by Daniel Dullum

GLENDALE AZ–For the Arizona Coyotes to get new ownership partner is a shot in the arm financially as Andrew Barroway who comes from Philadelphia is joining the Coyote’s partnership with current team CEO & co-owner Anthony LeBlanc. Barroway is a hedge fund investor who bought 51 percent of the Coyotes just before New Years. Barroway will have the hammer on decisions for the Coyotes, the plan as we understand it there will no knee jerk personnel decisions or anything like that.The Coyotes plan to get the farm system and scouting built up and go from there.

The San Jose Sharks who are coming to Glendale on Tuesday who have recently lost to the St.Louis Blues twice by identical scores of 7-2 and it’s funny the Sharks who have beaten most of their opponents for this month of January run into a team that have their number and for some reason the Sharks and Blues don’t match up and the Blues have been playing great this season and they’ll definitely have a say in how everything shakes out come playoff time.

What the Sharks can’t do they can’t over estimate the Coyotes come Tuesday, the Coyotes have played the Sharks tough for the Coyotes to win on Tuesday it would be a huge win for them as they struggle near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. They have a chore to dig out of that hole in the Pacific Division in the NHL West.

As far as the Sharks are concerned their doing what they have to do to keep up with the Blues and solidify their situation. It’s going to be interesting on Tuesday. Some of the top teams in the NHL Western Conference have the Chicago Blackhawks their a point ahead of the Nashville Predators. Then you have the Blues (25-13-3), then you have the Anaheim Ducks 29-10-6 they keep rolling along as well.

The way the playoffs are set up now the first top three teams in each division with two wild cards so it’s going to get rough here in the NHL. The Sharks lead the wild card and right now it’s a four team log jam and the Sharks just got by the vastly improving Winnipeg Jets (20-14-7) then there’s Calgary (21-18-3) you can’t count them out. The Dallas Stars are 18-15-7 can always be a thorn on the Sharks side, their always just outside the hunt. The Western Conference is going to remain this way right up until the end of the season.

The Sharks will be bringing that veteran core of players on Tuesday with Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Logan Couture, and the Sharks are strong on defense. The game in Arizona on Tuesday is a game that the Sharks should win. But you never know in the NHL when the home team is going to get inspired and the Yotes are starting to play a little better.

What hurts the Coyotes is they just don’t have the offensive fire power yet, even though they’ve had a couple of six goal games they had teams flip the score around on them too. The Sharks coming in are a solid team and it will be a great intense game to look forward to on Tuesday.

Daniel Dullum covers the NHL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com Listen to Daniel’s NHL podcast below