Number To Know: Tippett In Trouble With Coyotes?

Number To Know

3 — Games in which Phoenix has allowed six more goals this season through nine games. Those were all losses: Winnipeg (6-2), St. Louis (6-1) and Tampa Bay (7-3). That's not like a normal Dave Tippett-coached team, since the veteran bench boss prides himself on defensive responsibility.

In fact, Tippett’s Coyotes — Carolina’s opponent Saturday — have had only one season in his previous five in Arizona in which the team allowed more than six goals more than three times in a season (six times in 2010-11). Here are the number of games Tippett’s teams in Arizona have allowed six-plus goals:

2009-10: 1
2010-11: 6
2011-12: 2
2012-13: 3 (in 48-game season)
2013-14: 2
2014-15: 3 (through nine games)

If history does indeed repeat itself, this doesn't bode well for Tippett’s chances of lasting beyond this year with the Coyotes. Tippett’s other stop as a head coach was in Dallas, where he lasted — you guessed it — six seasons. Other than one outlying season, Tippett’s Stars squads predictably kept the six-goal games down except for one season, then again right before he was let go. Here’s the number of games the Stars allowed six or more goals under Tippett:

2002-03: 0
2003-04: 2
2005-06: 6
2006-07: 0
2007-08: 2
2008-09: 8

So again, Tippett had one year in the middle of his tenure where his Stars team had a big chunk of six-or-more-goals-allowed games, and it was in the wide-open 2005-06 season that saw lots of power play time and inflated scoring due to rule changes. Then the Stars allowed six or more goals eight times in 2008-09, and Tippett was shown the door.

With three such games in just nine outings this season, the Coyotes seem to be on a path similar to Tippett's last year in Dallas. If that — and the team’s 3-5-1 record — don't improve, Arizona’s coach could be looking for a new home soon.