Coyotes Hold Players-Only Meeting

Following Thursday night’s 4-0 drubbing to the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, the Arizona Coyotes held a 20-minute players-only meeting to discuss what they must do to turn things around in the desert.

The players-only meeting was led by captain Shane Doan and goalie Mike Smith.

In a post-meeting interview, Mike Smith said, “When you’re paid to be a top player on your team you’ve got to perform like one. That hasn’t happened.” Smith continued by saying, “I’m done with excuses. It’s got to stop. It’s easy to point fingers at everyone else, but at the end of the day it’s what you can do to be better. I’ve got to be better. It’s that simple.”

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Doan added, “There will be a lot of people pointing fingers from the outside. We got to make sure we are good on the inside… We talked about belief. You can’t question when we get scored on, you’ve got to stick to the system and do things simple.”

Although the meeting was led by the captain and starting goalie, Doan made it be known that his teammates got a chance to talk as well by saying, “Everyone had an opportunity to express themselves and what they think.”

Accountability and simplicity seem to be the headlining themes from the meeting. Teams often come together following defeats such as this in which they have a closed doors meeting with no media presence.

With the loss to the Kings, the Coyotes record dropped to 10-14-3 which is good enough for the second worst mark in the Western Conference. It was also the Coyotes’ sixth consecutive loss on their own ice. Additionally, the Coyotes have been held scoreless in the past 172 minutes and 23 seconds at home.

Dec 4, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (8) holds Arizona Coyotes center Joe Vitale (14) on the ice during the second period at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

A stretch of four home games could be just what the Coyotes need in order to salvage the season as they cannot continue to lose ground in the playoff chase even with the season still in the early-goings.

Smith said it simple enough, “It’s a great group, but it has to transfer into results on the ice… No one wants to see changes for the team to turn this season around.”

Once this team begins to believe in themselves as individuals and trust their teammates as Smith does, they could very easily turn the ship around and battle for a spot in the NHL playoffs.

The Coyotes will return to action on Saturday night when they take on the Boston Bruins at Gila River Arena.