Offseason plans, the Coyotes surprised many people this year by being a better team then most anticipated and not finishing in the bottom 3, and they look to build off of that, by moving more guys out, getting younger, taking on bad contracts and getting a arena finalized to remain in Arizona.
Arizona Coyotes
Significant Pending UFA:
RW B.Ritchie 8-5-13 50GP
C L.Dauphin 1-0-1 21GP
LW B.Imama 0-0-0 5GP
LD C.Mackey 3-4-7 30GP
Significant Pending RFA:
RW/LW C.Fischer 13-14-27 80GP
C N.Smith 0-0-0 2GP
C J.Jenik 0-0-0 2GP
C,LW J.McBain 12-14-26 82GP
LW M.Maccelli 11-38-49 64GP
G I.Prosvetov 4-3-0 REC 3.98 GAA .880 SV%
G C.Ingram 6-13-1 REC 3.37 GAA .907 SV%
Current draft capital for the Coyotes in 2023: 12
1RD ARI, OTT*
2RD ARI
3RD ARI, WAS, NYI, EDM
4RD ARI
5RD ARI, VGK
6RD ARI, COLU
Why did the Coyotes miss the playoffs: while Arizona was a team who was set up to miss the playoffs this year, there were definitely a few reasons why the Arizona Coyotes missed the playoffs.
Now first, was the fact that this team was set up in the offseason to be a bad team. Now the Coyotes are currently in the midst of a rebuild, so they are continuing to move any players with value for young players or draft capital, and that has lead the Coyotes lineup to look pretty bleak right now, they had depth players like Nemeth and Stecher on the backend and Boyd and Bjugstad on the forward group playing much higher then they would on most other teams and they had one of the youngest rosters in the NHL
So with the Yotes having a lot of young and inexperienced players playing this year, as well as depth players getting prominent roles with the team and them moving guys like Bjugstad, Gostisbehere, Stecher, Ritchie and Bjugstad at the deadline, it made it very difficult for the Coyotes to be anywhere close to a consistently competitive team this year and even though the team lost a ton of games this year and they didn’t do all too well and were still a bottom dweller, I still think they did better then most people would have thought, and instead of having top 3 odds at Bedard like most people probably thought they would have, they have the 6th best odds, so once again with the team in the midst of a rebuild, they have moved on from all their high level players that made them a good team, but their good young players haven’t made it to the NHL yet as they are still developing, so being a team in transition to their younger players, theywound up being a team destined too be bad and miss the playoffs and although they didn’t do good this year, you definitely could see improvements from last year and it does look like this team has a bright future.
And secondly would be their lack of fire power up front. Now the defence didn’t do anything spectacular this year and they were still in the bottom 10 of the NHL in goals given up, but their defence played well due to the fact that veterans Gostisbehere and Chychrun as well as guys like Valimaki and Moser helped do well shutting down other teams offense, and then in net Vejmelka had another fantastic season keeping the Coyotes in games they didn’t deserve to be in and showing how good of a starter he is, and even at times Ingram showed flashes of brilliance in net, so with the strong goaltending and decent veteran help before guys like Chychrun and Gostisbehere were dealt at the deadline, the defence wasn’t atrocious and they actually gave up less goals then teams like St.Louis and Buffalo, but the offensive side was different.
Now they were a bottom 5 team in the goal scoring department this year, and there high level talent did fantastic putting up points, as Keller tied Keith Tkachuk for most points put up in a single season as a member of Arizona with 86, and Schmaltz also broke the 50 point barrier with 58, but no one else hit 50 and only 5 players got to 40. Now they did have some strong offensive players but guys like Gostisbehere, Ritchie, Chychrun and Bjugstad who all put up over 20 points were dealt at the deadline, and it made the depth scoring that much harder and while Keller hit 37 goals, only Crouse and Schmaltz were the other two to hit the 20 goal mark this year, so while Keller had a career year, and Schmaltz, Maccelli, Crouse, Valimaki and Hayton all had pretty good seasons, the depth on this team wasn’t what it was on others and although the Coyotes seem to be growing and looking like they could eventually be a very lethal team offensively, they aren’t that now and they still have some more growing to do.
So I think the lack of fire power up front and good depth on the offensive side and the fact the team was set up to fail, lead to the Coyotes once again missing the playoffs, but I do think they are trending in the right direction and here are 5 thing I think could help them improve as early as next year.
How the Coyotes can improve in the offseason.
.1) Make sure the team can finalize new arena in Tempe.
Now the Coyotes stadium situation is quite cloudy right now, as there are a lot of people who are currently questioning if they will be able to get the arena in Tempe landed and if they are going to be able to remain in Arizona, so this has got to be the top priority for both Arizona and the NHL this season.
Now the Arizona Coyotes we’re not able to renew their lease at Gila River arena last year and we’re able to sign a 3 (or possibly 4) year deal to play at college arena ASU, which is where the team is currently playing, but the problem is while there seems to be a way to build a new arena in Tempe and it seems like the deal is close to finally build a arena that would keep Arizona in Tempe for over 30 years, it has had some pretty big problems including the Phoenix lawsuit.
So basically the big date right now for Arizona is the referendum that is to be held on May 16th, as the people of Tempe will vote on whether to go forth with the project or to stop it in it’s tracks. If the vote is yes, then I would expect them to start working on the arena in short order and try to get it finished in the next 2-3 years, but if the vote is no then the Coyotes don’t have many options left in the state of Arizona, and I think (as well as most people) that if the Tempe arena project winds up getting shutdown by the people of Tempe voting no, then the only real option for Arizona would be to move and relocate to another location, such as Houston, Utah or KC.
So that date of May 16th is going to be really important to the team, as they could have the Tempe arena started being built and they could have a long term future in Arizona if the people vote yes, but if the people vote no, then this may not even be a Arizona Coyotes offseason plan blog post, and may wind up being a different team entirely depending on where they would most likely have to relocate, but for now, the arena and long term outlook on the team remains the top priority for the team.
David Kirouac USA Today Sports
.2) Continue to give young players NHL opportunities, and draft well with their stockpile of picks.
Now the Coyotes have started to give their younger players the reigns on the team, and I think they could benefit from continuing to give their young players more playing time, and they have stockpiled a boatload of draft picks for the upcoming season, so they will need to draft well and hit well on most of those draft selections.
Now we have seen over the past year a lot of their younger players take steps in the right direction to be good NHL forwards. McBain was able to get a full season of play this past year and shouted he can be a good 3rd line Center, Maccelli was able to nearly hit the 50 point mark in his rookie season and has developed nicely into a top six forward and looks like he is in the running for the Calder, J.J Moser played a full year and showed he can already play consistently in the top 4 and he should only get better from here, Valimaki who was claimed off of waivers at the beginning of the season, showed he can still be a elite level defender, reaching a career high of over 30 points with Arizona, Hayton has sort of found his game and had a nice point total this year as 2nd line Center and Keller was able to continue to get better as after his breakout season last year, he was able to tie Tkachuk for the most points by a Coyote player in a season with 86 and I don’t think it is unreal to think that he could eventually hit 90 or 100.
So all of these younger players were able to grow at the NHL level this year, and I think they should continue to do so next year. Guenther seems like he will definitely make the team next year as he did get a small look this year at the NHL level and did all right, putting up 6 goals and 15 points in 33 games, and should be a consistent top 6 forward with the Coyotes next year, Victor Soderstrom who was called up after the deadline looked good, getting 9 assists in 30 games and I could see him being a consistent bottom pair defensemen next year, and even guys like Lamoureux, Kesselring, Doan and Smith all have outside chances to be regular NHLers next year, so if they can continue to add some more good young players to this lineup, I think they will continue to grow next year.
And then as you probably saw at the start of the blog post, Arizona currently has 12 picks in this year draft, 7 in the first 3 rounds and if they moved some more players before the draft they could have even more, so I think that they definitely have to pick smart with these picks especially in a deep draft. Now there is a lot of good talent in this years draft, and given the Coyotes have a lot of picks, I think they will need to use their picks wisely, as I think they could at least get 2-3 if not 4 or 5 regular NHL players with their 7 picks in the first three rounds if they were to draft well and grab guys who look like they would make huge impacts in the NHL, so if they can draft well and smart and get a couple of good players in the draft, they may be able to speed up their rebuild, so if the team can draft well and put some more young stars in the lineup next year I feel that they could definitely speed up the rebuild a lot.
.3) Take on bad contracts or sign players to help them get to the cap floor.
Now the Coyotes are the opposite of most team right now, instead of needing to clear cap space and trying to keep under the cap, the Coyotes are a team below the Cap floor and are pressing to try and reach the cap floor for next year and they may try and take on some cap in the form of bad contracts or sign some players to nice deals to do it.
Now the Coyotes cap situation doesn’t look good right now, as they are projected to be about just under 8 Million dollars bellow the cap floor and that is with three high priced contracts in Little, Voracek and Weber on IR right now, and it may get worse as Schmaltz who carries a $5.85 Million dollar cap hit and Crouse who has a $4.3 Million dollar cap hit have been mentioned in trades and if both are moved then the Coyotes would lose $10.15 Million dollars more in cap and would put them to just over $18 Million bellow the cap, so the team will need to figure out a way to acquire either short term bad contracts or sign some players who were under performing this year to nice one year deals.
Now the first option we have seen the Coyotes do multiple times over the past couple offseasons, as they acquired Ladd from NYI and got two 2nd round picks and a 3rd, they took Gostisbehere from Philly and got a 2nd as well, then they got Kolyachonok and a 2nd for taking on the Stralman contract from Florida, they then moved up 3 picks in last years draft and got a 2nd and 3rd round pick from Edmonton for taking on Kassian’s contract, and the Rangers dealt two 2nd round pick to Arizona for taking on Nemeth, so for taking on Kassian, Ladd, Gostisbehere, Stralman and Nemeth, they got Kolyachonok, 7 2nd round picks, 2 3rd round picks and moved up 3 picks in last years draft, and that is one of the ways they have stockpiled picks, and I think they will do more this year, as their are some players who are on not to long term deals whose contracts are not to good, such as Bailey in NYI, Mantha in Washington, Vlasic in San Jose, Johansen in Nashville or Saad in St.Louis as I think all 5 of these players the Coyotes could target and get a draft pick or two in return as well, so I seriously think they will once again use their cap space to get more draft capital and help other teams.
And I could also see them doing what the Hawks did last year, which was they signed Domi and Athanasiou to 1 year deals at cap hits to help their team reach the cap floor, and I think for some players who were injured or didn’t play well such as forwards Drouin, Nyquist or Wood or defensemen like Clifton or Hamonic who may not have much value, and maybe if they signed 1 year deals with Arizona, they can build back up their value and be moved by Arizona at the deadline, but with the team needing to get to the cap floor, expect the Coyotes to be interested and linked to bad contracts and look to sign some UFA’s to 1 year deals with the intention of moving them at the deadline.
.4) Move Vejmelka while the value is high, bring in veteran to pair with Ingram/Prosvetov.
Now the goalie situation is another intriguing one for the Arizona Coyotes, cause the Coyotes won’t be competing for a few years still and there goalie right now in Vejmelka has played really well but has come up in trade rumours, so is the most likely option for Arizona move Vejmelka now while his value is high and try and find another goalie to pair with either Ingram or Prosvetov in Net next year.
Now Vejmelka came into the NHL at the start of last year and didn’t have any NHL experience, but showed right away that he could handle a NHL job, and since coming in he has done fantastic, as Vejmelka seemed to always keep the Coyotes in games they didn’t deserve to be in and has had some pretty good numbers playing consistently as the Coyotes starter the past two seasons, as Vejmelka this past year got into 50 games and put up a 3.43 GAA and a .900 SV% and I know those aren’t fantastic numbers but playing on one of the worst teams in the NHL, it’s actually not that bad.
Now the dilemma the Coyotes face is that Vejmelka will have 2 years on his contract at the beginning of next season, and the Coyotes are probably not going to contend for playoffs for another 2-3 years, so if that is the case and Vejmelka has played phenomenally with a respectable $2.75 Million dollar cap hit, would the better option be to trade him right now. And I think the answer is yes because he would most likely leave as a UFA in a couple of years and they could get a solid return on him with his cap hit being pretty good and his play amazing, I think they could get a 2nd round pick and good prospect for him and given they are in a rebuild, it would probably make sense, and I would expect him to be with another team next year.
Then the question is who will be the tandem next year, now they have two exciting young goalies with their team right now in Ingram and Prosvetov, who both at the moment look like good NHL backups, but I don’t think either is a starter, so I would keep one at the NHL level as both had flashes of good play this year, and then try to find someone who could be their starter next year, and I think there could be a few options, such as Montembeault, Comrie or Murray via trade or like a Nedeljkovic, Stolarz or Griess via free agnecy, but I think moving Vejmelka now while his value is high is the smart thing to do, and then have one of Prosvetov or Ingram be backup next year and bring in someone new to help the young guys grow and be their starter for the next couple of seasons, and if they do that I think they will definitely be in the right direction in net.
.5) Consider moving good forwards like Crouse and Schmaltz.
And lastly here we have seen the Coyotes move a lot of their players that have value such as Chychrun, Kuemper, Garland, OEL, Larsson, Dvorak and Lyubushkin and it seems there could be a couple more that they move and on top of the possibility of moving their goalie Vejmelka, there is also some people who think that big time forwards Schmaltz and Crouse could also be moved at some point in the offseason.
Now the Coyotes have moved some of there bigger names to stockpile young players and some draft capital and with the rebuild still a few years away and the team still looking to move valuable players for future based packages, it seems like not only the team but also Crouse and Schmaltz would like to be traded. Now for Schmaltz there was some talk toward the end of the trade deadline that Schmaltz was a name that was not only out there, but a name the Coyotes were actively listening on, now Schmaltz is a good top line Center in Arizona and would make a great second line Center for most NHL teams, and is coming off a season where he was one point shy of tying his career in points with 22 goals and 58 points, and is signed for the next three years at a reasonable $5.85 Million dollar cap hit and I think would be of interest to a lot of NHL teams, and I think the Coyotes would be able to get quite a haul for the good Center, so I feel he is someone we will have to watch as a lot of teams who think they can contend next year could use a 2C like Schmaltz and I think with the team in rebuild mode right now, Schmaltz would welcome the move, so I feel Schmaltz is a likely candidate to be dealt by Arizona, and then there is also Crouse.
Now for Lawson Crouse he has just finished the first year of a 5 year contract that has a AAV of $4.3 Million dollars and had his most productive season ever as he was able to put up 24 goals and 45 points, and he looks like a really good physical middle six forward who has really high offensive upside, and he is cost controlled for the next 4 seasons, so for a team looking for a hard to play against forward who can help with some depth scoring in the middle six Crouse could be their guy, and with the value I think they could get for him I would think the team would definitely be open and willing to listen on Crouse in the offseason. So I definitely believe that both Schmaltz and Crouse will most likely be dealt by the Coyotes in the offseason and those two are really their only significant players left on their team that have been there for a couple years, as the only other player would be Keller but I don’t see him being dealt in my opinion by Arizona as they need to keep some players and with how well he has played I would say keep him for at least another year or two, but I would say definitely keep and eye on Schmaltz and Crouse as I think there is a likely both wind up getting dealt by the Coyotes in the offseason.
So in my eyes the teams lack of talent and young and experienced team as well as the lack of fire power up front is what caused the Coyotes to be a bottom dweller again this season and miss the playoffs, but I think if they continue to move out some guys like Schmaltz, Crouse and Vejmelka for significant returns, draft we’ll and keep adding good young players to their team next year, and then take on some decent players on bad contracts from other teams or go out in free agency and sign some underperforming players to reach the cap floor and I think this team will do better next year, and I do believe they will still miss the playoffs, but if they can get out of the bottom 10 I think I would call that a major victory next year for Arizona.
And if you like this blog post, then check out my YouTube video right here. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O8cgGRFhQms
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