Phoenix Coyotes: 5-2-0 10 pts
Key Wins: 3-0 over Pittsburgh (Penguins only loss thus far), 1-0 and 3-2 over San Jose, 4-0 over Boston
With an off-season of highly publicized turmoil surrounding the front office woes and the Jim Balsillie bid for the team, not much was expected out of the team from the majority of the outsider opinions. Add in the resignation of one of the game's greatest players in Wayne Gretzky from his head coaching position, and expectation were lowered even further. In steps former Dallas coach Dave Tippett to fill the coaching void and bring a new attitude to the team.
| Category | Stat | NHL Rank | Leading… | Stat | Player |
| Goals per game | 2.43 | 20th | Scorer (Points) | 6 (1 G, 5 A) | Shane Doan |
| Goals Against per game | 1.43 | 1st | +/- | +4 | Aucoin/Vandermeer |
| Power play | 20.6% | 17th | Hits | 17 | James Vandermeer |
| Penalty kill | 84% | 11th | PIM | 23 | Martin Hanzal |
| Shots per game | 30.7 | 17th | Shots | 32 | Ratim Vrbata |
| Shots against per game | 26.9 | 6th | Blocked Shots | 9 | Aucoin/Jovanovski |
| Faceoff percentage | 52.8% | 7th | Faceoffs | 61.7% | Vernon Fiddler |
| PIM per game | 11.9 | 13th | Wins | 5 | Ilya Bryzgalov |
| PP drawn | 34 | 10th | GAA | 1.14 | Ilya Bryzgalov |
Ilya Bryzgalov has found a home in Phoenix as the starting goalie and has proved he is more than capable. He can shut the door on the best of teams on any given night and its helps that the defense around him is limiting the number of shots he has to face. With a good faceoff percentage and a tough defense, the Coyotes present real problems for this Red Wings team.
Players to watch on offense: Shane Doan, Peter Mueller, Petr Prucha
Players to watch on defense: Ed Jovanovski, Adrian Aucoin
Five For Howling is the SBNation affiliate for the Coyotes. Check 'em out.
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