What Went Wrong: Arizona Coyotes
Arizona missed the playoffs for a seventh straight season, which is the second-longest active drought in the league. The Coyotes posted a 39-35-8 record to place 18th in the overall standings. Arizona had one more victory than Colorado, but finished four points behind the Avalanche for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They were mathematically eliminated on the second-to-last gameday of the season. Still, the Coyotes had their most successful campaign since 2013-14, when the club posted 89 points. Unfortunately, they missed the playoffs that year as well.
Arizona was in the playoff picture late in the year when the team went 13-4-0 from Feb. 9 to March 14. They registered the best record in the Western Conference during that stretch and were riding a 10-2-0 run as of March 14. That successful span gave them a four-point cushion on the Minnesota Wild for the second Wild Card slot. However, the Coyotes lost control of their own destiny with a 2-4-3 slide in their next nine games and it ended up costing them a spot in the postseason.
