The Arizona Coyotes announced that they have signed forward Liam O’Brien to a two-year contract extension (link). As per club policy, the terms of the contract have not been made available at this time. O’Brien had signed a one-year deal with the Coyotes back on July 28, 2021, and would have become a UFA after this season. PuckPedia reports that the contract will carry a cap hit of $775K.
O’Brien has been a bright spot for the Coyotes and their fans this year. While he has just two goals and one assist in 37 games for Arizona this season, he does lead the NHL in penalty minutes with 106 and is second on the team with 131 hits. Coyotes’ GM Bill Armstrong described O’Brien as a “hard-working player with great character who is always there to support his teammates.”
The O’Brien extension is the second handed out by the Coyotes this weekend, having extended forward Travis Boyd yesterday. While these players may not be the building blocks of the Coyotes rebuild, the club has made clear that they want to keep parts of their veteran core in place, presumably to help develop and move along the future young core of this team, especially as it transitions to its temporary home at Arizona State University. The extensions also represent a willingness of current Coyotes players who are comfortable signing on to continue their stay in Arizona despite the many changes ahead of them.
Sure sign of desperation: for his other clubs, he was an occasional injury callup from the minors who’s never been able to maintain so much as 4th line production. For Arizona, they send this 1980s throwback out for nine minutes a game so he can punch people and give their handful of fans some raw meat. Where have you gone, Ken Baumgartner, Coyotes Nation’s calling out to you, woo woo woo.
Good. Hard working enforcer. The NHL needs more.
A clubhouse leader and someone who stands up for the core kids. The Coyotes didn’t have anyone like that the last couple years while Keller and Garland were getting mauled on the ice every night. Vets like O’Brien, Roussel and Beagle have made the Yotes a tough team to plan against as the season has progressed
To paraphrase Bill James, there are hundreds of thousands of people who are “leaders” and have “character,” but only a bare handful can play NHL hockey. O’Brien isn’t one of them. Are you really imagining that the checking wingers of other teams are thinking “Oooo, we can’t mug Keller or Garland any more, because the fearsome fearsome thug will get us?” Please.
Obviously Arizona, with one of the worst records in the league, isn’t a “tough team to plan against.” I really don’t give a damn about my teams being able to win the fights — if I wanted to see that, I’d go to a UFC match; those guys are better at fighting. I give a damn about my teams being able to win the GAMES.
They’re not going to win games for a few years so why not try to attract “fans” (people who only go to games to see fights, there’s a lot out there) with icing a tough team. A move or two like this could help in the long run
this is a Certified Phoenix Moment (TM)