Sarah McLellan of AZCentral gives us a number of interesting tidbits from the Arizona Coyotes training camp, including one from Tobias Rieder’s agent Darren Ferris. The restricted free agent remains unsigned, and Ferris says that he will not report to camp without a deal.
Rieder is currently at the World Cup as part of the Cinderella Team Europe, but will not report after the tournament ends. There has been much discussion this offseason, though a deal does not seem close. Rieder scored 14 goals and 37 points last season, but has considered a move to the KHL if something cannot be worked out with the Coyotes.
- In an expected move, the Coyotes have trimmed their roster at training camp, releasing Austin Lotz, Olivier LeBlanc and MacKenzie Braid. Head coach Dave Tippet says there will be more cuts on Wednesday and next weekend. Braid is the son of the Coyotes skating coach Dawn Braid, and had only been brought to camp a few days ago out of Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario.
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the recently eliminated Swedish World Cup team, will not be travelling back to the club today, and isn’t expected to get into an exhibition game until sometime next week. Larsson is set to begin his seventh season with the club, despite only being 25 years old. After back to back twenty-goal seasons from the back end, ’OEL’ is one of the most dangerous weapons on any team’s blueline, and is set to become a free agent after the 2018-19 season (when he’ll still only be 27, at least for a few more days).
OEL is one of my favourite defenders in the NHL. He’s such an electrifying talent and has been criminally under rated in the past. It’s nice that he’s starting to get some national media attention.