Scouting the Division: Arizona Coyotes
The calendar has flipped to September, which means training camps open in a couple weeks. With that in mind, let’s start looking around the new/old looking Central Division. How did teams improve/get worse this offseason?
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the Arizona Coyotes are now a member of the Central Division. Arizona was one of the more active teams already this offseason, and they’re going to be a different group than Blackhawks fans remember from the past.
Let’s break down what’s coming in the Coyotes.
- Expansion Draft: Tyler Pitlick
- Key Losses: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Connor Garland, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Antti Raanta, Alex Goligoski, Jordan Oesterle, Derick Brassard, Darcy Kuemper
- Key Additions: Shayne Gostisbehere, Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson, Andrew Ladd, Anton Stralman, Dmitrij Jaskin, Ben Hutton, Carter Hutton, Ryan Dzingel
- New Head Coach: Andre Tourigny
- 2021-22 Cap Space: $8,271,383
(per CapFriendly)
Departures
The Coyotes made a big trade, sending OEL to Vancouver. Then they started taking on bad contracts (Ladd) to add picks in future drafts. At the end of the day, Arizona lose a lot. Garland is a talented player, Brassard was a decent forward and Hjalmarsson was a leader.
They also found a taker for Kuemper’s contract, sending him to the Avs when Colorado lost Philipp Grubauer to Seattle.
Additions
Arizona’s blue line will have a totally new look this year. Gostisbehere and Stralman will attempt to replace OEL, Hjalmarsson and Goligoski.
What a mess – after this year they don’t have anywhere to play – the lease on their arena was not renewed by Scottsdale
Maybe (hopefully) that could mean a move to Quebec City
Well. at least there’s one bad team in the Hawks division. Can’t imagine what it must be like to be a fan of that woebegotten franchise – yuck!
Still hold a grudge from the 2012 playoffs when they cheap shotted Hossa and Smith the flopping drama queen got Shaw suspended. No way they should have beat the Hawks in that series.
I think the Hawks roster is set – I don’t foresee any trades prior to the season starting unless a team comes calling (like MTL), there’s a massive injury problem or Reichel performs way above expectations
14 Fws – Toews, Kane, Dach, DCat, Kub, Nylander, Johnson, Gaudette, Strome, Kurashev, Khaira, Hagel, Carp and Borgstrom
Connelly is the odd man out (put on waivers) unless an injury gets him a spot
7D – S Jones, C Jones, Murphy, DeHaan, Stillman, Kalnyuk, McCabe
2 Gs – MAF, Lank
That’s not bad plus players in the AHL will be pushing for minutes
I think the team will look different again by the end of the season but to start I believe this is the team – it creates a lot of internal competition for playing time, gives some time to sort out who amongst Gaudette, Borgstrom, Strome, Nylander and Khaira should play regularly and provides some cushion if Toews can’t play right away or misses a lot of games
If the Hawks are not winning consistently by January I expect a coaching change – if JC can’t win consistently with this line up I don’t believe he’s an NHL coach
Wrap
Coyotes play in Glendale not Scottsdale, which are on opposite sides of Phoenix.
Glendale’s stadium was on the far side, too. Had they played in Scottsdale or Tempe (south of Scottsdale) attendance would have been way better. I found the journey to see the Hawks when they played here tedious, but doable. Before Gretzky went to the Kings we used to fly to LA to see them there. $19 flights, $19 tickets (at the ice). Hotel next to the arena would shuttle us and take us back later (for Red-Eye flights which are also gone). We did do dinner at the hotel.
They tried (before Glendale) to have a stadium in Scottsdale, but the then mayor nixed it.
Murphy was interviewed about his new contract and someone asked him about Toews who he has been working out with this summer:
Connor Murphy on Jonathan Toews:
“He looks great. It’s cool to see. Right when he came in, he had the same drive and excitement he’s always had to train hard and work on his game… It’s nice to see him finally get rewarded to be healthy, back on the ice and ready to go.”
Still keeping fingers crossed but that’s a pretty positive statement.
Bob – thanks for the correction – still what a mess!
ER – great to hear something (anything) positive about Toews’ recovery
If this team isn’t winning consistently by January, its not only time to fire the coach, its time to fire the GM too because he shouldn’t get two bites at the apple after firing a Hall of Fame Coach.
Maybe the great Q was behind all these great contracts…. “not his fault”….
Demanding the signing of old worn out players at the twilight of their careers…
js..
Go Hawks !
Never winning with Retreads.
Good series of articles to read leading into the season, thx.
I was reading the Ottawa Senators blogger at another hockey site and he mentioned he heard talk of several players the Sens may want to acquire to bridge the gap until some of their prospects grow into NHL ready – one of them was the Hawk’s Connelly. Wouldn’t that be nice to unload his $3.5M cap his and maybe even get a little something for him.