Darren Pang appears courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com

I want to pass along my gratitude to every Phoenix Coyotes hockey fan.

I moved my family here to the desert four years ago with the intention that we would be here for a very long time, and of course, never expecting what has transpired in the last three months.

I am a hockey guy that does hockey on TV. It is pretty simple. That is what I get paid to do and have done for the last 20 years. When there is no certainty of a TV contract, then things get a little scary and that is what has taken place here in Phoenix. I am sure that this will all get resolved at some point in the near future.

This is no one’s fault, except for the sudden bankruptcy filing, and I can tell you for certain that no one was prepared for that happening, at least not inside the organization.

With the current situation, I had phone calls from other teams and an opportunity to do national studio NHL work as well, but was really having a difficult time as to what to do as I have gained so many great friends inside the Coyotes family and socially as well.

I have been working side by side with one of my closest friends in Dave Strader, and it feels empty to leave behind a friend and partner. Todd Walsh is a fixture in Arizona and always manages to say the right things at the right time and bring the viewer so much closer to the game and to the players. He is as solid as they get. The great thing is they will always be friends, and I am sure the text messages throughout the season with be flowing, especially when we are about to meet up!

Being on a broadcast team doesn’t just mean the TV group, and I would really be missing out if I didn’t thank two terrific people who love the game and bring it to the people for the entire 82-game schedule, and they are radio personalities Bob Heethius and Tyson Nash.

The gang at FS Arizona is a close group and Mike Roth and Mike Connolly have such passion for the game of hockey, and I will always be grateful. They always stick their necks out for the good of the broadcasts, and that is a very good thing.

On the production side, it started with Graham Taylor as producer when I got here and it went to Andy Bock after one season, with Graham getting back in the “big chair” again last year. They are great producers that love going to and producing the game…chasing me around for production meetings…and getting all fired up for another game and a couple of stories later. Thank you guys. The happy bus was always the best place to be!

To Liz, Meg, Mitch, Derek and everyone else involved in production, you know how much I think of you all, both personally and professionally. Thanks.

Dave Vest manages the content of this Web site, and is as good as it gets. My many thanks Dave, for being a real pro and great guy.

I am a very lucky person. I was asked four years ago by Mike Barnett, Doug Moss, Cliff Fletcher and Wayne Gretzky to come and join the Coyotes. I moved my family after 20 years in Chicago. That is never easy, as you can imagine. We feel as though Phoenix is a place we will want to maintain a residence, as we love it here.

I am an avid golfer and am a member at Blackstone Country Club in Peoria. We moved here to the Northwest Peoria area because it is growing by leaps and bounds, and close to Jobing.com Arena, yet easy to get to Scottsdale as well.

We have met some great people socially and through our church, Copper Hills, and their Pastor, Brad Klassen and his wife Elfie. Both have been great friends and will always be, and I know how much my wife, Lynn, will miss them and all their hiking pals!

To be leaving a person as great as Wayne Gretzky is terribly difficult, not to mention his business manager Darren Blake, his coaching staff and trainers to go along with Don Maloney and his staff, is not easy. Wayne, as you all should know by now, is an even better person than he was a player, and that says it all about him.

The Coyotes are one of the very few teams that have full-time security travel with them. Not only does Jim O’Neal, aka The Inspector, take care of all of us, he is simply a tremendous friend. Thanks Jim! All secure pal!

To be able to join the St. Louis Blues and their President, John Davidson, makes me feel really fortunate. I grew up as a broadcaster admiring and emulating JD and we had the honor of working the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics together as well as several national games on ABC. He is a tremendous person and the Blues organization is outstanding and on the rise. I am looking forward to working with John Kelly and Bernie Federko on the Blues broadcasts.

We will always have a bond here with the great fans of the Coyotes. I believe in this team, the great players and character that is on the team, led of course, by Shane Doan.

We will see each other often and I will be keeping an eye and a Holy Jumpin out for you!

All the very best,

- Panger

Darren Pang appears courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com

Darren Pang appears courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com

With veteran goalie Jason LaBarbera now in the fold, the first thing that comes to my mind is the size of the tandem Grant Fuhr and the Coyotes coaching staff have to work with.

Both LaBarbera (6-foot-3, 225 pounds) and Ilya Bryzgalov (6-3, 199) are imposing figures, leaving very little room for shooters to see any net.

LaBarbera has made a living combining a few terrific qualities, most notably he is a very hard-working person that endears himself to his teammates. I have said this many times. When your goalie has a great team-first attitude, the players want to battle for him. He will stay on the ice until the last player is off at practice, willing the puck to hit his large body.

A few years ago, LaBarbera got “stuck” in the minors while with the Los Angeles Kings. He could not be recalled, as he would have been plucked on “re-callable waivers” and the Kings didn’t want to lose him, therefore he stayed in the American Hockey League, and was that league’s best goalie.

He is fundamentally sound in net and has the proper mind-set to be a backup, as he was last season, watching one of the best in Roberto Luongo in Vancouver.

This is a good signing that appears to leave Josh Tordjman and Al Montoya on the outside looking in. I feel for both, as I have been there myself. This move will really test their confidence and self motivation, but as we all know, a spot in the NHL can be an injury away, or a hot streak in the minors.

Montoya played really well in his brief NHL stint at the end of last season with the Coyotes. He needs to visualize and capture his performance in the San Jose game as his standard. He proved he can stop the big boys.

- Panger

Darren Pang appears courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com

Darren Pang appears courtesy of the Phoenix Coyotes

The Stanley Cup Final begins on Saturday.

The playoffs have been outstanding, although they lost a little momentum in the Conference Finals as Detroit beat Chicago in just five games and the Penguins swept a gritty Carolina team in four games.

I have been sitting in a studio at TSN for the entire playoffs, learning plenty about what it takes to build a winner, to get to know players and their ultimate roles on a winning team, and which players you can count on when the game is on the line.

I am now heading to Detroit for the Final to work alongside Mike Milbury between periods on NBC, and just the anticipation of seeing a mature and professional Sidney Crosby advance to his second straight Stanley Cup Finals is going to be exciting.

The Penguins have an advantage for sure as the Wings are banged up a little, and with the Final going back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday, you have to think the healthy Penguins will jump all over the Wings to get a head start on the series.

Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, Nik Lidstrom and Kris Draper are injured, so who knows how well the Wings will start the series? The cast of Henrik Zetterberg, Dan Cleary, Johan Franzen and Game 5 hero Darren Helm have been outstanding, as have defensemen Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart and Nik Kronwall.

The MVP for Detroit has been Chris Osgood, hands down. I have been so impressed with his ability to focus and to let any doubt from outsiders slide off his back. He was very average in the regular season and at one point his GM, Ken Holland, had him take 10 days off for a little “clarity” to get ready for the playoffs. They have had a long-standing relationship and that trust is something that can’t be underestimated.

The Penguins are here because they belong here. They took Detroit to six games last year but ran out of steam.

Your best players have to lead when it matters most and for me the best player in the playoffs has been Sidney Crosby.

In the first round against Philadelphia, when their backs were against the wall and they were trailing in Game 6, it was Sidney that got things going and changed the momentum, and the same thing can be said for that brilliant series against the Capitals that ended in a Penguins blowout…in Washington, no less….against Alex Ovechkin. Great players do those things and cement a reputation.

He has had plenty of help as Evgeni Malkin is coming into his own right now. His speed, patience with the puck, and power was too much for the ‘Canes. They had no answer.

The wingers for Crosby have been very good as well, with Bill Guerin having a career playoff in points with 15. After starting the postseason slowly, Chris Kunitz has turned it up patrolling Crosby’s left wing. He has history going against the Wings, with all those battles while playing for the Anaheim Ducks, and the animosity he has against them will find its way in the locker room, for sure. It is never a bad thing to have leaders like that in such a heightened environment.

The Penguins have a solid core of defensemen and combine solid shutdown guys when you talk about Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, and they will see plenty of Zetterberg and Franzen. They play a solid “Dot to Dot” game, where they keep the puck carrier on the outside, and don’t over commit.

Marc Andre Fleury has really evolved in the net. He has matured as a goalie and a teammate, and has made the key saves at the right times in these playoffs, as he did last season. He is just fun to watch because he is a very athletic and active goalie that makes playing the position look like fun. He is always smiling on the outside, but is fiercely competitive on the inside, much like Osgood. Both are candidates for the Conn Smythe, in my opinion.

Here are my Conn Smythe favorites:

1) Crosby
2) Malkin
3) Osgood
4) Franzen
5) Zetterberg

Enjoy the Finals.

- Panger

Darren Pang appears courtesy of the Phoenix Coyotes

Darren Pang appears courtesy of the Phoenix Coyotes

I have had a really great experience again working the playoffs for TSN in Canada and for NBC in the United States. It has given me the competitive view on the strengths and weaknesses of the clubs that have advanced in their “Quest for the Cup.”

Here is my take on the Western Conference Finals between Detroit and Chicago.

The keys for Chicago:

• Stay out of the penalty box. The PP’s of both teams are incredible, Nos. 1 and 2 in the postseason. The Hawks got in the “kitchen” of both Calgary and Vancouver with their constant chirping after the whistle. Adam Burish vs. Jarome Iginla and Dustin Byfuglien vs Roberto Luongo are good examples in both series. Detroit won’t bite, let alone nibble on this tactic. Don’t waste energy.

• Challenge in the neutral zone. The key to Detroit is its entries into the offensive zone. The Hawks forwards are quick and they do a great job of “cutting the ice in half” as their weakside forward will attack the puck in the neutral zone.

• Composure in the defensive zone. The minute you don’t trust your partner in your own zone is the minute the Wings will spin you right round, baby right round…so stay composed and trust your position and teammates. No running around chasing pucks.

The keys for Detroit:

• Keep your foot on the pedal. The Hawks have been as good as the Hurricanes at coming back when the game seems done. They are a resilient group with great youthful enthusiasm and skill. If you have a lead, keep adding to it. Wayne Gretzky was the best ever at putting the dagger in as deep as it could go.

• Attack the Hawks “D.” The Wings have four lines that can go all the time, so the pressure has to be put on the Hawks “D.” Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith get pucks out of their own zone in a hurry and have great chemistry. Brian Campbell has defensive liabilities below his own goal line, but has been good as the playoffs have gone along.

• Get four lines rolling early. The Hawks will use their four lines and they can all skate, so the pace will be furious. The Wings have the same depth, and have received added skill and speed in the likes of Darren Helm, Jiri Hudler and now Justin Abdelkader to go along with Kris Draper who returned for Game 7 vs Anaheim. The Wings have the advantage of playing Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk together, as they did when they lacked offense in the Anaheim series when it was tied 1-1.

- Panger

Darren Pang appears courtesy of the Phoenix Coyotes

A week or so has passed since the season ended for the Coyotes and I left Phoenix to continue broadcasting in the playoffs on TSN and NBC.

That wasn’t what I had in mind when the 2008-09 season started, as I felt very confident in our chances to progress and take that next step to the postseason.

Make no mistake; I enjoy doing the playoffs and being in the heat of the action. Why wouldn’t I? That’s what I came here for. I came to be part of a winning team. I came to the desert to be broadcasting Coyotes games in the playoffs.

We will.

Here are five keys to the Coyotes getting into the Stanley Cup Playoffs next year:

• It is an 82-game schedule no matter how you slice and dice it up. For the past several seasons, the Coyotes have been a pretty competitive team for 60-68 games. Not an 82-game team. When adversity hits this team, the record falls. It’s time to get playoff tough…in the regular season.

The regular season is about preparing for the grind of winning the Stanley Cup. The Coyotes can’t fall in love with 5- and 10-game segments, and then fall out of love with the same group of players after a few losses. There has to be consistency. There has to be belief. It starts now.

• Accountability is a prominent word when talking about the good to great teams. There is character on the team when there is accountability in the room. Check your egos at the door when the first day of training camp begins. This is not about individual accomplishments. This is about winning as many 10-game segments as you can, especially in February, March and April. This is about believing in the dream and in the process of accomplishing the dream. It will be about not accepting poor play, from the players in the room to the coaches on the bench.

• Specialty teams win hockey games. Period. The Coyotes can not be in the bottom five in both the PP and the PK. There is no excuse for that. Wayne Gretzky has said it many times about key moments in games when the PP has to step up. Too many one-goal games were lost because of it. The PP needs structure, as it had late in the season with the likes of Matthew Lombardi, Scottie Upshall, Keith Yandle and Shane Doan on the ice. The trades brought hockey sense and chemistry, and now we have to add to the skill level.

• There has to be no negotiation when it comes to mistakes that get made, no matter who the player. I was between the benches for NBC for Game 2 between Washington and the N.Y. Rangers and the phrases you hear from players and coaches are all the same. Here they are:

“Get the puck deep”
“Chip it in and chip it out”
“No one-on-one late in the period, don’t turn the puck over”
“Take a hit to make a play”
“Close the gaps, hold the line”

There are many more, but these are staples in our game. If you can’t follow these simple sayings as an NHL player, you shouldn’t be in this league.

• There is NO entitlement. With the movement the Coyotes have made toward the draft picks and the youth, there appears to be entitlement. That can not be the case. The message at the exit meetings for all the young players was simple: Here is what you have to do in the off-season to be on the team next September. If you don’t do that and get better in these areas, then the AHL is waiting for you.

There are ZERO guarantees to be on the big squad. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Simple enough. We need an extra layer of skin if we are going to be known as a tough team to play against and a team that will compete for the Stanley Cup, not just the playoffs.

Do me a favor and watch as many playoff games as you can. Check the phrases that I have listed above. You will see them all. When the season starts, see how we are doing. Remember that in October, November and December, the teams that have gone a long way in the playoffs don’t quite have that intensity just yet. It will be in the later months that the Coyotes will have to play like men. That’s when the little things will be the biggest of all things.

Enjoy the playoffs.

- Panger

Take a listen to this chat I did with John Davidson, who is now President of the St. Louis Blues.  I caught up with JD while his Blues where in town to play the Coyotes recently.  We started talking by remembering the special moment that marked the end of an era — Wayne Gretzky’s last game ever in the National Hockey League.

Click to listen:

- Panger

I love my job.  Goaltending has been my life since I was six years old, and even though my first career went by rather quickly, it has been my second career that has given me the opportunity to sit down and talk goaltending, break down goaltending and watch goaltending on the television side.

I enjoy every facet of the game of hockey. I have coached minor hockey, been a goaltending coach for the University of Notre Dame when Dave Poulin was coaching and love the passion of coaching. But make no mistake; goaltending is what I enjoy most.

In 1995, I spent time with the Stanley Cup Finals goaltenders, Mike Vernon of Detroit and Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. Both guys have similar off-ice demeanors. You can have a conversation with them before a game, after a game and I bet if the team said yes, I could have interviewed them between periods as well. They are that much in control and able to handle everything that is going on around them.

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur holds up the net after becoming the winningest goaltender in NHL history on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.  I was in the broadcast booth and at ice level again in 2000 and 2003 when the Devils and Brodeur captured the Cup again. He never changed, no matter what the pressure felt like.

For Marty, it has been a longer journey as he has always been in the thick of things. The Devils have afforded him the victories. He has been the recipient of a great organization and a phenomenal system. That is not in doubt.

There are many out there that want to say that Marty would not have had a chance to break Patrick Roy’s all-time mark of 551 wins, which he did on Tuesday night, if not for the system in New Jersey. It is a neat argument.

Personally, I played on teams that were great defensively that didn’t give up many shots, but the one’s they gave up were of high quality, and at key times during a game. I had a hard time with no or little action. Many goalies have to have shots, give up rebounds and then get another shot to stay involved.

I grew up watching Ken Dryden and Rogie Vachon; opposite ends of the spectrum in size and the way they played. Dryden played for Montreal. It was a tight, defensive system. Vachon played for L.A., which was all offense and all over the place.

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur keeps his eye on the action against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Prudential Center on Tuesday night in Newark, N.J.  Dryden made one key save a period that could turn momentum, or lose it.

Vachon made spectacular saves, as they gave up a ton of shots. No one remembered the one goal he gave up that wasn’t great, as he had so many quality saves. He was better with many shots.

The microscope was always on Dryden. No excuses. His mental sharpness for a quiet time in the game was exceptional. The best ever…until Brodeur.

The best quote I have heard about Brodeur when it comes to the system or Brodeur comes from one of the greatest goaltenders of all time. I was on the team bus after practice and Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr and I were talking about the feats of Brodeur and I said he has the right demeanor and athletic ability along with the fact he has been in the right place, the right organization and the right system.

Fuhr says things the right way, quietly, but with confidence.

“The goalie has to fit the system as much as the system has to fit the goalie.”

Well said. What a perfect marriage.

Brodeur plays the position the way I love it to be played. He plays like an athlete. You ask any shooter in the NHL about going head-to-head with Brodeur and they likely start with this:

1) You don’t quite know what he’s going to do.
2) Is he going to poke check me if I try to deke him?
3) If I get that one-timer, will he stack the pads?
4) If I see room on the far post, is he just waiting to drag that far pad along the ice, like Bernie Parent used to do?
5) His glove is hanging low, so I should just fire it high glove…or is he sucking me in?

I have seen it all too many times. He has an uncanny sense about him. You want to know what it is really called?

It is called hockey sense. Goalies need to have it. There are some that are robotic and that is OK. But hockey sense is what it is all about.

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur reacts to posting his 552nd career NHL victory on Tuesday night in Newark, N.J.  Jacques Plante had it. Terry Sawchuck had it. Johnny Bower had it. Glenn Hall had it and so did Esposito, Parent, Dryden, Smith, Fuhr, Hasek and Roy. Some had it more than others.

Brodeur sees the play develop. He knows the right-hand shots and the left-hand shots. He sees the weak-side shooter as much as the puck carrier, and knows that he is on his strong side or on his back hand if he gets the puck. That is also what makes him such a great puck handler. He skates to the puck well, already knows where he wants to pass it, or place it for his defenseman. He gets there. He has composure. He will go down in history as the most complete goalie of all time, not just the goalie with the most wins and the most shutouts, but the most complete goalie of all time.

It has been my pleasure to sit in the locker room and just talk goaltending with Marty. He loves his position. He loves the game of hockey and he loves stopping pucks. He has a real respect for the greats that he has passed by. Records are made to be broken, as Wayne Gretzky likes to say, but after Brodeur passes 600 wins…and he will…I cannot imagine anyone getting close.

- Panger

When Olli Jokinen was traded to the Coyotes at the NHL Draft last year, the Coyotes felt they had that big, strong, offensive-minded centerman they had been craving.

It didn’t work, for whatever reason. There was chemistry that was missing. The big Finnish centerman was trying, but it just wasn’t working. He has another season at $5.5 million, so the assumption is trading him to Calgary was a salary dump.

Part of the problem is my fault. When we got Jokinen, I led the charge saying this is the BIG, STRONG, 35-goal centerman the Coyotes have long been searching for. It is not Jokinen’s fault. He arrived as billed. He WAS, and WILL be a 35-goal scorer that is 6-foot-2, 210 pounds. He is a very gifted hockey player that has lead Finland to International Hockey Titles. He was the Captain in Florida and prior to that was the third overall pick of the Los Angeles Kings. I like the guy. His teammates liked the guy, especially the older players.

The issue was chemistry. This is not Shane Doan’s fault, although he is such a stand-up guy, he will try to take the blame. Everyone was searching for the right combination on the ice. Wayne Gretzky tried every forward with him. The Coyotes have a lot of first- and second-year players. Those players are going to be real good. The assumption was that Jokinen could lead the charge, despite the inexperience he had around him, which isn’t always an easy task with the many proven, veteran players that are in this league.

The coaches tried playing him with Doan, Peter Mueller, Dan Carcillo, Enver Lisin and Kyle Turris, to name a few. It was apparent from my broadcast perch, some 200 feet away, that there was little cohesion.

At the end of the day, the trade deadline can be a magnet.

It is an opportunity to make a move, see what is out there. Some years there are teams that really like what you have. In other years, there is nothing to offer. Many teams liked Jokinen and for good reason.

This is about the Calgary Flames. They tried last year at the deadline to get the big Finn. They have a coach in Mike Keenan that did a great job in getting the most out of Jokinen when both the LA Kings and the NY Islanders could not. That is sports. That does not mean it is a sell-off. What it does mean is it is a good hockey trade for both teams.

Jokinen scored two goals in his Calgary debut playing with Jarome Iginla and Mike Cammalleri.
Scottie Upshall scored a goal in his debut for the Coyotes, while Matthew Lombardi was strong on key faceoffs, and was very good alongside Doan and Petr Prucha

Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney and Assistant G.M. Brad Treliving maintained composure and patience at the deadline. They were out of time on Derek Morris as the Boston Bruins failed to give anything back, other than a draft pick. If it was a sell-off, Maloney would have just taken a pick. Instead, he was magnificent in communicating with Glen Sather and the New York Rangers for Morris. Morris had to waive his no-trade clause to agree to go to New York, as it was not one of his preferred teams. He will do great there and played 16 minutes, paired with former Coyote Paul Mara in his first game. Morris was a good player and person for the Coyotes. He also is looking for a long-term deal that the Coyotes didn’t see as part of their future plans. That is the business of pro sports.

So let’s take a closer look:

Morris goes to the Rangers for three players. Is that a sell-off? They ADDED three players. They subtracted $3.95 million (Morris) and added $4.487 million (Nigel Dawes, Dmitri Kalinin and Prucha), who are 23, 28 and 24 years old as compared to Morris at the age of 31. I personally had five players from the Boston Bruins dressing room take me aside and tell me they couldn’t believe how many good, young players the Coyotes added at the deadline, including the three from New York. The Rangers got a solid, reliable player that will be highly motivated and excited to be with a great organization like the Rangers. This is the first time Morris has played for an Original 6 team. There is something special about that.

The Coyotes were credited by almost every analyst as a “winner” on trade deadline day. Usually that means a team is out of the playoffs and “sells” every player they have for draft picks and prospects. Maple Leafs G.M. Brian Burke walked by our broadcast booth in Boston and told Dave Strader and me that Maloney was the first star on deadline day. Jay Feaster, the former G.M. of the Tampa Bay Lightning, told a national audience on TSN that Maloney and the Coyotes were the winners of this day. They were the winners for making good hockey moves. All the trades that were made were good trades for BOTH teams. That is the key. NY, Philadelphia and Calgary got players they needed as well. That is the sign of some good dealings.

The Coyotes moved Jokinen and a third-round pick to Calgary for Matthew Lombardi, Brandon Prust and a first-round pick in either 2009 or 2010, depending on Calgary’s choice.

Lombardi makes $2.35 million next season and Prust makes $525,000. Jokinen will make
$5.5 million next year. Plus, the Coyotes got the first- rounder. You will like these well- tested kids from Calgary. Now the Coyotes have financial flexibility to add some key unrestricted free agents on July 1.

On to Philly. The very popular and likeable Carcillo will be greatly missed because he brings moxie and gumption to the ice. I will also miss this energetic player and person. At the end of the day though, it was hard to figure out where he fit in the lineup. He admitted he was struggling with his game and confidence as he had zero goals in his final 14 games in a Coyotes uniform.

Last year, it looked like he may become a solid No. 2 left wing. He wasn’t going to be a No. 3 checking-line winger, as that was not in his makeup. He showed flashes of tremendous upside and I know Philly will love him. He seemed born to wear a Flyers jersey. When you see him in it, you will understand.

The Coyotes received a strong skater and player that can get up and down the ice in a hurry in Scottie Upshall, the former first-round round pick of the Nashville Predators. The Coyotes basically swapped salaries, paying a little more for Upshall. Carcillo does have one more year left on his deal, while Upshall is a restricted free agent. As he showed in Boston playing alongside Turris and Joakim Lindstrom, he isn’t afraid to get involved and has a nice scoring touch. There was good chemistry with the four lines. He scored a goal, had many good hits and played with tenacity.

Mikael Tellqvist went to the Sabres for a fourth-round pick. He was a great team player who will be missed by everyone. It was time to change the hand though as Josh Tordjman needed to see some NHL pucks. He has been great in the American Hockey League now for four years.

So, at the end of the day, watch the Coyotes play. Don’t just read someone’s written opinion and buy into the money and the selling of players. Evaluate their game and team speed and skill level.

All players, trainers and fans forge relationships with players and it is never easy seeing guys go. But make your own evaluation and then tell me this is a “sell-off.” You won’t see it that way. These were hockey moves to make the team better. Those can sometimes be hard decisions, but the best for the players and in the end, the fans that only want to win.

- Panger

There will be plenty of debate from outsiders as to what the right move was for Kyle Turris, the third overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Turris is going to be a great NHL player for many, many years to come. That is not the question.

The question is, in order for Kyle to progress, is it better for him to stay in the NHL, and not play meaningful minutes, sit in the press box and watch and learn? Or is progress accelerated by going to San Antonio of the American Hockey League, play for a team that is on a pretty good run lately, play on the power play and upwards of 20:00 per game?

There are those who will say this will be the best thing that happens to Kyle…when he looks back at it years from now.

Right now, he must be thinking many things, and going down to the AHL likely isn’t something he thinks will be one of the best things that is going to happen to him…in his lifetime!

There are those that thought, before the season, that the Coyotes would have been best suited leaving him in college at Wisconsin for another year. They wouldn’t be wrong. Nor would they be wrong in saying that the experience he is going through right now (the AHL) is the best way to develop Kyle or any other up-and-coming highly-touted prospect.

I believe it is a case-by-case, team-by-team situation that must be considered.

Wayne Gretzky is so good with young players. They will all look back years from now and really understand how he protected them, took pressure off of them and nurtured them. Some veteran, career coaches would never be that way. They may not be that patient and they may not be that secure in their jobs, in this business of winning hockey games.

Turris never thought for a minute that he would spend time in the AHL. Why would he?

If that were the case, why would he leave the University of Wisconsin?

That leaves us with this. And this is my opinion right now. This was not or would not have been my opinion two months ago. This IS the best thing for Kyle. He will be a much harder hockey player next season. He will come into camp a tougher player with more edge and less naivete. He has gone through a few tough moments this season, experiences that he would have to go through next year, if it were his first season. But it won’t be. This is. This is where the progress begins for a player that will be in this league, the NHL, for the next 20 years.

He was a healthy scratch his first game in his hometown against the team he grew up watching and dreaming about playing for, the Vancouver Canucks.

He had to be crushed. He wants to play and be a player that the coaches and his teammates will count on.

Now he gets the word he is going down to the AHL. There are many fine, young players in the AHL. It is a breeding ground, a place where stories unfold and later on in your career, they become more magnified, more fun to tell. I know. I was there. It was way more fun getting to the NHL with the guys you went to war with in the IHL (back then) or the AHL. Once you get to the NHL, it is ALL business. Every day. Every game.

We would have seen, and do get to see, the character of a person when they get sent down. Do they sulk? Do they mope around? Do they perform like they couldn’t care less? And even worse, do they go down and treat it with such a lack of respect that their peers know it? That is an insult, and no player likes to be insulted.

When I was rehabbing a torn ACL, I remember going down to Indianapolis of the IHL, with Darryl Sutter coaching. I had been in the NHL for almost three seasons. I made sure I went down there with a great attitude, helped out the young guys, and learned from Sutter. When I was in my first season of pro hockey, we were based in Milwaukee, and most of our players had only played in the higher AHL, not the IHL. Boy, did a lot of the players have poor attitudes. And we stunk because of it. I never forgot it. I swore I would never be THAT player if I went down, and I wasn’t.

So, you’re wondering about Kyle… or Kevin Porter or Viktor Tikhonov earlier?

Have no fear. They all have great attitudes and want to prove that they are NHL players.

Look at Tikhonov against Calgary. Two goals and raring to be a player. Porter is simply a great kid and is going to be a tremendous two-way player in the NHL. It will be all in good time.

Turris took this demotion the way you would expect. He wasn’t drafted third overall just based on his skill set. It is about character. It was about how much he wants it. He is oozing passion for the game, and it shows.

He scored two goals and added one assist in his first AHL game. He added an assist in his second game. In his third game on Monday, he notched two more goals and another assist. That’s the way to go down there and tell the hockey world that this is just a small bump in the road, and yes, every player is stronger for time spent in the minors. You appreciate everything about the NHL. It is the very best league in the world.

- Panger

Parity is everywhere.  It has been in the NHL since the lockout of 2004-05.

So by now the players, coaches, media and fans are all very much aware of how difficult it is to make the playoffs.

There are roughly 30 games left.

In the Western Conference, as of the writing of this blog, there are six teams within six points of the eighth and final spot. The 14th-place team (Colorado) is six points away with Nashville and LA, while Vancouver is only one point back and Phoenix, Columbus, Edmonton, Minnesota and Dallas all have the same amount of points, 53. Only two games ago, the Coyotes were holding the fifth spot in the West, only to lose two consecutive games by 2-0 scores, and three overall…..and Holy Jumpin!…right in the 10th spot.

Wayne Gretzky has been saying it for two months now. Don’t get too excited. You win a few and you are in the playoff picture. You lose a couple or three, and you are right below the line. You just can’t get too high, nor can you get too focused on the line that separates the playoff teams from the outsiders. You also can’t lose more than three games in a row. You have to manufacture points, no matter how tough.

You really have to learn from experiences. Last season when the Coyotes were looking strong and were right in the hunt, they narrowed down an actual number that was needed to make it. They openly spoke of “HUGE” must-win games, and when they didn’t win them, well, the morale, from everyone involved in the team, went south. You could see it on everyone’s faces and in their demeanors. How could you not show it? It was much too black and white. The problem with that is when you lose. What is there next? When you say it is the biggest game of their lives, and they lose, what do you do the next day? How can you get them to re-group and re-energize?

The game was in Vancouver, a must-win that ended up being a tough, hard-played, 3-1 loss. They played well. Very well. The next night in Edmonton, the Coyotes battled back to tie the score 4-4 in the third period, only to lose focus and the game 7-4. For all intents and purposes, the season, and the team morale, was done.

The lesson is much clearer now than it was then. You can’t give up. As the Coyotes lost steam and the playoff poise needed, the Oilers took that win from the Coyotes and battled so hard, they came from below the Coyotes and nearly snuck in. They missed it by just three points. I am sure they learned an awful lot from that experience. They will be in the race until the bitter end this season, I guarantee it.

The Coyotes will too, as Wayne Gretzky has an uncanny knack of keeping things in the present. He also learned from last season and that is why he analyzes the game so well, especially after losses. He breaks it down as a simple matter of fact.

The last few games, losses at San Jose and vs. Buffalo, the power play has gone 0-13.

The effort and spirit of the team was excellent. The execution on the PP was not. He doesn’t take away all the good things that were done, he gets right to the point.

Big players that get on the PP have to be big players. They have to be difference-makers at important times. He will play the heck out of Olli Jokinen and Shane Doan in games at Nashville and at Detroit.

He will also put rookie Kyle Turris on a line with Jokinen and fellow rookie Mikkel Boedker, as they ended the last game against Buffalo with many good chances.

It doesn’t get any easier for Gretzky and company, but maintaining an even, business-like approach for every game, and for every morning the team wakes up and looks at the standings, will be essential when it comes to making the playoffs.

- Panger