Arizona Coyotes: 5 burning questions for 2018-19 season
By Nick McAdam
The 2018-19 NHL season is about to dawn upon franchises such as the Arizona Coyotes, who could have a big year ahead of them.
The Arizona Coyotes franchise has taken major steps over the summer to improve things from top to bottom. The offense went through some huge changes, while drafting continued to get better for John Chayka and the rest of the Coyotes’ scouting team.
With proven players on the defense and in net for Arizona, this very well could be the season that the postseason finally comes back to the desert. Everything looks good on paper, but that’s exactly the question mark to concern with.
Come opening day, how will things shake out for the Arizona Coyotes? This next season will likely be the biggest in franchise history, so there’s a lot on the line. In other words, things are about to change all over the organization.
There’s a lot of questions that are being asked, but probably will not be answered until well after the first game of the season. In this article, answers will be given to some of those burning questions in the hope that they stay the same this season.
Questions and answers may vary from person-to-person, so that’s why we encourage you to leave your thoughts on what the most important questions for the Arizona Coyotes are this season in the comments section below.
5. Captain who?
Nowhere in the rule book does it say that a captain for a club is a must. However, it’s always something nice to have both on and off the ice, especially for teams with a core in the making or one that is already established.
The Coyotes definitely fall under the latter portion of the last statement. Arizona has a really good idea of who belongs within the core, and who can step up to be a leader.
Last season, the Yotes rolled with a rotation of five alternate captains in Derek Stepan, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Brad Richardson, Alex Gologoski and Niklas Hjalmarsson. Arizona may be coming close to naming a full-time captain, and that time might be this season.
It wouldn’t be too narrow to suggest that the names above would most likely be in the hat for the position. Out of that said hat, Larsson would probably be the best bet for the Yotes. A franchise defenseman, key contributor and probably the face of Arizona hockey at the moment.
Arizona will officially close the door on the Shane Doan era in February, and what better way to start a new chapter than naming OEL the captain this season.