Coyotes winger Conor Garland is coming off a career season that saw him collect 12 goals and 27 assists in just 49 games. The timing of that year couldn’t have been better as while he played under a bargain deal the last two years with an AAV of just $775K, that contract is now over. Garland now gets to hit restricted free agency with salary arbitration eligibility which has him well-positioned for a significant raise.
On the surface, it would seem as if this would be a situation where GM Bill Armstrong might want to get a head start on discussions on a new deal but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Garland’s agent Peter Cooney told Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli that the team requested two types of contract proposals on May 20th. Those were submitted but Cooney notes that there has been no communication since then which calls into his question his future with Arizona.
It’s certainly not the first time this has been the case as there were reports before the trade deadline that the team was willing to move Garland for the right price, one that they obviously didn’t get. But clearly, Armstrong isn’t sold on the winger being a must-keep part of their long-term future which, for a team that struggles offensively, is a little odd.
The Coyotes have over $31MM in cap room this offseason per CapFriendly so the hesitancy certainly isn’t cap-related although Arizona’s internal budget could be a factor. They will have to rebuild a significant portion of their back end this summer with four regulars set to hit the open market and Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s future with the team in question as well. If they want to use Garland as a trade chip, he could be dangled to fill one of those holes on the back end although it would also create a big one to fill on the wing.
Lots can change between now and the deadline to file for arbitration which should come in near the beginning of August but for now, it certainly seems as if Garland’s time in Arizona is rather tenuous. He’ll be an interesting player to watch for on the trade market in the coming weeks as a result.
Trade him and OEL to Boston for DeBrusk , Frederic and Clifton….then Bruins give him one year 2.5 million to prove himself….not flash in the pan…
Yeah, great trade. 3 scrubs.
The Coyotes are quickly turning into the dumpster fire of the NHL. They can’t retain any talent, all their promising prospects turn into misses and they lost their first rounder because they did some shady prospecting. At least we all know Matthews is going to go play there at some point!
Quickly turning into a dumpster fire? One could argue that they’ve been smouldering for a while now. But I do like the idea of Matthews joining them when they start to be a serious threat!
Personally I wouldn’t ready too much into this, if you’ve been paying attention, Bill “Army” Armstrong is flying solo at the moment, and doesn’t have a lot of help in the hockey ops department, he is currently:
Evaluating FAs
Working out next year’s roster
Dealing with the OEL situation
Expansion draft
Upcoming draft
Filling holes in the roster
Evaluating RFAs
Finding a coach
Staffing the Road Runners (coach et al)
Finding hockey ops personnel
And I’m sure the list continues…
So the fact that he hasn’t got back to the Garland camp, although it doesn’t reflect well on management, is probably more a case of priorities. I’m sure the Garland camp has an inkling of this. And sure, they may be looking at trading him while his value is relatively high, but give the guy a break, and do your research before making assumptions.
When Armstrong took the job he supposedly impressed by having a huge binder or playbook for his plans to take this team out of the doldrums. Exactly when he intends to implement changes is still a mystery. Losing Garland, who is the heart and soul of the team is not exactly a good move if they intend to be more competitive. It could be more about not wanting to pay him and that’s crazy since he’s performed well for crumbs the last two years. If GMBA is overwhelmed maybe he shouldn’t have taken the job… it’s time to put your big boy NHL pants on and get it done!
There was a great Athletic article explaining why the Yotes are a disaster. Bottom line…owner’s useless kid running it into the ground…and then a bunch of issues stemming from that.