• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Phoenix Sports Today

Phoenix Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Cardinals
  • Diamondbacks
  • Coyotes
  • Basketball
    • Mercury
    • Suns
  • Soccer
  • Colleges
    • Arizona State
    • Grand Canyon University
    • Northern Arizona
    • University of Arizona

Coyotes Report Cards: Liam O’Brien

July 27, 2022 by Five For Howling

NHL: Arizona Coyotes at New York Rangers
Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

Liam O’Brien’s first season with the Arizona Coyotes earned him a two-year extension.

General Manager Bill Armstrong had a vision for the Arizona Coyotes. The team would still have skilled, smaller players like Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz, but they needed to get bigger and harder to play against. One of the players brought in to help make the Coyotes harder to play against was Halifax native Liam O’Brien.

Games Played: 39

Goals: 2

Assists: 1

TOI/Games Played: 9:29

PP TOI: 3:40

PK TOI: 2:23

O’Brien was undrafted but signed as a free agent with the Washington Capitals in 2014. He would spend the next six years between the Capitals and their AHL affiliate, the Hersey Bears, playing primarily in the AHL.

After years with the Capitals, O’Brien would sign a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche. Again he split time between the Avalanche and their AHL affiliate, playing 12 games with either team.

This past season was a big one for O’Brien. He played a career-high 39 NHL games and scored a career-high two goals.

O’Brien has a role with the Coyotes, and if you have any questions about what that is, look no further than his 106 penalty minutes last minute. You can also go to HockeyFights.com and see the ten fights he was involved in during his first season with the Desert Dogs.

Unfortunately, you don’t get too much else from a player like O’Brien. He averages under ten minutes per game, doesn’t contribute much offense, and isn’t the type of player you want on the ice with a minute left and a one-goal lead. But fans have expressed frustration that the team doesn’t have anyone to protect their skilled players like Keller, and O’Brien definitely does that.

Maybe not surprisingly, O’Brien did have to deal with some injuries during the season. He plays hard, but we probably weren’t going to get much more from him if he played a full 82-game season.

Grade: C+

Future:

O’Brien signed a two-year, $1.55 million deal that should keep him in the valley for the foreseeable future. He does have a bit of competition from Boko Imama, but earning an extension should be seen as a big vote of confidence from General Manager Bill Armstrong.

Ideally, in the coming years, the team will have players who can serve some of the functions of O’Brien while providing more. If you look at the players GMBA drafted, they were mostly bigger players like Conor Geekie, who can eventually come in and be strong power forwards. But that will take time; until then, O’Brien has a job that he does well.

Filed Under: Coyotes

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Offense: Diamondbacks Do It Right
  • Cardinals Reacts Survey: Who wins the right guard competition for the Arizona Cardinals?
  • An open letter to Mat Ishbia regarding Chris Paul
  • An open letter to Mat Ishbia regarding Chris Paul
  • (no title)

Categories

Archives

Our Partners

All Sports

  • 247 Sports
  • ArizonaSports.com - 98.7 FM
  • Bleacher Report
  • Heat Waved
  • OurSports Central
  • The Arizona Republic
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • Arizona Diamondbacks
  • AZ Snake Pit
  • Last Word On Baseball
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Venom Strikes

Basketball

  • Phoenix Suns
  • Amico Hoops
  • Basketball Insiders
  • Bright Side Of The Sun
  • High Post Hoops
  • Hoops Hype
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball
  • Pro Basketball Talk
  • Real GM
  • Valley Of The Suns

Football

  • Arizona Cardinals
  • Cardinals Gab
  • Cards Wire
  • Deep Dive
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Football Talk
  • Raising Zona
  • Revenge Of The Birds
  • Words From The Birds

Hockey

  • Elite Prospects
  • Five For Howling
  • Howlin Hockey
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • AZ Desert Swarm
  • Busting Brackets
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Devils In Detail
  • House Of Sparky
  • Last Word On College Basketball - Univ of Arizona
  • Saturday Blitz
  • Zags Blog
  • Zona Zealots

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in