Phoenix Coyotes

The Phoenix Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Facts

Founded: 1972 in the World Hockey Association (as the Winnipeg Jets)

Joined the NHL: 1979-80

Home Arena: Glendale Arena

Former Home Arena: America West Arena (1996-2004)

Uniform: Home - Brick red with white striping and numbers and lace-up neck. Away - White with brick red striping and numbers and modified V-neck.

Mascot: Howler the Coyote.

Rivals: Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks.

Game broadcasters: FSN Arizona, KAZT-TV (beginning fall 2006), KASW (1996 to spring 2006) (Tucson broadcasters unknown, KAZT has Yuma translator but none in Tucson)

Franchise history

The team began play as the Winnipeg Jets, one of the founding franchises in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Jets were the most successful team in the short-lived WHA, winning three Avco Cups, the league's championship trophy, and making the finals five out of the WHA's seven seasons. It then became one of the four team admitted to the NHL when the rival leagues merged in 1979

However, the club was never able to translate that success into the NHL after the merger. Whenever they made the playoffs, the Jets either got beaten in the first round, or eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the second round. And despite strong fan support, the money simply was not there, with operating costs and player salaries growing so rapidly. The team was sold to out-of-town interests, and in 1996, the club moved to Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes.

In the summer that the move took place, the franchise saw the exit of Jets stars like Teemu Selänne and Alexei Zhamnov, while the team added established superstar Jeremy Roenick who teamed up with power wings Keith Tkachuk and Rick Tocchet to form a dynamic 1-2-3 offensive punch that led the Coyotes through their first years in Arizona. Also impressive were young players like Shane Doan (the last remaining original Coyote), Oleg Tverdovsky and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, arguably the most popular player in Coyotes history, whom the fans nicknamed the "Bulin Wall".

After arriving in Phoenix, the team posted six consecutive .500 or better seasons, though they have never made it out of the first round of the playoffs, a streak which dates back to 1988, while they were still in Winnipeg. The closest they came to advancing was the 1999 Playoffs where they lost a heatbreaking Game 7 to the St. Louis Blues. The Jets/Coyotes franchise is currently the oldest NHL team to have never appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals. Since 2002, the Coyotes, due to lack of ownership stability and poor personnel strategies, have fallen to the lower echelon of the NHL and attendance levels have dropped, worrying many NHL executives. In addition, an unfavorable lease with America West Arena, where the team played for its first eight years in Phoenix, had the team bleeding red ink.

The Coyotes were a hot ticket in Phoenix in the late '90s, and had superb attendance. However, America West Arena soon proved to be an inadequate location for an NHL team. Several seats were obstructed because the arena's floor was not designed with a hockey rink in mind, unlike most modern arenas. Seating capacity had to be cut down to 16,000--the second-smallest in the league at the time--after the first season. Even then, a stretch of the upper deck that actually hung over the ice, obstructing the views of around 3,000 spectators. Some fans even claimed that they saw where the concrete had been sheared off to create retractable seats for hockey. After attempts failed either to renovate America West or build an arena in Scottsdale, the Coyotes built Glendale Arena, which they moved into in 2003. Simultaneously, the Coyotes changed their logo and uniforms, heeding to hockey purists, but disappointing many Coyotes fans.

In August 2005, two months before the start of the new hockey season, the Coyotes announced that Wayne Gretzky would be the new coach of the team, replacing interim coach Rick Bowness. That month, the team signed aging superstar Brett Hull, son of former Jets great Bobby Hull, and unretired the elder Hull's number for the younger to wear. Hull only lasted a few games before finding that the increased speed of the NHL under the new rule set was too late for him. In another rather unusual move, the Coyotes re-honoured another Jets great, Thomas Steen, in 2006, despite the fact that his number had been retired by the Jets some years earlier.

As of around 11:00 P.M. EDT on June 19, 2006, when the Carolina Hurricanes, formerly the Hartford Whalers, won the Stanley Cup, the Phoenix Coyotes became the only NHL team from the WHA era to have not yet won a Stanley Cup (going back to the Winnipeg years).

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of July 13, 2006 Hockeydb.com, Phoenix Coyotes season statistics and records.

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1996-97	82	38	37	7	—	83	240	243	1582	3rd in Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3-4 (Mighty Ducks)
1997-98	82	35	35	12	—	82	224	227	1602	4th in Central	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (Red Wings)
1998-99	82	39	31	12	—	90	205	197	1412	2nd in Pacific	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3-4 (Blues)
1999-00	82	39	31	8	4	90	232	228	940	3rd in Pacific	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Avalanche)
2000-01	82	35	27	17	3	90	214	212	1337	4th in Pacific	Out of Playoffs
2001-02	82	40	27	9	6	95	228	210	1154	2nd in Pacific	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Sharks)
2002-03	82	31	35	11	5	78	204	230	1433	4th in Pacific	Out of Playoffs
2003-04	82	22	36	18	6	68	188	245	1300	5th in Pacific	Out of Playoffs
2004-05¹	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2005-06	82	38	39	—²	5	81	246	271	1493	5th in Pacific	Out of Playoffs
Total	738	317	298	94	29	757	1981	2063	10253	—	—

¹ Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
² As of the 2005-06 NHL Season, all games will have a winner and OTL includes SOL (Shootout losses).

Notable players

Current squad

As of July 4, 2006 ^*

Goaltenders
Number	Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
30	Michael Morrison	R	2006	Medford, Massachusetts
30	David LeNeveu	L	2002	Fernie, British Columbia
31	Curtis Joseph	L	2005	Keswick, Ontario
35	Philippe Sauve	L	2006	Buffalo, New York

Defensemen
Number	Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2	Keith Ballard	L	2004	Baudette, Minnesota
4	Zbynek Michalek	R	2005	Jindrichuv Hradec, Czechoslovakia
5	Jamie Rivers	L	2006	Ottawa, Ontario
22	Dennis Seidenberg	L	2006	Schwenningen, West Germany
44	Nick Boynton	R	2006	Nobleton, Ontario
53	Derek Morris - A	R	2004	Edmonton, Alberta
55	Ed Jovanovski	L	2006	Windsor, Ontario

Forwards
Number	Player	Shoots	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
8	Geoff Sanderson	L	LW	2005	Hay River, Northwest Territories
11	Oleg Kvasha	R	C/LW	2006	Moscow, U.S.S.R.
15	Boyd Devereaux	L	C	2004	Seaforth, Ontario
17	Ladislav Nagy	L	LW	2001	Saca, Czechoslovakia
18	Tyson Nash	L	LW	2003	Edmonton, Alberta
19	Shane Doan - C	R	RW	1995	Halkirk, Alberta
20	Fredrik Sjostrom	L	RW	2001	Färgelanda, Sweden
21	Bill Thomas	R	F	2006	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
24	Josh Gratton	L	LW	2006	Scarborough, Ontario
26	Joel Perrault	R	C	2006	Montreal, Quebec
28	Pavel Brendl	R	RW	2006	Opocno, Czechoslovakia
29	Steven Reinprecht	L	C	2006	Edmonton, Alberta
37	Georges Laraque	R	RW	2006	Montreal, Quebec
38	Dave Scatchard	R	C	2005	Hinton, Alberta
40	Mike Ricci - A	L	C	2004	Scarborough, Ontario
89	Mike Comrie	L	C	2004	Edmonton, Alberta
91	Oleg Saprykin	L	LW	2005	Moscow, U.S.S.R.
97	Jeremy Roenick	R	C	2006	Boston, Massachusetts

Hall of Famers

Only Gartner played for the franchise in Phoenix.

Team captains

Note: This list does not include the captains from the Winnipeg Jets (NHL & WHA)

Keith Tkachuk 1996-01
Teppo Numminen 2001-03
Shane Doan 2003- present

Retired numbers

9 Bobby Hull, LW, 1972-80
Hull's #9 was unretired briefly at the beginning of the 2005-06 season for his son Brett Hull, before Brett retired five games into the season.
25 Thomas Steen, RW, 1981-95
99 Wayne Gretzky (retired league-wide by the NHL)

The Coyotes continue to honor the retired numbers of their predecessor Winnipeg Jets franchise; the banners for Hull and Steen at Glendale Arena are in the Jets' blue, white and red, while the Gretzky banner is Coyotes brick red and white. ^*

First round draft picks

Note: This list does not include selections as the Winnipeg Jets.

1996: Dan Focht (11th overall)
1997: none
1998: Patrick DesRochers (14th overall)
1999: Scott Kelman (15th overall)
2000: Krystofer Kolanos (19th overall)
2001: Fredrik Sjostrom (11th overall)
2002: Jakub Koreis (19th overall)
2003: none
2004: Blake Wheeler (5th overall)
2005: Martin Hanzal (17th overall)
2006: Peter Mueller (8th overall)

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in the history of the Coyotes and Winnipeg Jets in the NHL. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player	POS	GP	G	A	Pts
Dale Hawerchuk	C	713	379	550	929
Thomas Steen	C	950	264	553	817
Keith Tkachuk	LW	640	323	300	623
Teppo Numminen	D	1098	108	426	534
Paul MacLean	RW	527	248	270	518
*Shane Doan	RW	730	172	245	417
Doug Smail	LW	691	189	208	397
Laurie Boschman	LW	526	152	227	379
*Jeremy Roenick	C	384	141	210	351
Morris Lukowich	LW	431	168	177	345