Coyotes Preview: Steve Sullivan Autographed Card

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This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: 2020 is a different beast and requires adaptability; in my case, it means the joint posts with my "main/personal" blog will not be in the "player here/analysis there" format but rather the entire scope of the analysis will take place here and the player will have some sort of direct connection to what's written. Caveats: at this point, despite the season being set to start in Mid-January, several impact players haven't found a team yet and quite a few teams are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much maneuvering left to do.

It's pretty easy to cast the Arizona Coyotes as a write-off or even a joke, as a team that simply shouldn't exist because it always lies in some kind of limbo, usually financial but also via pyramid-scheme-like ownership struggles, criminal behaviour and having no city to call home. However, despite all this, year in and year out, 25 to 30 professional hockey players do their best most of the time, and sometimes they have results to show for it, such as making the playoffs last year. After years of building through analytics and a seemingly communist approach of "everyone gets a six-year, $5M dollar deal", GM John Chayka gambled one time too many with Phil Kessel and Taylor Hall, then doubled down accepting a job with a competing organization while still under contract and was replaced... twice, in true Coyotes fashion.

What makes their odds look good:
Despite a sub-par season from Kessel (14 goals and 38 points in 70 games) and winning only 14 of 35 games after trading for Hall while giving up no roster player, Arizona managed to make it to the postseason. The goaltending duo of Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta rivals that of any team in the NHL, even Stanley Cup finalists Dallas Stars, a hair behind the Boston Bruins. If you can keep the puck out of your net, half the work's already done.

Question marks:
Oliver Ekman-Larsson hasn't looked as passionate about playing in the Desert since they tacked the captain's "C" on his chest, ironically; there was even some trade drama during the entire offseason. Is Jakob Chychrun ready to take on a first-pair role? Which young players among Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller, Conor Garland, Christian Dvorak, and Lawson Crouse can take on a prominent, perennial-All-Star role to lead the team to a deep run?

Outlook:
There are a lot of promising prospects on the team, but there seems to be a general lack of direction and identity. Still, year in and year out, the Coyotes' skaters give the middle of the pack a run for their money.

Prediction:
Fourth in the West Division.

I mentionned earlier Chayka being replaced twice... the drama hit right as the Yotes were preparing to enter the Edmonton bubble last summer, and regardlesss whether he quit or was fired, he still had to be replaced, so former player Steve Sullivan, who was assistant-GM, took over the mantle... for a month. He was then replaced by St. Louis Blues assistant-GM Bill Armstrong, but stayed on as assistant afterwards.

Sullivan's used to having to work hard for recognition; in the Dead Puck Era, when 20-goal seasons were considered excellent, he reached that mark for eight seasons in a row and even hit 30 twice - his 34 being second only to Tony Amonte's 35 on the Chicago Blackhawks in 2000-01, as his 75 points were 11 more than Amonte's 64 and his +3 rating was miles ahead of Amonte's -22, and his 31 goals with the Nashville Predators tied Paul Kariya for the team lead in 2005-06, but was achieved in 13 fewer games - and yet Sullivan never played in an All-Star Game and only suited up for Team Canada at two World Championships (2010 and 2011) where the country didn't really have a shot at a medal. The knock on him was usually his size (5'9" and 165 pounds), but it never stopped him from being a productive forward even when 6'4" defensemen were allowed to clutch and grab to defend their zone. Lucky for him (and us fans), he has a lot of fight in him.

Here he is wearing the Hawks' black (alternate/third) uniform from 1996-2009 on card #19 from Upper Deck's 2000-01 SP Authentic set:

He signed it in blue sharpie in 2008-09 or 2009-10 while with the Preds, either during his Bill Masterton Trophy-winning season or fresh off having just won it.

Steve Sullivan Autograph Card

The Chicago Blackhawks are currently in the conversation as to who will finish first in the Western Conference, with the San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild also in the mix. The Hawks are firing on all cylinders, with all their stars - Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Artemi Panarin - scoring, and rookie Nick Schmaltz filling in for the injured Artem Anisimov; Corey Crawford and Scott Darling are also doing their part keeping the puck out of their own net.

As the NHL is preparing for its 100-year celebration, the Hawks are currently in their 91st season. Unlike the Toronto Maple Leafs, which started out as the Toronto Arenas and were also known as the Toronto St. Patricks before taking on the Leafs moniker, the Hawks' only name change was its spelling, as they were known as the Chicago Black Hawks from 1926 until 1986, when they combined the words to become the Blackhawks.

For many of its formative years, the Hawks were comfortable sharing last-place with the New York Americans and New York Rangers. Things turned even worse during the James E. Norris era (1944-1966), as the Detroit Red Wings' owner - who also owned Chicago Stadium and had the Hawks as tenants - bought the franchise, essentially making it a farm club for his Wings... and one less adversary to bother with, essentially cementing their playoff position every year by winning against their own B team.

Things got better upon Norris' death, as Arthur Wirtz and son Bill orchestrated the Hawks' move to the weaker Western division and plowed through the expansion teams for most of the 1970s. Sure, the WHA dealt the team a serious blow when the Winnipeg Jets hired Bobby Hull (and, to a lesser extent, André Lacroix), but they still won seven division titles in the decade. However, when it came to championships, the team could not compete with the Eastern Division come playoff time - especially not the mighty Montréal Canadiens.

The 1980s brought forth Denis Savard, Steve Larmer and Doug Wilson, so, again, the team was competitive enough to make the playoffs, although it was never a true contender. The decade was all about the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets out West, and the New York Islanders, Habs, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Québec Nordiques (for the first half) in the East.

The franchise peaked with a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 1991-92 for the first time in 19 years, powered by the likes of Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick and Ed Belfour, but it was all downhill from there. Bill Wirtz saw his team trade away all of its stars and finish near the bottom of the standings from 1997-98 until 2008-09, with the sole exception of their first-round exit in 2001-02.

In 2004, ESPN even named the Hawks the "worst franchise in sports", as their arena was empty - partly because the team was so awful, but also as a protest towards Wirtz' media blackout where the team's local games were not televised.

In 2007, Rocky Wirtz took over the franchise after his father's death and revised many of the team's policies, including that of the TV blackout. GM Dale Talon had built the foundation of the team's depth and drafted Toews and Kane as the franchise's offensive cornerstones. They hadn't necessarily tanked prior to building their contender - they just sucked - but they were on a definite upswing, one that remains to this day, as Chicago can proudly claim to be this generation's dynasty team, with three Stanley Cups to date with the same core, supported by a bunch of two-time winners.

In speaking of the Hawks' history, I decided to feature a card that showed them celebrating their 75th anniversary; granted, it was during a bleak period in their history, but one they had to get through to become what they are today. And so I present you the signed version of card #83 from In The Game's 2001-02 Be A Player Signature Series set, it of the ''gold'' variant variety:

It features hard-working nearly-point-per-game winger Steve Sullivan, wearing the team's classic red (then-away) uniform, with the 75th anniversary patch on his chest. It was signed on-card in thin black sharpie.

These days, Sullivan is an Arizona Coyotes player development coach.

Steve Sullivan Jersey Card

Steve Sullivan has had a storied and fulfilled NHL career that could have gone even better were it not for injuries, especially back injuries. He played in 1011 games, scored 290 goals and accumulated 747 points while playing a complete decade in the Dead Puck Era. He had eight straight 20-plus-goal seasons including two in the 30s (34 in 2000-2001 and 31 upon returning from the lock-out in 2005-06), and seven straight 60-point seasons (with highs of 75 in 2000-2001 and 73 in 2003-04).

He won the Bill Masterton trophy after coming back from a 23-month absence in 2008-09, and led the league in shorthanded goals (with 8) in 2000-01, garnering a lot of Selke votes in the process. He's had a few Lady Byng votes in his time as well.

Originally drafted 233rd overall by the New Jersey Devils, they traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Doug Gilmour; six years later, when sent from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Nashville Predators, his trade value had dropped to two second-round picks (Michael Blunden and Ryan Garlock). Still, he played in 6 seasons with the Preds, tallying 263 points in 317 games and made them improve from a basement team to a playoff contender.

After signing one-year contracts with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Phoenix Coyotes, he was traded back to where it all began - New Jersey - making for the third-longest length of time between two stints with the same team in NHL history.

And because he's constantly had to battle through adversity (from the injuries and his 5'8'', 160-pound frame) while putting up decent numbers, the Arizona Coyotes felt he was the best person to be their new player development coach.

I didn't have a card of his with the Coyotes, but I do have this jersey card of him in the Predators' dark blue (away) uniform with matching swatch, from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Series 2 set (card #J2-SS of the Game Jersey sub-set):

He was an alternate captain for most of his tenure in Nashville.

Steve Sullivan Autographed Card

Timmins, Ontario. The place Shania Twain and Stompin' Tom Connors have called home, and where hockey players are bred: Frank Mahovlich, Pete Mahovlich, Don Lever, Dave Poulin, Allan Stanley, Walter Tkaczuk, Eric Vail, Dean Prentice, Eric Prentice, Shean Donovan, Art Hodgins, Bill Barilko... and Steve Sullivan fits right in with those legends.

Plagued by injuries, worse than even Robyn Regehr and Steve Bégin, he has only twice played over 80 games, both times with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was even forced to sit out the entirety of the 2007-08 season with back pain, and many thought he would never play an NHL game again. He proved them wrong, of course, winning a Bill Masterton trophy in the process, an award that I think ranks among the 5 most important that the NHL hands out - along with the Vezina (best goalie), Hart (MVP), Conn Smythe (playoff MVP) and Lester B. Pearson (MVP as chosen by the palyers) - because it rewards dedication to the sport and force of character, two key elements of the game.

Sullivan had his first impressive NHL season in 1998-99 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring 20 goals and netting 40 points, but the Leafs were disappointed in him to start the 1999-2000 season when he only managed an assist in 7 games, so they shipped him to Chicago, where he bested his stats as a Leaf 4 times, with seasons of 22, 34, 21 and 26 goals in his first seasons, and 15 goals - but 43 points - in his first 56 games of the 2003-04 season before the Hawks sent him to the Nashville Predators for two second-round picks after Valentine's Day; he added 9 goals and 30 points in 24 games with the Preds to become their top left winger.

The next two seasons, he produced like a first-liner: 31 goals and 68 points in 69 games in 2005-06, and 22 goals and 60 points in 57 games the following season; that's when the back injury took its toll, and he missed just about two years of play, returning for 41 games in the 2008-09 season, managing 11 goals and 32 points.

During his stint as a Hawk, and now that he's in Nashville, he's pretty much the only player of those teams I'd have loved to have on my team, despite the injuries (keep in mind, those were the pre-Jonathan Toews Hawks... there's a guy I'd trade two captains and 5 first-round picks for!).

This card (#27) is from Parkhurst's 2003-04 Original 6 set, manufactured by In the Game that year; a friend of mine had a bunch of cards from that set, and I didn't feel like purchasing a box of them just to get a few players I wanted (I was still a full-blown Québec Nordiques fan back then), so we agreed on a few trades, and this was one of the cards I had to have. Then, during the time he spent away from hockey because of his injury, he came to Montréal to see back specialists, one of whom introduced me to Sullivan so I could get this card signed. I told him how big a fan of his I was (I even knew his stats by heart) and wished him health, even if it meant he wouldn't play hockey again, and he replied, very calmly but very convincingly, that he would, indeed, play another NHL game. He did, and I taped it, and I cried, and it was amazing.

He signed it in black sharpie, very legibly, and spent time with anyone who wanted to meet him. A class act, all the way.