There are currently no contract talks between the Arizona Coyotes and center Martin Hanzal at the moment, reports Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic. Hanzal is set to become an unrestricted free agent in July if no deal is reached and he has commonly been suggested as one of the top rental players available on the trade market. Despite the fact the sides aren’t currently talking, there have been talks dating back to before the season started and Hanzal himself is on record saying he would like to stay and that he remains open to further discussions on a new deal.
The 29 year old Hanzal is having a quiet ‘walk’ year with just eight goals and six assists through 33 games this season. However, he’s coming off a career-best 41 point campaign in 2015-16 and at 6’5, he is the type of big presence down the middle many teams would covet for their middle six. It also helps that Hanzal is a consistently strong player at the faceoff dot, winning at least 54% of his draws the last four seasons.
GM John Chayka told McLellan that so far he has yet to receive a serious offer for Hanzal and provided an update on the situation.
“There’s not a lot going on. But at the same time, it’s one of those things where we kind of know where the player is at. The player knows where we’re at. If there was an opportunity to do something, I don’t think it would take too long. But still collecting information and working through the process.”
More from Arizona:
- Also from McLellan, injured center Ryan White skated on Tuesday but is now expected to rest for a few days and has not accompanied the team on their road trip. Head coach Dave Tippett acknowledged that the lower body injury he suffered over two weeks ago is not healing as quickly as they anticipated. White has five points (2-3-5) in 30 games this year while sitting fifth among NHL forwards in hits per game at 3.3.
- Center Alexander Burmistrov, who was claimed on waivers by the Coyotes earlier this week, is someone that their entire scouting staff was pushing for them to add, Chayka told Dave Lozo on the Coyotes’ team website. Burmistrov has struggled this season but is still just 25 and was a former top ten pick back in 2010. As he deals with visa issues, he’s not expected to play through the weekend.