Countdown To Coyotes Preseason: 26 Days

With 26 days left until the Coyotes' preseason begins we are going to look at how the number 26 has played a role in the Coyotes history. The number has played a pretty big role with the Yotes with two players in recent history using that number as their own. Michael Stone used that number last season and Steve Sullivan claiming the number for next season.

Michael Stone wore the number 26 last season and will be wearing the number 29 during the next season. Stone is a Winnipeg native who was drafted in the third round by the Coyotes in 2008, 69th overall.

An interesting fact I learned while doing research for this post is that in the 2005-06 season Stone played in the Manitoba Midget 'AAA' Hockey League for the team, known ironically enough, as the Winnipeg Thrashers, League Champions that year.

Stone spent the 2010-11 season with the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL and last season in the AHL with the Portland Pirates. He did get called up by the Yotes though, with his first game being February 18th against the Dallas Stars and playing 13 games total in the regular season and 2 playoff games against the Los Angeles Kings.

He was 1-2-3 with the Yotes this past season and 9-13-22 with the Pirates and was recently ranked number 3 on NHL's list of Top 10 Coyotes Prospects.

If you want more information on Steve Sullivan check out our countdown post for 38 days.