Arizona Coyotes Insider’s Craig Morgan spoke with new Red Wings defenseman Jordan Oesterle regarding his trying 2020-2021 season with the Arizona Coyotes, and the reasons why Oesterle ended up signing with his hometown Red Wings team:”
It has been one heck of a calendar year for Jordan Oesterle.
One year ago Monday, he began the postseason with the Coyotes in the Edmonton playoff bubble. By the time Colorado had eliminated Arizona in the second round of overall action, former coach Rick Tocchet and assistant coach Phil Housley had labeled Oesterle their most consistent defenseman in the playoffs.
That level of play carried over into the 2021 season. Oesterle had a goal and nine points in the season’s first month and a half, and he was regularly logging 20-plus minutes a night with a season-high of 24:08 in a win against Anaheim on Feb. 24.
It all spiraled downward from there. His minutes decreased, his production decreased and by early April, he became a frequent healthy scratch. The final indignity came on May 3 when he was in the lineup against the Los Angeles Kings — at forward because the Coyotes were short on bodies. That weirdness occurred in another game, and when I requested Oesterle after a game to discuss the unexpected move to forward, he declined the Zoom appearance.
“It was weird for me as well,” he said when I caught up with him after he signed with the Red Wings last week. “Let’s hope I don’t have to do it again.”