Improvement had been steady, enough for Diamondbacks center fielder Adam Eaton to be encouraged by the progress of his left elbow.
He recently began a rehabilitation stint in the minors and as he started to make more throws, his arm held up fine. Even his swing at the plate was better.
Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney has agreed to a long-term contract extension to remain with the franchise amid its ongoing ownership search.
This was supposed to be a telling off-season for the Coyotes with Maloney and coach Dave Tippett’s contracts set to expire this summer. Many expected that to force an ownership resolution after four seasons under league management, but Maloney hinted that he didn’t need an owner in place to remain at the helm of the organization.
Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney is in the midst of negotiating a contract extension with the NHL and is close to completing a new deal, a league source confirmed.No timeline for when the contract might be finalized has been set.
Despite the ease with which Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney has continued to assemble a largely successful team with limited NHL money, we at The Heat Index have never envied his job.
And yet, here we are — during the second round of the playoffs — imagining what the Coyotes could look like in five months when the next season starts.
Magic or luck or superstition has nothing to do with how dominating the Diamondbacks bullpen has been lately.
Still, don’t remind those pitchers of their shutout streak.
Heath Bell’s transition back into the closer role, with J.J. Putz on the shelf with an elbow injury, wasn’t the challenge.
That job was old hat.
Heath Bell’s transition back into the closer role, with J.J. Putz on the shelf with an elbow injury, wasn’t the challenge.
That job was old hat.
While he waited for test results, Diamondbacks closer J.J. Putz did his best to avoid self-diagnosing an elbow problem that surfaced Tuesday in Los Angeles.
But his best-case-scenario wasn’t too far off from the actual prognosis.
Each week we talk to a Diamondbacks player or coach for Diamondbacks Extra. This week’s guest is infielder Cliff Pennington.
Question: I noticed you have a little kid’s jersey hanging in your stall. Is that for your son, Brady?
The overlooked and underpriced have been the most popular imports by the Coyotes amid shrinking budgets and rising uncertainty.
So it’s been entirely appropriate to have coach Dave Tippett implement a style that relies on and even rewards the shot blockers, the faceoff specialists and the trap enthusiasts.
Once destined to be a perennial backup, Coyotes goalie Mike Smith is now the envy of his craft as he approaches what will probably be the most significant payday of his career.
“I’ve always been on one- or two-year deals,” Smith said. “This is the time in my career I’ve solidified being a No. 1 goaltender, and I believe I should be compensated for it.”
The novelty of being the beloved underdog has faded.
What once was the Coyotes’ source of admiration has now pushed them to the sidelines this postseason, and the difficulty of life without an owner — minimized before by unexpected success — is painfully obvious.
However he can create offense — whether it’s as the architect of the play or the one who executes it — winger Radim Vrbata wants to deliver that for the Coyotes.
“If I have a guy who’s the playmaker, I have no problem,” Vrbata said. “I will try to get open for him and score goals. If we don’t have that or if you don’t have that guy always looking for you, then I want to play with the puck and create chances for somebody else.”
The grim working conditions that have attempted to define the Coyotes ever since ownership departed almost four years ago would never be considered enviable, but their results sure have been.
General Manager Don Maloney continually has done more with less, making bargain shopping an offbeat — yet effective — alternative to the excessive spending habits that drive many of his peers.
What was frustrating for Coyotes wing Lauri Korpikoski — aside from the fact that he was sidelined with a concussion during the team’s most critical stretch — was that improvement from this injury always seemed to be undermined by a setback.
“I was practicing and felt pretty good on the ice and then went home and started to get symptoms,” he said. “It’s really hard. You’re fatigued. Your head’s sore, or you’ve got pressure on your head. You just kind of sleep throughout the day. You don’t want to do anything.”
The blanket of white that decorated the Coyotes’ final home game the previous three years was replaced this season by an army of red towels labeled, ‘Thank You Fans.’
And it seemed fitting the Coyotes held their last hurrah of the season at Jobing.com Arena in the red considering the deficits that have taunted the franchise finally trapped it.
As soon as the NHL lockout trimmed the schedule to 48 games, the Coyotes coaching staff stressed the added value points would take on — so much so that players are still uttering that mantra.
Only what was previously spoken as a reminder is now muttered as a regret.
Before last summer, Coyotes captain Shane Doan had never reached unrestricted free agency.
He hadn’t been on the frontlines of a league-wide lockout.
Before last summer, Coyotes captain Shane Doan had never reached unrestricted free agency.
He hadn’t been on the frontlines of a league-wide lockout.
GLENDALE — Ever since coach Dave Tippett arrived on the scene almost four years ago, ushering in a work boots-required policy that had been lacking in these parts, every game served a purpose.
In their 50-win, 100-plus point showing in 2009-10, when they clinched with seven games to go, the last two weeks were a primer for the franchise’s first playoff berth in eight years.
For the last three years, the Coyotes’ season never had a firm expiration date.
Now it does.
It’s easy to categorize the letdown in Detroit as the Coyotes’ undoing, but the beginning of the end started a month before when the team spiraled into a seven-game losing streak.
“We dug that hole earlier,” winger Radim Vrbata told reporters after the Coyotes fell 4-0 to the Red Wings Monday. “It’s not about now. Right now we got three points out of six on this road trip. Normally that would be a pretty good road trip, but it’s not good enough because that hole was that big.”
A week ago when the distance to a playoff spot started to grow rather than shrink — the Coyotes’ spirit was as fractured as it’s been this season.
But who knew a full-on break would be just the fix they needed to guarantee they start the final week of the regular season with a meaningful game?
What a difference a year makes.
The last time the Coyotes were visitors in Chicago they wrestled a 4-2 first-round playoff series victory away from the Blackhawks.
Willpower and ambition and courage congregate along the 26.2-mile course that shimmies through Boston every third Monday in April.
So do fathers and sons.
