Stepan Provided Points, Leadership in First Season with Coyotes

GLENDALE -- Derek Stepan answered questions from reporters on "Exit Day" wearing a protective boot on his right foot. Did you know he played the final 15 games of the season despite a fractured bone? Not many people outside Arizona's dressing room did.
"Kudos to the medical staff for getting the foot ready to play each night," said Stepan, one of only four Coyotes to compete in all 82 games this season. "I feel like if you're able to play and compete at a high level, you should try to play every night. Obviously, playing 82 games in a season is a difficult task, and to be able to do it is something that you should be proud. If you ask anybody, they want to try to play every game and it's not different for me."

Stepan lived up to expectations in his first season with the Coyotes. He skated as the top-line center and produced 56 points, including a team-high and career-high 42 assists. He led all forwards in ice time per game (19:16), and ranked second on the team in points, power-play points (18), and shots (209), and he scored the team's only two shorthanded goals of the season.

"Derek provided the stabilizing presence up the middle of the ice that we had hoped for," said General Manager John Chayka, who acquired Stepan from the New York Rangers via a trade last June. "He played in all situations and led on and off the ice."
Stepan, who is anything but shy, was named one of five alternate captains before the season began and thrived in that role.

"It's who I am," Stepan said of his outgoing personality. "It's how I operate. I wasn't going to change that. When the trade happened everyone said 'just try to be yourself when you get there.' Like I said, this is who I am. It wasn't too hard to get into a leadership role. I think I had to earn my stripes a little bit throughout this year, and you have to continue to do that. If you want to lead well, you have to have the troops behind you like you, and I'm hoping this group continues to grow together. I hope they enjoy hearing me talk because if they don't they may not like me."
This off-season will be Stepan's first in the NHL that doesn't feature an appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He'll use the extended down time before next season to rest, recover and reflect on Arizona's season of extreme highs and lows.

"The first half of the year, at times, I wasn't sure if we were going to get out of it alive," Stepan said. "I think our coaching staff did a phenomenal job of continuing to coach. Our leadership group continued to push the group in the right direction and our young guys continued to push the pace. We can talk about our last 35 games and say there were some real good things done, but when you look at it, it doesn't carry over to next year. The amount of work that we have to put in to have the success that we did, it's going to be a big message come September time. It's something that we can build on, for sure, and that's where we're at right now. We're building. Like I said, at times, at the beginning of the year it was rough, but you saw the light at the end of the tunnel and we really started to play some good hockey."
Stepan did not like the way he performed for his new team at the beginning of the season. A chat with Head Coach Rick Tocchet helped him reboot.
"There was a lot of distractions.," Stepan said. "I was trying to do too much, at times, and trying to be in all places at all times. I had a conversation with 'Toc' to just kind of focus in on myself. I think from that point on I focused in a little bit just on my game and it actually kind of helped me do all the other things I was trying to do at the beginning of the year. So, the second half of the year I started to play a lot better, and obviously I played with (Clayton Keller) down the stretch and this guy elevated his game so much the last 40 games or so I just kind of rode his coat tails a little bit."

Keller, who led the team with 65 points as a rookie, said playing with Stepan made him a better player. Stats clearly support that statement. Keller produced at an 84-point pace per 82 games playing with Stepan, and at a 48-point pace per 82 games without him.
"'Step' is really skilled, and we always try to look for each other when we're on the ice, and when we do that good things happen," Keller said.
Stepan plans to head home to Minnesota at some point this off-season and then return to Arizona in August. He's hopeful the Coyotes can somehow store the momentum they built in the final three months of the season and bring it with them into 2018-19.
"I think individually as a player you've got to challenge yourself this summer to put yourself in a position to be better than you were the year before," Stepan said. "So, you look at your summer training, and you look at the whole, overall summer and you want to try to break it down into something that's going to allow you to have the most success come September. I think if you challenge yourself to push yourself each day in the summer, it makes your odds a lot higher to have success when we get back here next September. There's no team that goes into the summer together, so it's all individual, and I think each individual has to elevate and raise their training and take the extra time that we have here and try to use it to come back and be ready to go in September, and play the way we did here down the stretch."
Stepan is eager to see Arizona's schedule for next season. He's hoping it's not nearly as grueling as last season when the Coyotes played 21 road games before Dec. 11, and 12 of those in the Eastern Time Zone.

"Listen, we're in the West and the West has the harder travel schedule," Stepan said. "That's the way it is for all of the teams out here in the West, so we've just got to make sure that if that's the case we're prepared for it, and that comes back to our summer training. We've got to make sure that if we don't have enough practices at the beginning of the year that everyone's in the best shape and they're able to handle that without practices."
In addition to his medical boot, Stepan addressed reporters wearing a full beard. It's not he's annual playoff beard, of course, so he's not sure if he plans to shave it.
"I don't know," he said with a smile. "A lot of people like the beard. I get a lot of comments on it so I might keep it for a little bit. When you don't grow hair on the top of your head, it's always fun to grow it somewhere else."