NHL: Without Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix Coyotes Won’t Even Sniff Playoffs

July 30th, 2011 by Robert Demmett Leave a reply »
The Coyotes lost their biggest player this off-season, a move that undoubtedly made them a weaker team. By trading Ilya Bryzgalov to the Flyers, the Coyotes have a big hole to fill.

The Coyotes are nowhere near as good as their record showed them to be for the past two seasons. Bryzgalov was that team. He kept them in games and stole games for them that Phoenix had no business winning.

With him, they were a Cinderella story. The team succeeded with little fan support, no big stars and constant rumors that they were packing up and leaving for Canada. Without him, this is just an average team.

The Coyotes tried their best to fill holes. They signed Boyd Gordon and Raffi Torres, and re-signed Keith Yandle to a long-term contract. Most notably, they replaced Bryzgalov with Mike Smith (let me just say how ridiculous it is that Mike Smith is being paid more than Vokoun, although it was Vokoun's choice).

Let's be honest, Mike Smith is a good goalie. He makes the saves you expect him to make, but he's not spectacular and won't save a game for you. Look at the game he played in the playoffs—was he ever great? No, he kept his team in ...

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