ARIZONA WESTERN CONFERENCE COYOTES PACIFIC DIVISION Keith Yandle, Lauri Korpikoski, David Moss Offense In the 2012-13 season, the Coyotes suffered from a lack of playmakers at the forward position. While players like Shane Doan are consistent contributors, the Coyotes had neither a superstar to carry the offense nor a good depth of scoring. Their big offseason splash to address the offense was to acquire former Dallas Stars center Mike Ribeiro, a player who had scored nearly a point per game throughout his career. The fact that the Coyotes bought Ribeiro out of contract earlier this year should serve as an indicator for how good the offense was in general. Ribeiro was a bust in the Arizona desert, scoring just 16 goals and 31 assists in 80 games. Ribeiro entered Phoenix with a reputation for being a problem child, a reputation the Coyotes were willing to look past if he could boost the offense. That didn’t happen, but the “behavioral problems” persisted, and now Ribeiro is gone. What was left was an offense in which Keith Yandle was the team’s top point scorer and no one player scored more than 24 goals. Thanks largely to the contributions of Yandle and fellow scoring defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the Coyotes finished 20th in the NHL in goals scored, a rank that could easily have been a lot lower if it was up to the group of forwards alone. Arizona’s choice to replace Ribeiro is Sam Gagner, a player who has been stuck in hockey purgatory (Edmonton) for the last seven years. Gagner consistently scores about 40 points in a season, so he shouldn’t Key Additions: Sam Gagner, Devan Dubnyk, Joe Vitale Key Subtractions: Radim Vrbata, Thomas Greiss, Derek Morris, Mike Ribeiro, Paul Bissonnette, Jeff Halpern Strengths: Power play, offensive defensemen Weaknesses: Forwards, penalty killing PHOTO/NHL/Getty Images
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