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Coyotes Sign Jakob Chychrun To Entry Level Contract

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Craig Morgan of AZSports tweeted that the Arizona Coyotes have inked the second of their two, 2016 first-round draft choices, defenseman Jakob Chychrun, to a three-year ELC. Chychrun, selected 16th overall in last month’s draft, likely has only an outside chance at cracking the Coyotes roster on opening night as the club already has eight blue liners with NHL experience under contract. It’s far more likely the team will elect to return him to his junior club for more seasoning.

Originally slated to select 20th overall, the Coyotes moved up four slots in a deal with Detroit that also saw Arizona absorb Pavel Datyuk’s $7.5MM cap charge. The trade allowed the Wings to clear significant cap space from their books while moving back just a few positions in the draft. Detroit also picked up a second-round choice, 53rd overall, which the team used on defenseman Filip Hronek. Meanwhile, Arizona put themselves in position to take a player they liked tremendously and had even considered drafting with the seventh overall selection.

Chychrun played his junior hockey with the Sarnia Sting of the OHL. In 62 OHL contests, Chychrun tallied 49 points and boasted a +23 plus-minus rating. His father, Jeff, appeared in 262 NHL games, spending time with Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Edmonton and Pittsburgh in a career spanning parts of eight seasons.

First year GM John Chayka has been among the league’s busiest executives this summer. Chayka added D Alex Goligoski via trade and LW Jamie McGinn and D Luke Schenn as free agents to bolster a young but talented roster. He also re-signed team captain Shane Doan and restricted free agent defenders Michael Stone and Connor Murphy to new contracts. Whether these additions will help get the Coyotes back into the postseason or not remains to be seen but Chayka has shown he is unafraid to make impact moves so far.

Arizona Stays Busy, Lock Up Stone To One-Year Deal

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Immediately on the heels of the Connor Murphy signing, the Arizona Coyotes have inked fellow blue liner Michael Stone to a one-year, $4MM contract, according to AZSports’ Craig Morgan. Stone and the Coyotes had been scheduled to go to arbitration on August 4th but the two parties obviously found common ground and thus avoided a hearing.

Stone blossomed in his fourth full season in the desert, averaging nearly 22:30 of ice time per game. He ranked second among Arizona defensemen behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson, tallying 36 points in 2015-16. The Coyotes drafted the 26-year-old in the third-round (69th overall) of the 2008 draft.

After accounting for Stone’s deal, Arizona is left with more than $6MM in cap space and only RFA Tobias Rieder left unsigned. That figure is a bit surprising given how busy the Coyotes have been this summer upgrading their roster. In addition to locking up their own RFA’s, Arizona has re-upped with Shane Doan (one-year, $3.88MM), signed UFA winger Jamie McGinn to a multi-year deal worth $10MM over three seasons, and acquired pending free agent Alex Goligoski via trade before extending his contract for five years with an AAV of nearly $5.5MM. That doesn’t even include Pavel Datsyuk’s $7.5MM cap hit which Arizona absorbed as part of a deal to move up four slots in the first round of the recent draft. To still be $6MM under the cap ceiling is an impressive bit of work from John Chayka.

Given the offseason work and the young talent already on the roster, it’s conceivable the Coyotes could force their way into a playoff spot in 2016-17. That’s especially true if goaltender Mike Smith, who missed three months of action last season due to a core muscle injury, returns to form as a quality netminder.

 

 

Western Notes: Chayka, Sydor, Eberle

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When the Arizona Coyotes gave then 26-year old John Chayka their GM job, many in the hockey world cringed at the thought of the analytic community finally having a poster boy at the top of an NHL franchise. Chayka promised to bring with him the newer possession-based analysis of NHL players, and today summed it up quite nicely in an interview with Dan Rosen of NHL.com:

“The philosophy is fairly simple. It’s when we don’t have the puck, recover the puck as quickly as possible. There are all kinds of different forms where you can gain possession of the puck, some of them are physical and some of them are non-physical, so I think you need a blend to have both. Once you get the puck back it’s to transition the puck. Defense isn’t about defending, it’s about getting the puck in the forwards’ hands and getting the puck moving into the offensive zone. It’s about transitioning.”

The phrase “defense isn’t about defending” will stick out as a sort of mantra for the analytics push, as the league continues to move away from players who can impose themselves physically in their own end, but can’t move the puck when they end up with it.  His team has added Alex Goligoski, a possession darling who moves the puck well, but has also signed Luke Schenn and Jamie McGinn, both players who aren’t so revered for their new-age skills.  It’ll be interesting to watch what Chayka does in the future, and whether he breeds a level of success rarely seen in the desert of Arizona.

  • The Chicago Wolves of the AHL have hired former NHLers Darryl Sydor and Daniel Tkaczuk as assistant coaches for 2016-17, adding to a group that is led by Craig Berube.  The St. Louis Blues affiliate went 33-35-8 last season, and will look to improve on that record this year. Sydor, a 19-year NHL veteran played in over 1200 games in his career, and has been coaching as an assistant with the Minnesota Wild for the past five seasons. Tkaczuk, an AHL journeyman who made it into just 19 NHL games during his career, coached with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL last season.
  • Jordan Eberle has hired the “Shot Doc” to help him with his shooting ability for next season. Ron Johnson, a skills coach who has worked with Joe Pavelski and Ryan Kesler in the past has been known for improving things like grip mechanics and puck protection. If Eberle can improve on the 14.5% shooting percentage he put up last season, he could climb back above the 30-goal mark for the second time in his career.  Eberle has 145 career goals in 425 games, and is a near-lock for 25 each season.

West Notes: McGinn, Shore, Blues

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Prior to entering free agency, left winger Jamie McGinn was looking to find a bigger role in terms of his ice time as well as leadership, he told Sarah McLellan of AZCentral.  The Coyotes were looking for someone to help mentor their young core forwards in Max Domi, Anthony Duclair, and Dylan Strome as well as someone who was willing to get to the dirty areas to score and identified McGinn as someone who would be a fit.  Not surprisingly, it didn’t take too long before the two sides agreed to a three year, $10MM contract on July 1st.

McGinn also had someone he could turn to for information about playing in Arizona as his brother Tye spent part of the 2014-15 season with the Coyotes and obviously the elder Jamie liked what he heard.

The 27 year old profiles as a top six forward with Arizona which should give him a chance to beat his career high in points (39) that he set last season, split between Buffalo and Anaheim.

More from around the Western Conference:

  • Dallas center prospect Devin Shore is a candidate to step into a bottom six role for the Stars following the departures of Vernon Fiddler (to New Jersey) and Colton Sceviour (to Florida). Shore missed the second half of last season following shoulder surgery but impressed in his freshman pro campaign, picking up 26 points in 23 AHL games.  If Shore, a second round pick in 2012, can crack the roster in training camp, he coincidentally will follow in the footsteps of the Stars’ first rounder in 2012, Radek Faksa, writes Steve Hunt of NHL.com.  Faksa also suffered a shoulder injury in his first pro season but was still able to crack Dallas’ lineup the following season.
  • St. Louis will be changing their playing style to reflect the departures of physical forwards David Backes, Troy Brouwer, and Steve Ott as well as the addition of David Perron, head coach Ken Hitchcock told Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Hitchcock has been working closely with coach-in-waiting Mike Yeo to incorporate part of the system Yeo ran with the Wild into how the Blues want to play next season.  While St. Louis will have less toughness in their lineup, they hope to compensate for that by being tougher on the puck, something that Minnesota was known for under Yeo’s tenure.  With only RFA Jaden Schwartz left to re-sign this offseason, it doesn’t appear likely that the Blues will wind up doing much to replace the grit they’ve lost as a new deal for him will eat up a big chunk of their remaining cap space.

Jamie McGinn Signs With Coyotes

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Pierre LeBrun reports that the Arizona Coyotes have agreed to a three-year, $10MM deal with power forward Jamie McGinn. The signing provides some veteran toughness up front for a young Coyotes team. McGinn stays in the division, after having been dealt to the Anaheim Ducks at last season’s trade deadline.

McGinn, who was originally a second-round pick of the San Jose Sharks back in 2006, is coming off the best offensive season of his career in which he scored 22 goals and racked up 39 points.  The 27-year old is a presence in the corners, using his large frame to remove defenders from pucks and develop a strong cycle.

For Arizona, McGinn will represent a veteran piece up front as they look to build around their young core of forwards. His $3.3MM cap hit instantly becomes the third highest of the forward group, behind Antoine Vermette and the recently retired Pavel Datsyuk.

Even if McGinn isn’t the offense powerhouse that his numbers may imply, he is a solid contributor that will add some consistency to the young Arizona lineup and comes at a reasonable cap number.

Free Agent Focus: Anaheim Ducks

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After a disappointing first round exit that cost head coach Bruce Boudreau his job, the Anaheim Ducks will be looking to get back to Stanley Cup contention in 2016-17, and take the division crown for the fifth consecutive season.  While their ’big-3’ up front, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler, are locked up long term, the team has quite a few young players looking for raises as they hit restricted free agency. Here’s a look at their upcoming offseason:

Key Restricted Free Agent: D Hampus Lindholm – While you could pick from a handful of names for the Ducks’ key RFA this summer, Lindholm represents the most important out of all of them. After being selected 6th overall by Anaheim in the 2012 draft, Lindholm has continued to improve on his defensive ability, reaching all new heights this season.  While his usual excellent +/- numbers dipped slightly due to playing against tougher competition, he logged 22 minutes a night leading one of the youngest and most effective blue lines in the league.

His possession metrics are unbelievable, coming fourth in the league in CF% (a measure of puck possession based on shots for and against) only behind the excellent Los Angeles group. Lindholm improved the possession numbers of every single teammate he played with, providing Lidstrom-like efficiency on the back end. While he may never put up Karlsson or Burns type offensive numbers, his value is certainly felt by his teammates and front office.

Coming off his entry level contract and still only 22, Lindholm could get a long-term extension similar to the one Morgan Rielly received last month from Toronto. The Maple Leaf defender signed a six-year $30MM dollar deal to stay in Toronto, giving away two of his UFA years to lock in the higher value now.

Other RFAs: G Frederik Andersen, D Sami Vatanen, C Rickard Rakell, W Brandon Pirri

Key Unrestricted Free Agent: LW Jamie McGinn – When the Ducks acquired Jamie McGinn from the Sabres in late February of this year, they thought they were getting a nice two-way player who could chip in a few goals for them down the stretch.  What they got was 8 goals and 12 points in 21 games, landing him career highs in both categories and putting him back in the valued 20-goal club.

As he hits free agency this year he arrives with the fifth most goals available on the open market, ahead of players expected to get big deals like David Backes and Milan Lucic. While his point totals aren’t as high, his relative youth – McGinn won’t turn 28 until August 5th – and solid goal scoring ability should land him a multi-year deal somewhere.  Whether the Ducks can give him that isn’t quite clear.

With Lindholm, Andersen, Vatanen and Rakell all needing deals, the Ducks may just let McGinn walk away if he gets too pricey. After earning $2.95MM over the last two seasons he’ll be looking for a deal close to $4MM for at least three seasons.

Other UFAs: W David Perron, W Chris Stewart, C Shawn Horcoff, C Mike Santorelli, D Korbinian Holzer,

Projected Cap Space: $18.1MM, 15 players under contract.

The Ducks have a fair bit to worry about over the next year, as they are at risk of losing one of their good young defencemen in next year’s expansion draft. With Kevin Bieksa requiring protection due to his NMC, three of Lindholm, Vatanen, Cam Fowler, Josh Manson and Simon Despres will be left exposed as it currently stands. While there is no clear way to get around this without crippling your blueline, the team may choose to deal the more valuable pieces before the draft next season. For now, their focus will be on getting them under contract.

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