from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

- As they prepared to face the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Saturday night, the Coyotes were winless in 10 games, had earned one lousy loser point and had a horrible goal differential of minus-21.

What an embarrassment and a disgrace.

After Arizona sent goaltender Mike Smith packing and acquired New York Rangers’ backup Antti Raanta, the Coyotes lost Raanta to injury, so Saturday they acquired Scott Wedgewood from the Devils for a fifth-round pick in 2018 even though their No. 1 was closing in on a return to action.

Losing wasn’t part of the plan for the Coyotes, especially when veteran Derek Stepan was included in the Raanta deal.

- A frustrated Jack Eichel smashed his stick over his knee as he headed to the dressing room after the Buffalo Sabres’ 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. Sabres GM Jason Botterill was supposed to turn this around with the hiring of coach Phil Housley, and Eichel, who turned 21 Saturday, is in this for the long haul. Botterilll needs to make more changes because the Sabres are headed for another terrible winter and that wasn’t part of the plan after they dealt for Marco Scandella and Nathan Beaulieu in the summer.

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