AZC Aktuell: Gamble fails with Perrault

1.11.2006 von Coyote.

Scheinbar waren die Herren aus Phoenix ein wenig blauäugig was die Sache mit Joel Perrault anging. Hoffentlich kein schwerwiegender Fehler. Hier der Artikel von AZCentral: 

Gamble fails with Perrault

David Vest
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 1, 2006 12:00 AM
The Coyotes hoped Joel Perrault would sneak through the waiver wire so they could demote him to their top affiliate in the American Hockey League.

The St. Louis Blues spoiled the plan by claiming the young center Tuesday.

Coach Wayne Gretzky downplayed the loss of Perrault, citing Perrault’s lack of confidence and the team’s recent signing of veteran center Yanic Perreault.

“I thought Joel played really well at the beginning,” Gretzky said, “but the last couple games, he wasn’t quite the same.”

Perrault, 23, won a roster spot in training camp and began the season as the second-line center. He notched a goal in the season opener, but was limited to one assist in his other eight games.

Gretzky said that if the Blues try to send Perrault to their minor league affiliate, Phoenix might try to reacquire him via the waiver wire.
A ’stubborn’ team
The Coyotes keep losing, and losing by large deficits, because they are a stubborn team that refuses to accept that it doesn’t have elite scorers.

That’s how Gretzky explained his team’s 3-9-0-0 record after its 90-minute workout Tuesday at Jobing.com Arena.

“Listen, we don’t have a 110-point player, and we don’t have a 50-goal scorer,” Gretzky said. “We’ve proven that here for the last three or four years. As good as (Ladislav) Nagy is, as good as (Mike) Comrie is, as good as Shane (Doan) is, they’re 30-goal scorers. So, we have to play with the mind-set we’re going to win 3-2.

“I hate to compare this year to last year, but that’s the difference between this year’s and last year’s team. Last year’s team understood that and made a commitment to it. This year’s team has been stubborn in a sense that it believes it can still win 5-4. We can’t.”
Gretzky on Nabokov
Despite recent reports to the contrary, Gretzky said the Coyotes were not close to acquiring San Jose Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov in a trade.

Nabokov has a no-trade clause, and San Jose is paying him $5 million this season.

“Quite honestly, to kill that rumor, we don’t have $5 million to play with,” Gretzky said. “That’s the reality. I just can’t see that happening.”

The Coyotes are about $1 million under the league salary cap of $44 million.
Ice chips
The Coyotes altered their neutral-zone defense during Tuesday’s practice.

“We’re going to play more of a neutral-zone trap in the sense that we’ve been getting caught deep with two men,” Gretzky said. “One pass has been beating two guys the last couple days. We just changed it a little bit. We’re going to be, I guess, smart about which side of the puck we’re going to defend, especially in the neutral zone.”

• Doan has not practiced with teammates since leaving a game against Calgary last week because of a sore back. He might practice today.

Quelle: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1101yotesnb1101.html

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