FFH Round Table: Season Wrap-up Part 1

With the season behind us by about a week, it’s time to answer some questions about the season.

This is part one of a 5 post series of roundtable questions. Please join the discussion in the comments below!

How do you grade the season as a whole?

Sarah Hall- Managing Editor:

D+. The team was way worse than I thought they would be this year, hands down. On paper the Coyotes should have been more successful than 28th place, but also see Colorado when you bring that up. The power play was abysmal this year but the penalty kill came up huge when they needed. The team was just very very confusing to me. The Youth made it hard to judge anything until the second half, when everyone calmed down. The last half of the season was more telling than the first half, but they have a long ways to go seemingly.

Carl Pavlock- Contributor:

C-. The team definitely didn’t play up to expectations and there were issues with all aspects of the Coyotes on the ice, but I think the younger players made a solid step and there is a lot of potential for the future.

Michael Z. Morrissey- Game Day Contributor:

D. To start with, the first half of the season and our first road trip were horrendous. Remember when we had played 8 games and had only 2 wins, both against the Flyers? That’s an extremely rough start. Ultimately I would have liked to have seen a greater progression from our rookies to rate this season any higher given where we finished.

Taylor Clark- Roadrunners Contributor:

C-/D+ Last season if the Coyotes hadn’t struggled and dropped their two five-game road trips they could have made the playoffs on the last wildcard spot. This season it seemed most of the older veterans struggled and that struggled bled through the line-up. If the Coyotes hadn’t called up as many rookies as they did there wouldn’t be many exciting points or bright spots to the season. But hey, at least they still finished 22 points above the Avalanche.

Joe Versen- Game Day Contributor:

Objectively, obviously a D- or an F. D- if we're grading failure on a curve and Colorado sets the curve with their big fat F. On the other hand, more subjectively, it’s not like we could expect much more from a team in a deep rebuild that saw eight players notch their first NHL points. For where this team realistically sits right now, they get a B- from me. Could have been better, but not much worse than anticipated.

Brendan Porter- Former Managing Editor:

D. At the beginning of the season I expected the Coyotes to at least compete for a Wild Card spot. I expected Max Domi and Anthony Duclair to build on their stellar rookie seasons and for Alex Goligoski to help round out the top-four. Instead, the defense never really materialized and both Domi and Duclair couldn’t match last season’s totals due to injuries and generally poor play. The Coyotes did get some good reps for their rookies in, and Brendan Perlini was a great story all season. But this season has to feel like a step back.

And the grade is...

We mostly agree and the Coyotes get an average of D+ for the 2016-2017 season. Stay turned tomorrow for our best/worst Coyote discussion.