Phoenix Coyotes Sign David Aebischer
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by Pbcoyotes
For the better part of the summer, every article written by our local media had some quote by Phoenix Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney about his search for a goaltender. Curtis Joseph was not going to be signed by the team and Mikael Tellqvist, the goaltender acquired by the Coyotes in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has not been proven to be a solid number one goalie.
Today, the Coyotes sign David Aebischer to a year-long contract and the financial terms were not disclosed.
The particulars about David Aebischer can be viewed here, as I speculated a little bit earlier this summer on just who would be the goaltender that the Coyotes would bring in to hopefully take the reins of this young team. It is clear though, that if Aebischer can't succeed here, he will not be able to find another team to resurrect his career.
In the desert, where fans are very hungry for anything positive and anything resembling success, Aebischer will have the opportunity to just stop pucks from getting into the net. Here, for better or for worse, the media scrutiny is far smaller than the markets of Colorado and Montreal. Patrick Roy is far in the distance and all of the impediments are not here to get in his way. He has the amazing opportunity to refocus his game and realize his potential from his early success.
Aebischer will have a strong defensive core in front of him and provided that the forwards also play a strong two way game, he will have the chance to do the job he has always wanted to.
The rest will be up to him.
I haven't heard anything as of yet; althought that could change. I would agree that Maloney's contacts out east could help him trade easier since trading with the Eastern Conference (since the Coyotes see teams from that conference so infrequently) would be easier to do.
Before the signing of Aebischer, the media has been kind of hinting and Maloney has been stating that our goaltending needed an upgrade. I think if Aebischer doesn't pan out, the team will start searching for that goaltender of the future. We have a couple of prospects at that position, but not close to Montoya's ability.
We have time to wait, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen. It does depend on what assets need to be traded away though.
What I like about Maloney so far is that he has stuck to a specific game plan, in spite of my or anyone else's ramblings contrary to what he should do. He found the goaltender that could help and if he works out, he will look like a genius out here.