Coyotes Fire Coach Schoenfeld

May 24, 1999 / 5:10 PM EDT / AP

Good defense, always the trademark of Jim Schoenfeld as a player and coach, wasn't enough to get him a third year with the Phoenix Coyotes.

General manager Bobby Smith fired Schoenfeld on Monday, citing the team's ineffective power play and lack of scoring punch, both of which contributed to the Coyotes' eighth consecutive first-round playoff exit.

"We have to be a better team offensively," Smith said. "Our power play was at the very bottom of the NHL (actually 26th), and only San Jose, among playoff teams, scored fewer goals. We have to change the style of hockey that we play and make it more suited to the style of personnel we have."

Smith said he would begin looking for a replacement immediately.

Always a stronger Schoenfeld backer than owner Richard Burke, Smith denied that Burke pressured him to make the move and added that nothing about the process shook his faith in the franchise.

"I guess I'll be in the America West Arena this fall," Smith said when asked about his future.

Assistant coach John Tortorella has asked for permission to interview for a job with Los Angeles, and Smith said he would grant that but also would try to persuade Tortorella to stay.

He said he expects Gordie Roberts, the team's player development coach, to be back. Roberts is scheduled to take a group of 10 Phoenix prospects, including blossoming star Daniel Briere, to Finland this summer for two weeks of workouts with the Jokerit club.

Schoenfeld, hired from the Washington Capitals to instill discipline and toughness in a team that no one feared, did well during the regular season.

The 1997-98 club was 35-35-12 despite a long list of injuries. This season's team scored 90 points, second most in franchise history (39-31-12); had the second-best home record (23-13-5); and allowed 197 goals, also second-best for a team that entered the league in 1979 as the Winnipeg Jets.

The Coyotes were 14-2-2 in their first 18 games, and held their opponents to two goals or fewer in the last 17 of the stretch. It was the third-longest streak of its kind in hockey's 55-year modern era.

But Schoenfeld was done in by his inability to get the team past the first round of the playoffs.

The Coyotes opened 2-1 lead on Detroit a year ago, but lost their last three. This year, they had a 3-1 lead on St. Louis and again finished with a three-game losing streak.

Smith said he nevertheless was almost convinced Schoenfeld would be back until a meeting Thursday night when Schoenfeld promised the power play would be better but couldn't give specifics.

Schoenfeld, whose career record is 256-246-78 in nine seasons as a coach, did not attend the news conference.

"It's a situation where three people (including Burke) are looking at the forward direction of the hockey club and seeing it in a different way," he said in a news release.