Arizona restricted free agent winger Tobias Rieder is reportedly now seeking a two year contract with a cap hit of $2.75MM, reports Arizona Sports’ Craig Morgan. Rieder’s agent, Darren Ferris, has also proposed a three year pact, also believed to be at $2.75MM each year and a four year offer with a cap hit of $3MM, one that would take the 23 year old to unrestricted free agency.
Meanwhile, the Coyotes are believed to be offering somewhere between $2MM and $2.3MM per season on a two year deal and would up the offer closer to $2.5MM on a three year deal.
Ferris has suggested recently that Rieder has received offers from overseas that are higher than what the Coyotes have offered so far. The big question is would Rieder seriously consider signing elsewhere or is it just a negotiating ploy to get GM John Chayka to up their offer? Morgan tweeted today that Ferris noted the start of the KHL season (August 22nd) won’t affect contract talks and that any decision to go to the Russian league would be made after the World Cup of Hockey. Rieder will suit up for Team Europe in that tournament.
Last season, Rieder posted career numbers across the board, collecting 14 goals and 23 assists while playing in all 82 games. He also saw his average ice time jump up to 17:18 per game, fourth highest among Coyote forwards.
Other news and notes from the Coyotes:
- Chayka commented further on Monday’s surprising decision to buy out Antoine Vermette, telling Dave Vest on the team’s official website that it was a very difficult decision. “It’s the toughest day I’ve had so far in this role … Antoine was a class act for us, and on and off the ice he’s a great player and a great person, and he helped us grow this organization. We’re certainly thankful and grateful for that. For us, it just came down to a matter of we have to continue to improve our group and we need to move forward and get better as quickly as we can. With some of the young players that we have in the pipeline there’s some flexibility that this move creates. We felt it was necessary to do so to improve our group. It was a tough decision.”
- Arizona has five prospects taking place in this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase, a development camp and tournament for prospects from Canada, the USA, Finland, and Sweden. Among those is 2015 third overall pick Dylan Strome with Team Canada. While it’s anticipated that Vermette’s departure was made largely in part to create a roster spot for Strome with the Coyotes last season, Chayka wouldn’t go as far as confirming that he’ll play with Arizona in 2016-17 in that same interview. He did suggest that he has higher expectations for Strome in training camp, saying that “As camp wears on and fatigue starts to set in and he’s playing up against bigger and stronger players, I think he’ll have that endurance this year to get himself through. Right now he’s doing everything that he can to make sure that’s the case and that’s a comforting thing as a manager to see.”