Arizona Coyotes would get a second chance with new postseason format

It could have been the greatest season in Arizona Coyotes franchise history. At least a 24 team playoffs gives them a chance to fight for the Stanley Cup.

To put it bluntly, several indicators point to the Arizona Coyotes historically being one of the NHL’s worst teams. These indicators are playoff performance. For example, they are the last remaining WHA turned NHL franchise to never have won a Stanley Cup and the only teams that have been in the league for as long as they have (entering as the Winnipeg Jets in the 1979-1980 season) that have yet to win a cup are the Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres.

Several other teams have yet to win a Stanley Cup, but the Coyotes remain the oldest to not even make a Stanley Cup Final. The farthest the team ever got was reaching the Western Conference final in 2012. The team has yet to return to the playoffs since that season.

This season was supposed to be different, though. General Manager Jason Chayka spent years slowly building a roster and it was finally starting to pay off as the Coyotes narrowly missed making the playoffs in 2018-2019.

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The off season saw a trade for Phil Kessel from the Pittsburgh Penguins in an attempt to bolster the team’s weak power play that cost them a playoff spot a year before. Although that was nothing compared to when the Coyotes acquired Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall midseason, giving Arizona a true superstar in his prime.

The Coyotes may not have been Stanley Cup favorites, but they were Pacific Division favorites, and almost guaranteed a playoff spot for the first time in eight years. Unfortunately for Arizona, anyone who could get injured mostly got injured, turning the team’s fortunes for the worst.

While not Hall’s fault, the Coyotes downward trend sized up perfectly with his arrival, with fans jokingly taking notice of the “Taylor Hall curse” that saw the star winger only reach the playoffs once in his entire career.

The Coyotes may not be dead and buried, but as of the season’s stoppage, they sit two points back of the West’s last Wild card spot. All three teams in front of them, including holders of the last Wild Card, the Nashville Predators, have a game in hand. They finally got star net minder Darcy Kuemper back after being out with an injury since December, but he lost two of his last three starts.

There is, however, some good news for the Coyotes. The NHL seems to be leaning toward an expanded NHL playoffs with 24 teams when the season resumes. Although the NHL has yet to specify how they will determine the 24 teams, with their 33-29-8 record, the Coyotes should be a safe bet.

Anything less of a playoff spot would be a disappointment for the Coyotes since season. Even though they were still in the mix, time and the teams ahead of them became their enemy. The Coyotes playoff hopes would be bailed out by a 24 team playoff. “Bail out” may sound like something you say for lack of a better word, but here it is the perfect word. The little team that could needs all the help it can get here before Taylor Hall hits the free agent market July 1st.

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Coyotes right now are a team playing with a modest goal: to play one more day. They’re not thinking ahead of winning the Stanley Cup, they’re thinking of that first step to make the playoffs. Those shortsighted goals give you a chance to move forward. Is that not the mindset the St. Louis Blues had last year in their astonishing worst to first turnaround? The Coyotes need to find a way to play one more day, and the 24 team playoff will let them do that.

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