GLENDALE – We haven’t played a game since Saturday night and the guys are excited to get back to work and get out of this slump we’ve been in the past few weeks. It’s been a frustrating time for us because we all know we have a good hockey club here and things aren’t going as well as they should on the ice. But our coaching staff is doing a good job as always, our leadership in the room has taken charge and our belief in each other is still strong so we’re confident we can battle our way out of this streak. Hopefully this adversity we’re going through now will make us stronger on the other side once we break through.

We’ve had a few player-only meetings lately and we’ve all accepted that we are the only people who can be blamed for these losses and that the only guys who can fix this problem are the guys in this room. We’ve talked about that as a group and we’ve worked really hard in practice the last two days. Hopefully we’ll start playing better Thursday night vs. Nashville.

The four-day break from games has been nice for all of us. On Sunday, our team had its holiday party and it was a good time. December is my favorite month of the year and Christmas is my favorite holiday, but sometimes we travel a lot and it seems to get lost within the season. This year we don’t travel too much in December and that’s good. Here in the U.S. people celebrate Christmas on the 25th, but back in Denmark we celebrate it on the 24th. It’s a little bit different for me but it’s all good. I won’t see my family on Christmas this year but I will definitely check in with them on Facetime that day, and then hopefully I’ll be able to get out on a golf course and play a round. That would be a nice holiday gift I could give to myself.

A reporter asked me today if I had a favorite Christmas movie and I answered Home Alone. A lot of people forget that’s a Christmas movie because it’s so funny but that’s definitely one of my favorites. I also still enjoy all of the Disney Christmas movies I used to watch when I was a kid.

On Monday, all of us players and the coaches and employees of the team chipped in to help build a new playground for the City of Glendale. It was really nice to see so many volunteers come out to do so much hard work for a good cause like building a playground for kids. It all starts on the playground right? That’s where you meet your friends and play and learn some early lessons about life. Some of my jobs that day included moving dirt in a wheelbarrow and painting the Coyotes logo on a wall. It was fun to be a part of this project and nice to see the smiles on everyone’s faces when the job was done. The Arizona Coyotes Foundation does an amazing job giving back to this community and we’re all looking forward to the next event.

Thank you for reading. Happy Holidays!

Mikkel