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Snapshots: Kane, Dahlin, Durzi

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The Detroit Red Wings have announced that legendary winger Patrick Kane will make his debut with the club in their Thursday night matchup against the San Jose Sharks. The game will also mark Kane’s return from the hip resurfacing surgery that he underwent on June 1st.

Kane will look to become the third NHL player to return from a hip resurfacing surgery, with top centerman Nicklas Backstrom representing the second to ever return. Backstrom made it back for the second half of the 2022-23 season, and eight games this season, but is currently on a leave of absence from the Washington Capitals due to complications with his injury.

Thursday night will mark only the 20th regular-season game that Kane has played outside of the Chicago Blackhawks organization. He joined the New York Rangers at last season’s trade deadline, appearing in 19 games and scoring 12 points with the club. These performances brought his career totals to 1180 games, 451 goals, and 1237 points. Kane was originally the first-overall selection in the 2007 NHL Draft.

Other notes from around the league:

Arizona Coyotes Recall Patrik Koch

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The Arizona Coyotes have recalled defenseman Patrik Koch from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.

The move puts the 26-year-old Slovak defenseman in a position to make his NHL debut, a debut that would come just a few short months removed from the start of his North American professional career. An undrafted veteran of the Czech and Slovak leagues, Koch was signed by Arizona this past summer after a solid season in Czechia.

Playing for HC Vítkovice, Koch scored 12 points in 46 games and helped the club reach the Czech semifinals. He also earned a spot on Slovakia’s team for the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship, where his country would only narrowly miss out on advancement to the playoffs.

So far this season Koch has played entirely in the AHL with the Roadrunners. He has most recently been listed on the team’s third pairing alongside Montana Onyebuchi, usage that does not indicate that he would be a prime call-up candidate. That being said, Koch provides quite a bit of bite and physicality, something other call-up candidates such as Victor Söderström or Maksymilian Szuber don’t offer as readily.

With the Coyotes preparing to play a tough Philadelphia Flyers squad that boasts fearsome forwards such as Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway, recalling Koch adds a bruising defenseman to an Arizona defense that is currently not overflowing with overwhelmingly physical players outside veteran Josh Brown.

Coyotes Expected To Announce Phoenix Arena Site By End Of January 2024

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The Coyotes have pursued all options to avoid relocation and remain in the Phoenix metropolitan area since the team’s proposed arena and entertainment district in Tempe failed to pass a public referendum in May. It now seems the team is closer than ever to a resolution, as team president and CEO Xavier A. Guttierez told Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports last week that they expect to announce their chosen arena site by the end of the 2023 calendar year “or shortly thereafter.” Morgan reported that the location is expected to be a parcel of land within Phoenix city limits adjacent to the border with Scottsdale, one of the more affluent Phoenix suburbs, which TSN’s Darren Dreger added today is close to being finalized.

This timing is on track with what Guttierez outlined before the 2023-24 season began: a likely announcement around the turn of the calendar year. Morgan noted that while the site announcement is expected to come within the next few weeks, the final project bid likely won’t be complete until closer to the end of the regular season, which NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said was a more realistic timeline over the summer.

The season-long delay in confirming a new arena site shouldn’t affect the move-out timeline from their current home, the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena shared with Arizona State University, by much. Morgan said Sunday that the Phoenix-Scottsdale site “would allow the Coyotes to remain close to the same construction timeline as the Tempe site,” given the Tempe site would have required considerably more remediation before the team could break ground on the arena – anywhere from “at least” six to eight months. A standard two-year construction timeline would have the new site ready for the 2026-27 season, requiring a one-year extension on the Coyotes’ initial three-year lease agreement at Mullett.

Notably, the expected new arena site is not the parcel of land in Mesa that the Coyotes issued a letter of intent to purchase last August. On Tuesday’s edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, Dreger said relocation remains on the table if the Coyotes can’t close this deal within the next few weeks.

A step toward an arena resolution would go a long way toward supporting a Coyotes team that’s shown significant on-ice improvement this season. They’ve defeated the last five Stanley Cup champions in their previous five contests, are 6-3-1 in their last ten games, and are just two points behind the Jets for third place in the Central Division. It’s hard to imagine Stanley Cup Playoff hockey in such a minute arena as Mullett, but it’s quickly becoming a possibility as soon as this season.

Coyotes Have Shown Interest In Noah Hanifin

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The Coyotes are among the teams that have demonstrated interest in acquiring Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Monday’s 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link). With Arizona now sitting first in the Western Conference wild-card race and just two points back of the Winnipeg Jets for third in the Central Division, it appears GM Bill Armstrong is gearing up to shift out of rebuild mode and begin spending assets to acquire more veteran talent.

A 6-3-1 surge in their last ten games has the Flames still in the playoff hunt, but a report last month from Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic indicates it hasn’t changed the Flames’ plans of selling off most of their pending unrestricted free agents. The first in-season move to get a value pack for a pending free agent came last week, dealing defenseman Nikita Zadorov to the Canucks for a pair of draft picks. More recently, LeBrun indicated the Flames could look to move Hanifin with an extension in place after previously offering him an eight-year deal worth roughly $60MM – a $7.5MM cap hit – before talks ended due to the team’s early-season slide.

While teams are still calling on Hanifin’s defense partner, Chris Tanev, the former is the top trade chip the Flames have to offer from their blue line. His value among Calgary’s pending UFAs is eclipsed only by top-line center Elias Lindholm.

Through his first five seasons in Calgary, after they acquired him from the Hurricanes during the 2018 offseason, Hanifin notched 31 goals, 125 assists, 156 points, and a +33 rating in 359 games. That works out to 0.43 points per game, a mark he’s outpacing so far this year with five goals and 12 points in 24 contests. He’s averaging a career-high 22:53 and is on pace for an even-strength Corsi share above 50% for his ninth straight campaign. For now, his services come at a financial bargain, costing just $4.95MM against the cap – significantly under market value for a first-pair-caliber defenseman.

You’re likely not winning a championship with Hanifin as your number-one defenseman, but he has a track record of handling heavy minutes while still displaying two-way prowess. The Coyotes’ most significant weakness is far and away their blue line depth, and adding Hanifin to a growing group that’s seen strong performances from Sean Durzi and J.J. Moser this season could boost their playoff chances by a significant margin. MoneyPuck currently lists the Coyotes with 68.4% odds to make just their second postseason appearance since losing in the 2012 Western Conference Final to the Kings.

If Armstrong does move to acquire Hanifin, the 26-year-old would end up playing the role the Coyotes envisioned Mathew Dumba would hold this season. Signed to a one-year, $3.9MM contract late in the summer, Dumba has floundered in the desert, posting just four points in 22 games and a -8 rating, the worst among Arizona defenders. His ice time has steadily decreased since the beginning of the season, and he’ll soon be averaging below 20 minutes per game for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

Hanifin is also a left-handed shot, an area of need for the Coyotes. They currently have a surplus of right-shooting defensemen, which has forced players like Dumba and Troy Stecher to play on their off-side.

His acquisition cost won’t be cheap, especially if there’s an extension in place as part of the trade. The Coyotes have plenty of draft capital, though, owning a jaw-dropping ten second-round selections over the next three years. They’ve also retained all their first-round picks for the next three seasons. They also have a quickly-growing forward prospect pool, including 23-year-old Jan Jeník, who had 47 points in 51 games with AHL Tucson two seasons ago and reportedly sought trade options last summer.

Boyd Out Several Weeks, Dermott Not Ready To Return

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The upper-body injury that Coyotes center Travis Boyd suffered against Colorado on Thursday is not a short-term one, notes PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan (Twitter link).  Instead, head coach Andre Tourigny indicated that the 30-year-old will be out for multiple weeks.  It has been a rough year for Boyd this season.  He cleared waivers at the end of training camp despite coming off a 34-point season; his $1.75MM contract likely played a role in that.  While he wasn’t sent down to AHL Tucson, he hasn’t been a regular either, seeing action in just 16 of 22 games so far.  To his credit, Boyd has been relatively productive in those games with eight points despite logging less than ten minutes a night but he won’t be adding to those point totals for a little while now.

  • Still with Arizona, Morgan adds in a separate tweet that blueliner Travis Dermott isn’t quite ready to return tonight against St. Louis. The 26-year-old has missed more than three weeks with an upper-body injury of his own.  Dermott has played in ten games with the Coyotes this season after signing a two-way deal with them in free agency, picking up one assist while averaging 17:29 per contest.

Coyotes Recall Ryan McGregor On Emergency Basis

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The Coyotes have made a roster move up front in advance of their game tonight against St. Louis, announcing (Twitter link) that they have recalled Ryan McGregor from AHL Tucson on an emergency basis.

The 24-year-old is in his fourth season in the pros and this is his first-ever recall to the NHL.  McGregor, originally a sixth-round pick by Toronto back in 2017 but went unsigned, has played in 19 games with the Roadrunners this season but is off to a slow start, notching just two goals and two assists.  This performance comes on the heels of a 12-goal, 18-point effort in 2022-23.

With those numbers, it might be surprising that it’s not Jan Jenik getting recalled; he had just been sent down earlier this week.  However, at this point, it makes more sense for Jenik to see some regular action in the minors instead of regularly getting shuffled back and forth while seeing sporadic playing time.

McGregor is playing on his first post-entry-level deal, a two-way agreement worth $775K at the NHL level.  He’s set to once again be a restricted free agent this summer.

Jack McBain Still Several Weeks From Returning

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  • It will be a while yet before the Coyotes get Jack McBain back in their lineup. PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports (Twitter link) that the center is still several weeks away from returning from his lower-body injury that has kept him out for a couple of weeks already. The 23-year-old was off to a nice start to his season before the injury, collecting three goals and four assists in 13 games while chipping in with 33 hits.

Coyotes List Vladislav Kolyachonok As Week-To-Week

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The Coyotes announced Monday that defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok is out of the lineup on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury. No corresponding transaction has been made. However, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan notes that injured defenders Mathew Dumba and Travis Dermott practiced with the team today and could return to the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Lightning. Dermott is on injured reserve and must be activated before returning to play.

Kolyachonok sustained the injury on a hit from Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault midway through the second period of Saturday’s 2-0 win. The 22-year-old Belarusian defender, who was making his season debut, skated just 6:09 through the first half of the game and did not return. Arizona recalled him earlier in the month after injuries to Dermott and Juuso Välimäki. However, he was a healthy scratch for four games to begin his first recall of the season.

A 2019 second-round pick of the Panthers, the Coyotes acquired Kolyachonok as a sweetener in the July 2021 trade that saw Arizona receive aging defender Anton Strålman, whom the Panthers no longer had cap space to afford. A puck-mover by nature, he’s failed to truly jump out in the NHL or AHL but remains on track to be a dependable long-term call-up option at minimum. He has 35 NHL games with the Coyotes, although 32 came in the 2021-22 season. The Coyotes stashed him in the minors for all but two games in 2022-23.

Kolyachonok was off to a decent start with the Tucson Roadrunners before his call-up, recording just three points in 11 games but had a +5 rating that is still tied for the team lead. He was the most polished call-up option to provide low-risk depth minutes for a Coyotes team that fully intends to make noise in the Western Conference Wild Card race.

Coyotes Reassign Jan Jeník

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The Arizona Coyotes announced Sunday that they’ve assigned forward Jan Jeník to the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL.

In doing so, the team has freed up a spot on the active roster, potentially indicating one of their three players on injured reserve, likely forward Jack McBain or defenseman Travis Dermott, could be nearing a return. It could also be a transaction to give the 23-year-old Jeník some playing action in tonight’s contest with the Roadrunners against the Henderson Silver Knights, as the Coyotes are out of action until Tuesday.

Arizona summoned Jeník from the minors over a week ago after announcing that center Barrett Hayton would be sidelined week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Jeník was a healthy scratch in three of four games during his call-up, making his lone appearance (and season debut) last Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues. In that contest, he logged just 8:21 of ice time, one shot on goal and a -1 rating.

He’s been used in a similarly limited role during previous call-ups this season, also serving as a healthy scratch for a couple of games last month. A third-round pick of the Coyotes in 2018, Jeník is now in his fourth professional season after making his NHL debut during the 2020-21 campaign. He’s on his second NHL contract after his entry-level deal expired last summer, inking a one-year, two-way pact with a minimum guaranteed salary of $125K after reportedly seeking a trade upon reaching restricted free agency.

In 18 NHL games, Jeník has tallied four goals, one assist and a -4 rating while averaging 10:10 per game. While not a highly-touted prospect on draft day, he had a solid finish to his junior career that positioned him as a potential top-six fixture in Arizona if things panned out the right way. That seems unlikely now, as he’s yet to come close to carving out a full-time role for himself and is off to a mediocre start with Tucson, notching two goals and three assists in nine games. His professional point production has continued to decrease from its peak in 2021-22 when he notched 47 points in 51 games for the Roadrunners.

Next summer, Jeník will once again be a restricted free agent. Unlike last year, he will be eligible for salary arbitration. He’s due a qualifying offer of $813,750 per CapFriendly; however, if things continue in their current direction, Jeník seems like a strong non-tender candidate and could find himself on the open market when July 1 rolls around.

Coyotes Notes: Trade Rumors, Dumba, Dermott

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Arizona Coyotes insider Craig Morgan recently shared that the team is actively looking to trade away prospects and draft picks for lineup upgrades. Morgan says this trade interest is inspired by the success of Sean Durzi, who the Coyotes acquired from Los Angeles this summer. Durzi has 12 points in his first 19 games in Arizona while averaging a monster 23-and-a-half minutes a night, three minutes more than any other Coyotes skater. The Yotes only traded away a 2024 Second Round pick for the 25-year-old defenseman and, after a modest 8-9-2 start to the season, are hoping that lineup upgrades like Durzi could kick them into gear sooner than expected.

Arizona certainly has the pieces to build around. Durzi has provided a strong boost of scoring to the blue-line, alongside J.J. Moser, who has 10 points in 19 games. The duo backs up a forward group that’s leveled out, after a top-heavy start to the year. Arizona currently has nine players with 10 or more points this season, led by Clayton Keller’s 18 points in 19 games. Matias Maccelli has continued to rack up the assists and Logan Cooley is settling into the NHL well. With the right upgrades, there’s reason to be excited about what’s going on in Mullett Arena.

Other Coyotes notes:

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