Columbus Blue Jackets Staring Down the Barrel: Yotes in Town

The Columbus Blue Jackets host the Arizona Coyotes in their only matchup in the Heartland this season.

The Arizona Coyotes have made their annual pilgrimage to Ohio for their matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Yotes haven’t started the season the way they wanted as they are 2-5-0 in their first seven games.

Arizona is still a young team though and can get above average goaltending from Antti Rannta from time to time. The team really needs to get the offense rolling though if they expect to start winning. The Coyotes are dead last in scoring in the NHL.

Ahead of tonights, game we sat down with James Reeve, site expert and Yotes insider at HowlinHockey.com. Be sure to read up on the Yotes at HowlinHockey.com ahead of the game and follow James on Twitter.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Lansing Murphy (LM): What’s going on in the desert? The Yotes were a sexy pick to make the playoffs but a 2-5-0 record isn’t an ideal start.

James Reeve (JR): The results have not been what the team, or the fans, expected but the Coyotes’ underlying numbers certainly show a bigger picture. The team have been getting a tonne of chances, out-shooting their opponents in almost every single game, while also having one of the best penalty-killing units in the league with an 88% success rate.

The Coyotes haven’t taken enough of their chances and, as a result, have found themselves with just two wins – when in reality the team could’ve claimed wins in at least two more of these.

Dallas and Anaheim were kept scoreless in two whole periods each and if the Coyotes had better luck in front of the net then it could’ve easily been a different result.

LM: Who has been the most surprising and the most disappointing player for the Yotes through seven games?

JR: I guess I’d have to go with Michael Grabner and Derek Stepan. Grabner was signed by the Coyotes to provide more speed and offense and so far he has just one assist in seven games – not good enough of a return for a pretty important free agent acquisition.

For Stepan, he has some good possession numbers, with a 53.4% Corsi rating with 20:07 average ice time, while also averaging almost 3.5 shots a game.

For a first line centre, however, Stepan only has one assist and this is not good enough. The Coyotes have been without Alex Galchenyuk, Christian Dvorak and Jakob Chychrun this season, with Galch expected to be a big boost offensively.

But Stepan typically averages 50+ points a season and so far, he’s on pace for just 11 – this must change if the team hopes to make any push for the playoffs.

LM: Who should Columbus Blue Jackets fans keep an eye on tonight?

JR: Clayton Keller is a top young player, scoring two goals against the Winnipeg Jets just the other day, and he could be our biggest threat to the Blue Jackets this week.

He had a stellar rookie season and will hopefully go from strength to strength and his first two goals should boost his confidence and see him go on to contribute heavily across the season.

LM: How do you see tonight’s game playing out?

JR: It will really depend on how well the Coyotes’ offence turns up. The team are firing from all angles, but just not converting.

Defensively it’ll be a challenge for Columbus, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson leading a solid corps of players and Antti Raanta having to effectively stand on his head in most games, keeping the team in it as best he can.

It’ll be a close one, for sure, but with the questions around the Coyotes offence, there’s no way I could predict an outcome.

Thanks again to James for sitting down with us and giving us some insight on the Jackets opponent tonight.