Arizona Coyotes Acquire Antti Raanta, Derek Stepan

The Arizona Coyotes aren’t finished just yet. The team has completed a trade that would bring both Antti Raanta and Derek Stepan to the desert from New York, with a return of defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and the seventh-overall pick in this year’s draft. The Rangers now own two selections in the first round, a place they haven’t found themselves in many years.

Arizona has clearly green-lit some big changes in the last few weeks, parting ways with Shane Doan, Mike Smith and Dave Tippett, while now trading away Connor Murphy, Laurent Dauphin, DeAngelo and their top pick. It’s time to compete in the desert, as they’ve brought in a top pairing defenseman, a solid center and starting goaltender just in the last few hours. While there will undoubtedly be some hand-wringing in the price they paid, it is a bold move by GM John Chayka and Owner Andrew Barroway to signal the rebuild has come to an end. 

Stepan, 27, is locked into a long-term deal that will cause a $6.5MM cap hit for the next four years. The interesting part, especially for the Coyotes, is that the salary is substantially lower than that, dropping all the way to $5MM in the last two seasons. For a team cash-strapped team like the Coyotes, every dollar counts. Stepan is a legitimate top-six center, but there is some debate over whether he’s really an answer on the first line. Now in a division with Connor McDavid, Anze Kopitar and Ryan Getzlaf among others, he’ll face the same problem he had in New York; his offensive performance just isn’t as good as the centers around him.

Stepan is a lock for 50+ points every year and is a solid two-way player capable of improving his linemates play, but with an extremely young group behind him down the middle in Arizona, he’ll face some tough matchups on a nightly basis in the Pacific division. Hoping that he’ll take the next step may be a long-shot, though he obviously gives more hope than another new prospect.

On the other hand, Raanta has been highly touted as the next Cam Talbot and is on an extremely team-friendly $1MM deal for next year. He will hit free agency after that, making an extension likely this summer if the Coyotes believe he—and not Louis Domingue—is their next starting goaltender. Raanta has a career .917 save percentage in the NHL and is coming off a .922 this season, making him look more than ready to take the next step. At 28, he has filled in admirably for Henrik Lundqvist in the past and should be a solid replacement for (if not upgrade on) Mike Smith this season.

For the Rangers, owning their own first-round pick was foreign territory enough. The team hasn’t selected in the first round since 2012 when they picked Brady Skjei, and will now pick higher than 10th for the first time since 2004 (Al Montoya). That should provide them with a pretty solid player, and give them an opportunity to start refilling the system with young talent.

DeAngelo will also be a part of that, though the 21-year old has been known to have “attitude” issues before. Any problems off the ice will be dealt with by the Rangers as they try to develop the 2014 19th-overall pick. With incredible offensive ability, DeAngelo has never been able to put it together in his own end and thus has had trouble finding a role in the NHL. In 39 games this season, the defenseman posted 14 points but a -13 rating. Part of that is because of how bad Arizona was, but there has never been much positive to say about his work in the defensive zone.

Darren Dreger of TSN was first to break it.