Arizona Coyotes Head Coach Dave Tippett, unlike the last home pre-season game last Saturday, was available for his usual post-game press conference. He was absent last time in order to make some tough decisions on roster cuts.
Arizona cuts
He did make those cuts as he sent 15 players to the Tucson Roadrunners, and sent young Nick Merkley, pictured above back to Kelowna of the WHL to help him further develop his game. Zach Boychuk was released from his professional tryout.
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For this final pre-season game, Tippett was not pleased with the way his team came out and "disliked the team's puck play and their ability to get to places in a hurry and stay there, wasn't very good."
When asked what he thought of the young players playing against NHL players, Tippett replied: "You know they continue to impress, a lot of them, but as you get deeper into exhibition and you start to play against teams like that that are more NHL players, and you see some good things, but ultimately you see some flaws too. For us it's about getting our whole team together now, with the best lineup we can. We have four practices before we start, so they're very important practices to get people in the right places, and have the mindset you have to going into a game that is for keeps, not for just seeing who's good and who's bad."
When asked about trimming the roster to get down to the mandatory 23 players, Tippett commented: "there's a few guys here, I mean we'll whittle it down, but it's going to be some hard decisions."
Stone's recovery
Michael Stone's progress from his leg injury was discussed, and Tippett mentioned, "He's only been in contact now for a couple days, so these are crucial practices, he hasn't played in a long time, and I don't think he will play in that game in Tucson Sunday. It's going to take him some time to be up and going again."
As far as injuries to players affecting Coach Tippett's decision for his starting lineup, he said so much depends on how players come back from injuries, and getting them back to playing games.
He mentioned that defenseman Kevin Connauton who is still recovering from his injury, and Jarred Tinordi who will miss four games due to suspension.
As far as the young prospects like Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak's chances of making the team, Tippett said they certainly haven't hurt their chances, and it just depends on the mix they want for the team.