2020–21 Arizona Coyotes season

The 2020–21 Arizona Coyotes season is the 42nd season for National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 22, 1979, the 25th season since the franchise relocated from Winnipeg following the 1995–96 NHL season,[1] and the 49th overall, including the World Hockey Association years. This would have been the final year of the Coyotes being in the Pacific Division in the 2020–21 season before the new NHL expansion team the Seattle Kraken enters into the Pacific Division in the 2021–22 NHL season.[2] However, on December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada-United States border. As a result of this realignment the Coyotes will play this season in the West Division and will only play games against the other teams in their new division during the regular season and potentially the first two rounds of the playoffs.

2020–21 Arizona Coyotes
2020–21 record	5–5–1
Home record	3–2–1
Road record	2–3–0
Goals for	30
Goals against	30
Team information
General manager	Bill Armstrong
Coach	Rick Tocchet
Captain	Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Alternate captains	Niklas Hjalmarsson Phil Kessel
Arena	Gila River Arena
Minor league affiliate(s)	Tucson Roadrunners (AHL) Rapid City Rush (ECHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Christian Dvorak (6)
Assists	Conor Garland (8)
Points	Conor Garland (12)
Penalty minutes	Jason Demers (12)
Plus/minus	Conor Garland (+6)
Wins	Darcy Kuemper (3)
Goals against average	Darcy Kuemper (2.46)

Standings

Divisional standings

West Division

Pos	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Colorado Avalanche	11	7	3	1	6	38	24	+14	15
2	St. Louis Blues	12	7	4	1	6	40	39	+1	15
3	Vegas Golden Knights	8	6	1	1	5	28	19	+9	13
4	Anaheim Ducks	13	5	5	3	4	25	34	−9	13
5	Minnesota Wild	11	6	5	0	3	30	30	0	12
6	Arizona Coyotes	11	5	5	1	5	30	30	0	11
7	San Jose Sharks	10	4	5	1	1	28	37	−9	9
8	Los Angeles Kings	10	3	5	2	3	28	34	−6	8

Updated to game(s) played on February 6, 2021. Source: National Hockey League[3]
Rules for classification: 1) Fewer number of games played (GP, only during regular season); 2) Greater number of regulation wins (RW); 3) Greater amount of wins in regulation and overtime, excluding shootout wins (ROW); 4) Greater amount of total wins, including shootouts (W); 5) Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded; 6) Greater goal differential (GD); 7) Greater amount of goals scored (GF)

Schedule and results

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.[4]

2020–21 game log
January: 3–4–1 (Home: 3–2–1 ; Road: 0–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 14 San Jose 4–3 Arizona SO Kuemper 2,274 0–0–1 1 Recap 2 January 16 San Jose 3–5 Arizona Raanta 2,384 1–0–1 3 Recap 3 January 18 Arizona 2–4 Vegas Kuemper 0 1–1–1 3 Recap 4 January 20 Arizona 2–5 Vegas Kuemper 0 1–2–1 3 Recap 5 January 22 Vegas 2–5 Arizona Kuemper 2,712 2–2–1 5 Recap 6 January 24 Vegas 1–0 Arizona Kuemper 2,672 2–3–1 5 Recap 7 January 26 Anaheim 1–0 Arizona Kuemper 1,808 2–4–1 5 Recap 8 January 28 Anaheim 2–3 Arizona Kuemper 2,252 3–4–1 7 Recap
February: 2–1–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 2–1–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 9 February 2 Arizona 3–4 St. Louis Kuemper 1,400 3–5–1 7 Recap 10 February 4 Arizona 4–3 St. Louis Raanta — 4–5–1 9 Recap — February 6 Arizona – Minnesota Postponed due to COVID-19.[5] 11 February 6 Arizona 3–1 St. Louis Kuemper — 5–5–1 11 Recap — February 7 Arizona – Minnesota Postponed due to COVID-19. 12 February 8 Arizona – St. Louis — February 9 Arizona – Colorado Postponed due to COVID-19.[6] — February 11 Arizona – Colorado Postponed due to COVID-19. 13 February 13 St. Louis – Arizona 14 February 15 St. Louis – Arizona 15 February 18 Los Angeles – Arizona 16 February 20 Los Angeles – Arizona 17 February 22 Anaheim – Arizona 18 February 24 Anaheim – Arizona 19 February 25 Colorado – Arizona 20 February 27 Colorado – Arizona
March: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 21 March 5 Minnesota – Arizona 22 March 6 Minnesota – Arizona 23 March 8 Arizona – Colorado 24 March 10 Arizona – Colorado 25 March 12 Arizona – Minnesota 26 March 14 Arizona – Minnesota 27 March 16 Arizona – Anaheim 28 March 18 Arizona – Anaheim 29 March 22 Colorado – Arizona 30 March 23 Colorado – Arizona 31 March 26 San Jose – Arizona 32 March 27 San Jose – Arizona
April: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 33 April 2 Arizona – Anaheim 34 April 4 Arizona – Anaheim 35 April 5 Arizona – Los Angeles 36 April 7 Arizona – Los Angeles 37 April 9 Arizona – Vegas 38 April 11 Arizona – Vegas 39 April 15 St. Louis – Arizona 40 April 17 St. Louis – Arizona 41 April 19 Minnesota – Arizona 42 April 21 Minnesota – Arizona 43 April 23 Arizona – Los Angeles 44 April 24 Arizona – Los Angeles 45 April 26 Arizona – San Jose 46 April 28 Arizona – San Jose 47 April 30 Vegas – Arizona
May: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 48 May 1 Vegas – Arizona 49 May 3 Los Angeles – Arizona 50 May 5 Los Angeles – Arizona 51 May 7 Arizona – San Jose 52 May 8 Arizona – San Jose
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)   Postponement

Players and personnel

Current roster

Updated January 30, 2021[7][8]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
16		Derick Brassard	C	L	33	2020	Hull, Quebec
91		Drake Caggiula	LW	L	26	2020	Pickering, Ontario
75		Kyle Capobianco	D	L	23	2015	Mississauga, Ontario
26		Michael Chaput	C	L	28	2019	Ile Bizard, Quebec
6		Jakob Chychrun	D	L	22	2016	Boca Raton, Florida
67		Lawson Crouse	LW	L	23	2016	Mount Brydges, Ontario
55		Jason Demers	D	R	32	2017	Dorval, Quebec
18		Christian Dvorak	C	L	25	2014	Frankfort, Illinois
23		Oliver Ekman-Larsson (C)	D	L	29	2009	Karlskrona, Sweden
24		Hudson Fasching	RW	R	25	2018	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
36		Christian Fischer	RW	R	23	2015	Chicago, Illinois
83		Conor Garland	RW	R	24	2015	Scituate, Massachusetts
34		Frederik Gauthier	C	L	25	2021	Laval, Quebec
33		Alex Goligoski	D	L	35	2016	Grand Rapids, Minnesota
79		Jordan Gross	D	R	25	2018	Maple Grove, Minnesota
15		John Hayden	C	R	25	2020	Chicago, Illinois
29		Barrett Hayton	C	L	20	2018	Peterborough, Ontario
31		Adin Hill	G	L	24	2016	Comox, British Columbia
4		Niklas Hjalmarsson (A)	D	L	33	2017	Eksjö, Sweden
28		Dryden Hunt	LW	L	26	2020	Nelson, British Columbia
9		Clayton Keller	LW/C	L	22	2017	Chesterfield, Missouri
81		Phil Kessel (A)	RW	R	33	2019	Madison, Wisconsin
35		Darcy Kuemper	G	L	30	2018	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
22		Johan Larsson	LW	L	28	2020	Lau, Sweden
46		Ilya Lyubushkin	D	R	26	2018	Moscow, Russia
42		Aaron Ness	D	L	30	2019	Bemidji, Minnesota
82		Jordan Oesterle	D	L	28	2018	Dearborn Heights, Michigan
17		Tyler Pitlick	RW	R	29	2020	Minneapolis, Minnesota
32		Antti Raanta	G	L	31	2017	Rauma, Finland
8		Nick Schmaltz	C	R	24	2018	Madison, Wisconsin

Draft picks

Below are the Arizona Coyotes' selections at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020 at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The draft was held October 6–7, 2020 virtually via Video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
2	49	Forfeited pick[lower-alpha 1]
4	111	Mitchell Miller (renounced)[lower-alpha 2]	D	United States	Tri-City Storm (USHL)
5	142	Carson Bantle	LW	United States	Michigan Tech (WCHA)
6	173	Filip Barklund	C	Sweden	Orebro Jr. (J20 SuperElit)
7	192	Elliot Ekefjard	RW	Sweden	Malmö Redhawks Jr. (J20 SuperElit)
7	204	Ben McCartney	LW	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)

Draft notes

1. The Coyotes' second-round pick in 2020 was forfeited as the result of a penalty sanction due to violations of the NHL Combine Testing Policy during the 2019–20 NHL season. The penalty included the forfeiture of a first-round pick in 2021.[9]
2. After controversy with Mitchell Miller, the Coyotes decided to renounce the pick on October 29, 2020.[10][11]

References

1. National Hockey League (2013). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2014. Diamond Sports Data, Inc. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-894801-26-3.
2. Kaplan, Emily (December 4, 2018). "Seattle gets NHL expansion team, to debut in 2021–22 season". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
3. "NHL Hockey Standings". www.nhl.com. National Hockey League.
4. "2020-21 NHL schedule announced". NHL.com. December 23, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
5. "Wild have four games postponed; players added to NHL COVID-19 protocol". NHL.com. February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
6. "Avalanche have four more games postponed due to COVID-19 protocol". NHL.com. February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
7. "Arizona Coyotes Roster". National Hockey League. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
8. "Arizona Coyotes Hockey Transactions". The Sports Network. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
9. "NHL announces sanctions to Coyotes for violating combine testing policy". August 26, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
10. "NHL draft pick Mitchell Miller under fire for bullying black, disabled classmate". October 26, 2020. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
11. "Coyotes renounce draft pick Mitchell Miller after report of bullying, racism". October 29, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2020.