Coyotes in the Final Stretch

HWB is reaching out to local fans bringing their thoguhts and opinions about their home team to HWB readers. Here is one of them from guest writer Jenna @ Hipchecks.com.

The Coyotes were on an eight game win streak until they went up against Tampa Bay. That was an 8-3 loss followed by a 5-3 loss to Columbus. The Coyotes have not had a three game losing streak this season and I am hoping this will not be the start of said streak. I am pretty confident that they can, and will, bounce back against Chicago Sunday night.

I truly believe the Coyotes are still alive and well despite the recent setbacks. They were first in the Pacific division for awhile (and are only 3 points behind the Sharks) and are fourth in the West. Those two ugly losses came at a time when the Coyotes were short four key players.

Upshall had been suspended for those two games while Whitney, Aucoin and Jovanovski were all on injured reserve. As much as I like to make fun of these three, it could be a real blow to the team if they are all out any sort of time. It appears that Aucoin and Whitney may be ready to return to the ice as Yonkman and MacLean have been sent back to San Antonio. There is nothing confirming this on the Coyotes website but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them back soon. As far as Jovanovski is concerned, he will be out for the rest of the season and into the playoffs. He suffered a broken orbital bone in the game against the Thrashers. Jovo gets big minutes and this is a loss that could change the Coyotes plans going forward, such as the trade deadline.

The Coyotes haven’t been too active in trades this season and probably won’t do much come Monday but the loss of Jovo has opened up the possibility. I am sure that GM Don Maloney is working hard to make a trade with what he has to work with but it seems most teams might not be willing to do too much with the playoff race as tight as it is. Another hurdle for Maloney is the ownership situation. It seems we are on the right track for Hulsizer to acquire the team but it has yet to happen. Does Hulsizer have any say in the trade deadline or is it up to the NHL still at this point? We may never know but we all hope this saga is over soon. We want Hulsizer and so it seems the players do too. If you don’t follow Scottie Upshall on twitter, he made some very impassioned points about Hulsizer and keeping the team in Glendale Saturday night.

If you would like to write a guest article about your home team, please contact any member of the HWB team and we would be happy to make that possible.

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