Joesph last season, but is ready to take on full time keeper duties. Vesa posted a 16-7-3 record last season with a 2.87 GAA and 2 shutouts. The team has high hopes that new backup goalie Danis can shoulder the load when called upon.


The defensive core will remain the big question mark this season. The Coyotes may not have a huge “stud” d-man but hope to compete by committee. Filip Kuba, Paval Kubina, Colin White and Brett Clark can expect lots of ice time this season.


The coyotes have announced that Mats Sundin will continue to wear the “C” this year with Filip Kuba and Jamie Langenbrunner named as the teams assistant captains.

All in all, the floor plan remains in place for resigned coach Claude Julien to once again steer the Coyotes into the playoffs.


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2007/07 Team Calendars





Overwhelming early bird sales of the 2007/08 Coyote team calendar sold out (45,000 copies) in 15 minutes last week. Due to the popularity an additional 15,000 calendars will be released this week. The Coyotes will also present the first 6,000 fans to our home season opener with a collector’s edition of the calendar signed by the entire team.


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New Team Mascots


Finally the Team would like to introduce our newest family additions. We are pleased to present five team mascots for the 2007/08 season. Please welcome our newest Desert Dogs, 5 yellow Labs have been adopted by the team and will play a prominent role this year in the press (pre & post game reports).





Now it’s up to you to name them. Please suggest names in the thread and a poll will eventually be created to name the mascots.

[Sylvanfan]

Cool calender. Are the dogs all male or is it a mix of Males and Females? Name one Chief....in honor of the Kansas City Chiefs

[RT14]

Two suggestions I'll make is Xiao Mi (Shao Me) and Xiao Mai (Shao My). I had two dogs in China, one of which is no longer with us and those were their names. Xiao Mi means Little Rice in Chinese and Xiao Mai means Little Wheat, representing China and Canada. Xiao Mai is the one that is gone now, so if you could atleast use his name in all this it would be pretty cool on your part. Thanks, and nice job on the preview and photoshop skills!

[HalifaxDrunk]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Are the dogs all male or is it a mix of Males and Females?

Sorry, 3 males and 2 females.

[HelloHockeyFans]

I like "Yoti".

[Sylvanfan]

Name one of the broads Oprah....call the other one Becky

[Hanna Sniper]

Name them after George Foreman's kids

George
George
George
George
Georgina

[flambers]

Great job!!

[Slava]

Great write up. I am looking forward to the pre and post game reports already!

[Goffie]

Great write up, looking forward to another year of your posts!!

[HalifaxDrunk]

Ok, so far the mascot name suggestions are as follows.

Chief
Xiao Mi (Shao Me)
Xiao Mai (Shao My)
Yoti
Oprah
Becky
George
Georgina

Is that it? No other GMs have a suggestion? No name is too dumb, or silly. Come on help me name the Coyote mascots! I have a few suggestions but will wait to add them to the list until all others are submitted.

[simmer2]

I've been lurking on the CPHL for a while now. I'm a big GM junkie, so I really enjoy this kind of thing.

Anyways, my suggestion would be Oleg, to honour a former Flame and Coyote great......

[Sylvanfan]

Hey, he's got 7 goals already this year for CSKA Moscow or whoever he signed with. He is a legend!

[notoepik]

Name the girls Stella (Stella Artois) and Amber (O'Doul's Amber for me )

Boys- Buzzard Breath, Alexander Keiths, and Moose Drool

[notoepik]

BTW Oprah and Becky are not dog names at least Becky isn't!