The Arizona Coyotes have signed forward Blake Speers, a player they acquired along with Taylor Hall in the big December trade last year, to a one-year, two-way contract, according to AZ Sports’ Matt Layman. Speers’ extension is worth $735K if he makes the Coyotes squad or $70K if he plays with Tucson next season, according to PuckPedia.
Speers appeared to be the forgotten name in the trade that sent him and Hall to Arizona for a 2020 first-rounder, a 2021 conditional third-rounder, defensive prospect Kevin Bahl, and AHL prospects Nick Merkley and Nate Schnarr. Many believe that Speers was included in the deal to give the Tucson Roadrunners an extra body to fill in the roster there. However, Speers had some success in Tucson, scoring four goals and nine points in nine games, his best performance since his rookie season in 2017-18 when he potted 12 goals in Binghamton.
Speers is likely to play another season in Tucson as he has already played in 145 AHL games compared to three games (played back in 2017) in the NHL.