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‘Yotes Notes: Front Office, Prospects, Braid

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The Arizona Coyotes have had a busy offseason, between hiring the youngest GM in NHL history, the first full-time female coach and using their cap-space to build a great young pool of players. Today, they announced that they’d done some more hiring, this time to beef up their scouting staff. The team has brought on Jim Hammett, Rick Beckfeld and Sergei Kuznetsov as amateur scouts, Brett Stewart as a development coach, Brad Rossen as Director of Statistical Science and Al Ambrosia as the Hockey Operations Coordinator.

Other news from the desert:

  • ESPN released their annual top 120 prospect rankings (subscription needed), and the Coyotes fared very well coming in with four players in the top 40 and nine players in total. Dylan Strome and Clayton Keller led the list at #4 and #6 respectively, while Jakob Chychrun and Lawson Crouse, both acquired through the use of cap space, came in at #32 and #37. Solid drafting, combined with a shrewd use of every advantage has led the Coyotes to have one of the best young crops in the league, and this list even excludes players like Max Domi and Anthony Duclair.
  • After all the fanfare that has surrounded the hiring of Dawn Braid as the first full-time female coach in the NHL, she’s quick to heap praise on other people. In a piece by Alex Prewitt of Sports Illustrated today, Braid admits it’s “a little bit overwhelming”, and quickly lists other skating coaches Barbara Underhill (Toronto) and Tracy Tutton (Colorado) as deserved of the same praise. It was her father who had pushed her into helping hockey teams, and Braid continues to remember why she started: “It’s the opportunity to honor my father again. Every day I teach or I coach or I consult I think about him. It is part of what drives me on the ice to do what I do. He’s always in the back of my head.”

Coyotes Notes: Hanzal, Rieder, Strome

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While former Arizona GM Don Maloney was originally looking to sign center Martin Hanzal to an extension this summer before he wound up being let go, his replacement in John Chayka doesn’t seem to be as enthusiastic about the idea, writes Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports.  Morgan reports that Chayka held talks with Hanzal’s representatives shortly after he took over but those talks were pushed to the backburner.

Chayka’s comments certainly suggest they’re in no rush to get a new deal done with the 29 year old:

“If there was something that made sense, we would probably take a closer look at that because Marty’s been a good player for us.  But maybe it’s not a bad thing to get into the season and see how things play out.”

Hanzal has spent his entire nine year career with the Coyotes.  Last season, he had a career year offensively, picking up 13 goals and 28 assists in just 64 games, setting career highs in both assists and points.  He also won an impressive 56% of his faceoffs, putting him in a tie for 15th league wide amongst players who took at least 300 draws last season.

Hanzal is entering the final season of a five year deal that carries a cap hit of $3.1MM and a salary of $3.5MM.  He will be an unrestricted free agent after 2016-17 and should be in line for a sizable raise if he can repeat his efforts from last season.

More news and notes surrounding the Coyotes:

  • Also from Morgan, there is no update to the Tobias Rieder contract situation. The two sides are believed to be several hundred thousand dollars apart per season.  Rieder’s agent Darren Ferris suggested earlier this summer that Rieder would be open to signing in the KHL if a deal can’t be reached.
  • Nick Cotsonika of NHL.com sat down with Chayka with the focus being on their youngsters, particularly Christian Dvorak and Dylan Strome, both of whom are expected to contend for a roster spot in training camp. Some have suggested that with Strome’s case in particular, he has achieved all he can at the junior level (he is too young to play in the AHL) and that sending him back could be detrimental to his development.  Chayka is at least mindful of that concept, noting “I do think there is, obviously, a fine line between overbaking your prospects. I think there’s some detriments that can occur if you do that as well. But at the same time, there’s no rush for these players.”  The Coyotes are expected to have a few spots open for younger players next season.

Mitch Marner Has “Good Chance” At Cracking NHL Roster

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While speaking to TSN’s Brent Wallace, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock revealed his thoughts about top-prospect Mitch Marner, and his chances at breaking camp with the NHL team:

Well I sure think he has a good chance. Mitch has been working with our guys and really training hard. He’s eating right and doing everything he can to get stronger. To say Mitch has got to put on a bunch of weight is ridiculous. All you have to do is get stronger – you are who you are, be the best Mitch you can possibly be. He’s got a lot of summer here left, and he’ll keep working at it, but he’ll have a real good chance to make the Leafs.

Babcock is referring to the overwhelming opinion that has been floated around since his draft, that Marner is too small to play in the NHL. Standing at 5’11”, 164lbs he’s always been a light player, and while he’s been working diligently to put on weight, he’ll never be a bruising forward.  Opponents of the “he’s too small” camp use examples like Patrick Kane (5’11” 177lbs) and Johnny Gaudreau (5’9″ 157lbs) as reasons why Marner will succeed at the next level, given his elite offensive ability and hockey IQ.

While Marner played center in junior with the London Knights of the OHL, and was drafted as such, these smaller players often find the most success on the wings in the NHL and his role at the current National Junior Evaluation Camp may give credence to the idea that Marner is destined to move. He suited up today on the wing of Dylan Strome, top prospect of the Arizona Coyotes, for their game against Sweden (which they lost 4-1).  The Maple Leafs have multiple options down the middle for next season, with Nazem Kadri, Tyler Bozak and Peter Holland returning, while number-one choice Auston Matthews has been added to the fold. William Nylander, another top prospect who showed off his offensive ability in a short NHL stint last season, is also a center by trade, though some think he’s also destined for the wing long-term.

Babcock also talked about the huge number of young players in Leafs camp this season.  When asked if it was too many, he said he’d thought about that himself:

I’ve spent a lot of time on that. Obviously I have our lineup built out with three teams for camp, two teams for exhibition, and then you get down to one. They have to solve it themselves, it’s not up to me, they decide who’s on the team. When I go through it, we have some good men, we’ve acquired good men, we have good people in our leadership group so I think we can handle some kids. Obviously we had a lot of them last year, and having a few more this year – especially high-end ones – won’t hurt us.

The Maple Leafs have built quite a prospect pool to draw from going forward, with players like Nikita Soshnikov, Zach Hyman, and Kasperi Kapanen all making their NHL debuts last season. This year will be more of the same, as Marner and Matthews try to break in.

Roster Crunch: Pacific Division

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While the NHL season is still more than two months away, it seems as though most teams have finished their free agent shopping and are now focused internally on roster decisions they’ll have to make. We’ll take a look at some of the options teams will have this fall, starting with the Pacific Division.

Anaheim Ducks – 2015-16 division winners Anaheim were discussed at length last weekend, with seemingly way too many bodies than roster spots on their blueline. With between seven and ten players who deserve to be in the NHL next season (depending on how you feel about youngsters Shea Theodore and Andy Welinski), the team is still expected to make a move to shore up their forward group.

Los Angeles Kings – Like the Ducks, the Kings have quite a few options on their back-end after signing Tom Gilbert to a one-year contract.  With four spots locked up between Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb, the last two will be some combination of Gilbert, veteran Rob Scuderi and Matt Greene. That’s to say nothing of NCAA transplant Paul LaDue who will figure into the Kings’ plans before long.

San Jose Sharks – It’s said that depth down the middle is a key to success in the NHL, and the Sharks have that in spades.  It looks like they’ll go into next season with at least six forwards who are capable of playing center. Often last season the top line was made up of three of them, with Joe Thornton between Tomas Hertl and Joe Pavelski. If the team wants to move the young Hertl back to his natural position (as they did at points last season), they’ll have to find ice-time for him behind Thornton and Logan Couture.

Arizona Coyotes – The crunch has already started to affect Arizona, as the team bought out veteran Antoine Vermette recently to open up a spot for one of their young forwards. With Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak both leaving junior after huge seasons, they’ll look to make the jump to the NHL this season. The Coyotes may ice one of the youngest lines in the league this year, if Strome ends up between Max Domi and Anthony Duclair like many have speculated. Another spot could open up if RFA Tobias Rieder ends up overseas next season, as has been rumored lately.

Calgary Flames – Will top pick Matthew Tkachuk break camp with the Flames, and where will he play? Many eyes will be focused on the second-generation NHLer this fall, as he tries to force his way onto the Flames roster. Otherwise, the Flames have some decisions to make on the blueline if Ladislav Smid declares himself healthy enough to start the season and Dennis Wideman remains on the roster. Jyrki Jokipakka hopes he did enough last season to deserve a spot, but if both veterans are around when October 12th roles around, he may find himself on the outside looking in.

Vancouver Canucks – The Canucks are one of the hardest teams to figure out in the league, as they seem caught somewhere between rebuilding and trying to contend. Outside of their top-four, it’ll be a battle for the defensemen in camp to lock up a spot.  Luca Sbisa has a contract that will probably guarantee him a spot, but his diminished play and injury history makes him a poor choice for the Canucks. If they decide to contend, icing him every night ahead of younger, more effective defensemen seems unwise.

Edmonton Oilers – It’s been long said that the Oilers don’t have any defensemen, and while it may still be figuratively true based on the overall skill, the team actually has too many bodies for their back end under contract. After trading for Adam Larsson, the team has eight defenders worthy of NHL time, including Jordan Oesterle who many believe proved his ability last season. One of them though, former captain Andrew Ference, may be on his own way out as he has stated more than once he’s heading to retirement if the Oilers’ buy him out.  They haven’t been able to yet because of Ference’s lingering injury, but the two sides should come to an agreement before camp.

Coyotes Notes: Rieder, Vermette, Strome

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Arizona restricted free agent winger Tobias Rieder is reportedly now seeking a two year contract with a cap hit of $2.75MM, reports Arizona Sports’ Craig Morgan.  Rieder’s agent, Darren Ferris, has also proposed a three year pact, also believed to be at $2.75MM each year and a four year offer with a cap hit of $3MM, one that would take the 23 year old to unrestricted free agency.

Meanwhile, the Coyotes are believed to be offering somewhere between $2MM and $2.3MM per season on a two year deal and would up the offer closer to $2.5MM on a three year deal.

Ferris has suggested recently that Rieder has received offers from overseas that are higher than what the Coyotes have offered so far.  The big question is would Rieder seriously consider signing elsewhere or is it just a negotiating ploy to get GM John Chayka to up their offer?  Morgan tweeted today that Ferris noted the start of the KHL season (August 22nd) won’t affect contract talks and that any decision to go to the Russian league would be made after the World Cup of Hockey.  Rieder will suit up for Team Europe in that tournament.

Last season, Rieder posted career numbers across the board, collecting 14 goals and 23 assists while playing in all 82 games.  He also saw his average ice time jump up to 17:18 per game, fourth highest among Coyote forwards.

Other news and notes from the Coyotes:

  • Chayka commented further on Monday’s surprising decision to buy out Antoine Vermette, telling Dave Vest on the team’s official website that it was a very difficult decision. “It’s the toughest day I’ve had so far in this role … Antoine was a class act for us, and on and off the ice he’s a great player and a great person, and he helped us grow this organization. We’re certainly thankful and grateful for that. For us, it just came down to a matter of we have to continue to improve our group and we need to move forward and get better as quickly as we can. With some of the young players that we have in the pipeline there’s some flexibility that this move creates. We felt it was necessary to do so to improve our group. It was a tough decision.”
  • Arizona has five prospects taking place in this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase, a development camp and tournament for prospects from Canada, the USA, Finland, and Sweden. Among those is 2015 third overall pick Dylan Strome with Team Canada.  While it’s anticipated that Vermette’s departure was made largely in part to create a roster spot for Strome with the Coyotes last season, Chayka wouldn’t go as far as confirming that he’ll play with Arizona in 2016-17 in that same interview.  He did suggest that he has higher expectations for Strome in training camp, saying that “As camp wears on and fatigue starts to set in and he’s playing up against bigger and stronger players, I think he’ll have that endurance this year to get himself through. Right now he’s doing everything that he can to make sure that’s the case and that’s a comforting thing as a manager to see.”

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