Cam Dineen

The Coyotes have agreed to terms with one of their remaining free agents as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that they’ve re-signed defenseman Cam Dineen to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay $750K in the NHL and $90K in the minors.

The 23-year-old was a third-round pick of Arizona back in 2016 (68th overall) but has yet to see any NHL action through his first three professional campaigns.  Last season, Dineen played in 22 games with AHL Tucson, notching 10 points in 22 games, just four points shy of his previous career-high in 2019-20 when he played in 57 contests.

Dineen will now be waiver-eligible next season so he’ll have to pass through unclaimed to make it back to the Roadrunners.  That seems like a reasonable expectation but with Arizona’s back end undergoing a major makeover this summer, it’s possible that he could earn himself his first recall at some point in 2021-22.  Dineen will once again be a restricted free agent next offseason.

The Arizona Coyotes have locked up another draft pick from last summer, inking Cam Dineen to an entry-level deal. Dineen was selected in the third-round, 68th overall last June, and follows fellow picks Jakob Chychrun and Clayton Keller in signing with the organization. After the disappointment of dropping all the way to seventh overall in this year’s draft lottery, Dineen should give some excitement to a franchise despite a down year.

Coming off a huge draft year that saw him register 59 points in 68 games, Dineen suffered a terrible knee injury in December that required surgery and ended up only playing 29 games this season. It was on a hit from the Oshawa Generals’ Robbie Burt for which he was suspended eight games, and it cost Dineen much of this important development season. That doesn’t mean he’ll be any less exciting in the future though, after being a finalist for the OHL Rookie of the Year in 2015-16.

The Coyotes are continuing their slow rebuild, and Dineen will return to the OHL next season to show that he still has the big upside that led them to take him in the third round. With the NHL squad not expected to truly compete for a few more seasons, they can take it slow with many of their prospects and hope for the best. This summer, the team has an extra first-round pick from the Martin Hanzal deal plus two third rounders (Calgary, Detroit). They’ll continue to stock the cupboards, and look to make a push for the playoffs down the road.