The word “tank” is avoided at all costs by professional sports teams, but across the landscapes of the NHL, MLB, NFL, and NBA there are always clubs that embrace the losing, at least for a short period of time, in order to secure better draft positions. Though he won’t use the word either, it appears as though Arizona Coyotes Bill Armstrong understands exactly what it will take for his team to get to the top. Armstrong spoke with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, and explained clearly what his thought process was like in the summer.
We could have just re-loaded and gone at it and made the playoffs once every four years — if lucky, get by a first round, but most times get beat out. We had the conversation, ‘We want to be great here. We want to take the chance to be great.’ And the only way to do that is through the draft.
This kind of mindset isn’t a surprise, but it does shed some light on what the Coyotes will think about as the trade deadline approaches this season. The team is all-in on a complete teardown, with their eyes on the draft as the way to move forward. Arizona has already collected 12 picks for the 2022 class, including eight in the first two rounds. With players like Phil Kessel, Anton Stralman, Johan Larsson, and Ryan Dzingel all on expiring deals, perhaps they can add a few more before the deadline.
- The Montreal Canadiens don’t look like a competitive team this season either, but they’ll move forward with two youngsters entering the lineup tonight. Mattias Norlinder is set to make his NHL debut and Cole Caufield was recalled today from the minor leagues. Still, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote yesterday in his latest 32 Thoughts column that he believes Montreal would consider adding a puck-moving defender. With Shea Weber gone and Jeff Petry struggling at times this season, the Canadiens have had a lot of trouble generating offense from the back end.
- Dylan Strome played just over ten minutes last night with the Chicago Blackhawks, so despite the team’s recent winning streak (they’re 4-0 since making a coaching change) all eyes remain on the former top prospect. Friedman writes that in previous talks, the team was looking for a prospect or a draft pick in exchange for the underperforming 24-year-old. Strome, who looked like he was going to turn into a star during his first year in Chicago, has just two points in nine games this season and has been scratched several times. His $3MM cap hit is actually the fifth-highest among active Blackhawks forwards, with Tyler Johnson on injured reserve and Brett Connolly in the minor leagues.