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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.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • 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.
  • The Penguins will be without a pair of veteran forwards tonight versus Philadelphia. Head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters including Justin Guerriero of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that forwards Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto will not play tonight due to lower-body injuries.  There’s no word yet on how long the fourth liners will miss.  Vinnie Hinostroza and Joona Koppanen will take their place in the lineup.
  • Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich is dealing with an upper-body injury and won’t play tonight against the Islanders, notes team reporter Jameson Olive. The 25-year-old got in a fight in the final minute of Thursday’s victory over Montreal, one that apparently caused the injury.  Gadjovich has played in seven games since having his contract converted to an NHL deal, notching an assist and 41 penalty minutes while logging 6:22 per night.  Steven Lorentz will suit up in Gadjovich’s absence.

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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Kings forward Quinton Byfield has been one of the top breakout performers of the early season, notching 16 points in his first 19 games, just six points shy of his career-high already.  The timing is certainly good on his part as the 21-year-old is in the final year of his entry-level contract this season.  However, despite the hot start, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that there have been no discussions about a possible contract extension just yet.  At this point, it might make sense for both sides to wait it out for a while yet to see if Byfield is able to sustain this type of production over a larger sample size since that would greatly influence any negotiations.  With the number of big contracts Los Angeles has on the books, a bridge agreement might be the eventual outcome for Byfield’s next deal.

More from the Western Conference:

  • 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.
  • The Flames announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Jacob Markstrom will miss tonight’s game with the flu. However, as it was too late to recall a goalie from the minors (past the 5 PM local time deadline), the team has signed Dustin Nickel to an ATO agreement to serve as the emergency backup to Daniel Vladar tonight.  Nickel spent four years at Mount Royal University, wrapping up that part of his career following the 2015-16 season.
  • Sharks center Tomas Hertl will miss tonight’s game due to what’s being termed a mid-body injury, relays Max Miller of The Hockey News. While many of San Jose’s players have struggled mightily this season, the 30-year-old has put up reasonable numbers, notching four goals and a dozen assists through 20 games.  His injury paves the way for the recently-signed Justin Bailey to make his San Jose debut.
  • Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet provided an update to reporters including Sportsnet 650’s Brendan Batchelor (Twitter link) that center Pius Suter is dealing with a lower-body injury that is taking longer to recover from than originally expected. He had a setback a week ago and has yet to resume skating.  Suter, who has four goals in 15 games this season, was placed on IR last week.

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:

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Arizona Coyotes

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As Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Arizona Coyotes.

Who are the Coyotes thankful for?

Sean Durzi.

Durzi is quickly looking like one of the more shrewd trade acquisitions of the offseason. The now-25-year-old defender had decent stock as a young prospect coming up through the Maple Leafs and Kings systems – he was one of the core pieces in the trade that brought Jake Muzzin to Toronto in 2019. Emerging into the NHL with the Kings two years later, Durzi showed promise as a capable puck-mover, notching 65 points in 136 games while playing over 19 minutes per game.

There were some defensive holes in his game, though. When the Coyotes picked him up for the price of a second-round pick last summer, most viewed him as a higher-ceiling, higher-risk project.

So far, he’s brought most of the ceiling with little of the risk. Durzi has taken the title of undisputed number-one defenseman in the desert and ran with it. He leads the team’s blueliners in average ice time (23:20), points (12 in 18 games played), and leads the team’s regular defenders with a 50.8% Corsi share at even strength. Quickly, he’s become a more well-rounded player than most expected at this stage, helping transform a long-lowly Coyotes squad into a team that looks likely to be playing competitive games late into the season.

What are the Coyotes thankful for?

An aggressive offseason from GM Bill Armstrong.

It’s not just Durzi. Armstrong’s moves this summer showed a willingness to believe in the core he’s constructed – spending significant short-term money to bring in players like Jason Zucker and Alexander Kerfoot up front and Mathew Dumba on the backend. Even if all the signings haven’t worked out wonderfully thus far, it does seem to have precipitated a bit of a culture shift that the squad sorely needed.

Combining that veteran leadership with a solid development coach in André Tourigny, as well as solid netminding from Connor Ingram, has positioned the Coyotes as one of the more entertaining squads this season.

Perhaps bringing in Nick Bjugstad for a second stint with the squad has been the best out of the team’s UFA additions. With 11 points in 18 games, he’s tied for sixth on the team in scoring and is logging nearly 17 minutes per night. He’s been far more consistent and productive than Kerfoot or Zucker while taking on a larger role.

What would the Coyotes be even more thankful for?

Arena certainty.

Things seem to be on a sustained, upward on-ice trajectory for the Coyotes for the first time in quite a while. The same still can’t be said off the ice, however, as concerns about an NHL-capacity home in the Phoenix area continue to grow as weeks go by without any update of real progress.

The timeline has been rather drawn out since voters in the City of Tempe struck down plans to build a multi-purpose entertainment district that would house a new arena for the Coyotes in a well-located area near Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo has continued to pursue potential sites in the Phoenix metro area, likely one that would not require public approval.

The local tide on the Coyotes may be turning, however, if their TV numbers are any indication. Moving to more public-access TV mediums and dropping the regional sports network model has increased their viewership an incredible amount over a year-to-year basis, although a much more exciting team headed up by a strong first line and a flashy rookie in Logan Cooley has piqued public interest. If the team truly has aspirations of being championship-caliber in the next few seasons, though, they’ll need to give their players certainty around a long-term home.

What should be on the Coyotes’ holiday wish list?

A true fit at center between Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz.

The Coyotes will be in a bit of a bind over the next few weeks without Barrett Hayton due to injury. The team’s fifth-overall selection in 2018 appeared to have a breakout campaign in 2022-23, scoring 19 goals and 43 points, both by far career-highs. But so far this season Hayton has been almost entirely unable to find the scoresheet and has registered just four points in 16 games.

For a Coyotes team that could seriously contend for a Wild Card spot this season, that isn’t going to cut it from the first-line center role. In Hayton’s absence, the Coyotes are trying Cooley in the first-line center role.

While Cooley is undoubtedly the most gifted player, at least offensively, that they could have tapped for that job, it’s a lot to ask of a rookie to not only play center, but also play center on a team’s first line next to two star scorers.

It remains to be seen whether Cooley will mesh with Schmaltz and Keller, but regardless of if it’s Cooley or someone else Coyotes fans will have to hope that there will be a pivot that emerges as a consistent, lasting fit between Schmaltz and Keller.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Coyotes’ Barrett Hayton Likely To Miss Four To Six Weeks

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5:39 p.m.: The Coyotes have confirmed Hayton’s status as week-to-week in a team announcement Friday evening. Jeník has indeed been recalled from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners in a corresponding transaction. Jeník, 23, was recalled twice by the team in late October but did not appear in a game, serving as a healthy scratch on both occasions.

11:42 a.m.: In unfortunate news for both player and team, after leaving last night’s game with an apparent upper-body injury, the outlook on Barrett Hayton’s status does not appear to be positive. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that Hayton will likely need surgery for his injury, and the Arizona Coyotes will be without the forward for the next four to six weeks.

Although centering the top forward line for the Coyotes, Hayton has had an incredibly unlucky start to the 2023-24 season. His scoring has picked up as of late, scoring two goals in his last five games. However, over 16 games to start the year, Hayton only has two goals and two assists overall.

Averaging over 18 and a half minutes of ice time per game, Hayton is only shooting at a 5.9% success rate, all while maintaining an above-average CF% of 55.1% and a decent xGF of 9.1 while on the ice. Now, if his on-ice production wasn’t bad enough, Hayton is set to miss at least the next month with his injury.

Nevertheless, if there is any positive for Arizona through this injury, it’s that this might create an opportunity for Logan Cooley on the team’s first line. Averaging just over 16 minutes of ice time per night, Cooley is already showing off his playmaking abilities with 10 assists on the year already, with eight of those coming on the Coyotes’ powerplay.

In the meantime, Morgan indicates that Arizona will be recalling Jan Jenik from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. In the AHL this year, Jenik has scored two goals and three assists in nine games for the Roadrunners.

Arizona Coyotes Recall Vladislav Kolyachonok

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The Arizona Coyotes have recalled defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.

Kolyachonok’s recall comes off the heels of a report from PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan, who wrote that defenseman Juuso Välimäki will be out “for a while” after taking a hard shot to the face.

Kolyachonok, 22, is a defenseman who the Coyotes are decently familiar with at the NHL level, as he played in 32 games for the NHL club in 2021-22 and in two games last season. So far this year Kolyachonok has played exclusively in Tucson, where he has scored two goals and three points in 11 games.

With Välimäki out, Kolyachonok could slot in directly where Välimäki plays in the lineup, on the team’s second pairing next to Matt Dumba.

Alternatively, veteran Troy Stecher could move up to the second pairing, which would put Kolyachonok or team seventh defenseman Michael Kesselring on the bottom pairing next to Joshua Brown.

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