Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

All Shane Doan

01/12/2016 at 7:24am EST

from Dan Rosen of NHL.com,

The Coyotes are in a playoff spot right now, second in the division and 7-1-2 in the past 10. Does this surprise you at all, because around the League most people are surprised?

"Well, I always think you're better than what others think you are, but at the same time, it's impossible not to be swayed by the so-called experts' opinion. At the beginning of the year, we thought we were going to be OK. We looked at the four centermen we had and that we brought in that weren't with us at the end of last year, with Martin Hanzal, Antoine Vermette, Brad Richardson and Boyd Gordon, and you think if you have one of those four guys on the ice at all times, you're going to be OK. So we were thinking we were going to be OK, but at the same time where we were being picked is always going to skew what you're thinking. It's hard not to. But at the same time, I thought we had a shot at being in the playoff hunt if we got good goaltending. I mean, that's everything. And we're getting good goaltending.

"When we did make it to the [Western] Conference Final, that's four years ago. That was fun, but the last couple, and especially last year, was the hard year. So yeah, you're excited, but I think the thing that's so exciting is the young guys have played such a big role in our team being better. If your team is going to have long-term success, it always starts with the young guys being the core and central guys. You can bring in and add a guy here and there, but for the most part, you need your young guys to come along, and they've really done that."

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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