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Coyotes Have Interviewed Jay Leach For Head Coaching Position

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Typically, the only teams that can sign a player to a max-term eight-year contract is the one they’re currently on.  However, Seattle will be able to change that.  As Pierre LeBrun notes in his latest piece for The Athletic (subscription link), the NHLPA negotiated a “no loss of status or rights’’ provision in the latest CBA which means that a pending free agent selected by the Kraken could still receive an eight-year deal as long as the contract is signed before free agency opens up on July 28th.

Seattle will have a 72-hour exclusive negotiating window with any free agents that are left unprotected by their current teams in advance of next month’s expansion draft.  If they reach an agreement with one of those players, that player automatically becomes the selection from the team that originally had them.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • Golden Knights center Tomas Nosek is getting closer to returning to the lineup, GM Kelly McCrimmon told reporters, including Ben Gotz of The Athletic (Twitter link). The veteran has missed the last 11 games since leaving their second contest against Minnesota back in the first round with an unspecified injury.  Nosek has been an important depth player for Vegas since joining them in expansion and surprisingly had a career year offensively this season with 18 points in just 38 games.
  • Wild defensive prospect Brennan Menell surprisingly signed in the KHL for this past season but the move worked out as he was one of the top scoring defensemen in that league with 38 points. As Michael Russo of The Athletic suggests (subscription link), that could put him in a spot to push for a one-way contract at the league minimum of $750K to come back to North America.  Russo notes that Menell’s representatives reached out last month to start talks for a contract for next season but GM Bill Guerin wanted to wait until their playoffs finished first.  If he does return, he’d need to play in 75 NHL games next season to avoid reaching Group VI unrestricted free agency.
  • The Coyotes have interviewed Providence head coach Jay Leach for their vacant head coaching position, reports Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider (Twitter link). The 41-year-old has spent the past six seasons in the AHL including the past four as head coach of Boston’s affiliate.  Leach also played in 70 career NHL games over a 13-year professional career.

Coyotes To Interview Mike Van Ryn For Head Coaching Vacancy

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The Coyotes will interview Blues assistant coach Mike Van Ryn for their vacant head coaching position on Monday, reports Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider (Twitter link).  That spot was opened up at the end of the season when Rick Tocchet’s contract was not renewed after four years behind the bench.

The 42-year-old played in parts of eight injury-plagued NHL seasons with the Blues, Panthers, and Maple Leafs before retiring at the age of 31 to start his coaching career.  Since then, he has been a head coach in the OHL and AHL as well as an assistant in the OHL and NHL.

Van Ryn spent two years with Arizona in 2016-17 and 2017-18 as a development coach and head coach with AHL Tucson (where he coached a handful of current Coyotes including Conor Garland and Lawson Crouse) so he has some familiarity with the organization.  From there, he went to St. Louis, joining their bench as an assistant coach in 2018.  GM Bill Armstrong was with the Blues before joining the Coyotes so he would be quite familiar with Van Ryn as well; the two overlapped for two seasons.

Arizona isn’t in a spot where they’re hoping to become contenders right away so a pricey veteran bench boss probably isn’t what Armstrong is looking for.  Most of their core group is still fairly young so a younger coach may be the better way to go.  While Van Ryn hasn’t garnered much head coaching consideration elsewhere, this fit could be a good one for both sides.

Offseason Checklist: Arizona Coyotes

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The offseason has arrived with roughly half of the league finished up after missing the playoffs and several more having been eliminated.  It’s time to examine what those teams need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Arizona.

2020-21 was not a great year for Arizona.  After making the playoffs last year through the bubble, they were hoping to make it two straight postseason appearances.  However, the same issues crept up as a lack of scoring proved costly.  Not surprisingly, GM Bill Armstrong is in for a very busy summer.  Here’s a look at some of the things the Coyotes should be looking to do.

Hire A Head Coach

The Coyotes have one of the four head coaching vacancies around the league after they decided to let go of Rick Tocchet after four seasons with the team.  In that stretch, they only finished in the top half of their division once while finishing no higher than 21st in goals scored.  Arizona is more of a budget team than one that will spend to the cap and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that be the case for their coaches as well.  That would seemingly take them out of the mix for most of the veteran coaches so it wouldn’t be surprising to see another first-time hire when they make their selection.

Rebuild The Back End

Arizona has had a capable veteran defense corps over the past several years but the time for change has arrived.  Alex Goligoski, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Jason Demers are all set to become unrestricted free agents this summer, freeing up over $14MM in cap space in the process.  (Jordan Oesterle is also a UFA but his expiring cap hit of $1.4MM is a lot lower than the others and he could be brought back for a similar amount.)  While there are cases to bring Goligoski and Hjalmarsson back out of the trio, it would need to be at a much lower price tag.

This is going to be an interesting situation to follow.  If those veterans don’t return, Armstrong will need to bring in some proven replacements in a UFA market that doesn’t have a lot of them.  Of course, they can also leverage their cap space (bolstered by Marian Hossa’s contract finally expiring) to pick up a replacement in a trade.  Regardless, it looks like it will be a new-look blueline in 2021-22.

That said, the bigger question is how much they want to spend on the back end.  The Coyotes are consistently towards the bottom of the league in goals scored and this represents an opportunity to redistribute some of their money on defense up front in an effort to add a top-six forward or two.  Replacing the veterans with similarly-priced rearguards ensures that they’ll be a squad with a strong back end once again but that’s a roster composition that hasn’t worked for them lately.  If Armstrong wants to shake up the structure of the team, this is it.

Deal For Garland

Sometimes, teams can get lucky in the draft and that’s what happened with Conor Garland.  The undersized winger went unpicked in his first year of eligibility, was scooped up with a fifth-rounder by Arizona the following draft as a low-risk flier, and now, he finds himself as one of the top scorers on the Coyotes.  It has worked out great for the team so far, getting top-six production for a bargain price tag as Garland accepted a two-year low-cost bridge deal that carried a cap hit of just $775K.  As far as top bargains in the NHL go, he should have been in the conversation more than he had been.

It’s about to work out a lot better for the 25-year-old.  That bridge contract is up this summer and he’s about to become a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility for the first time.  Along the way, he’ll be able to add several million dollars to his price tag for next season and beyond.  He’s two years away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency so if they wind up with a one-year pact and push the bigger commitment down the road, that’s not the worst outcome, especially with some questions surrounding just how much he’s worth.

It’s for that reason that Garland came up in trade speculation closer to the trade deadline where it got to the point that they were willing to move him although the right price obviously never got offered up.  Still, it suggested that Arizona may not view Garland as a long-term player to build around which makes the prospects of a long-term agreement in the coming weeks a little lower.  Accordingly, a deal could mean two different things here – a new contract, or a new team altogether.

Extension Talks

A pair of core veterans will be entering the final year of their contracts this summer and once the calendar flips to the 2021-22 campaign at the beginning of free agency, the Coyotes will be allowed to sign Darcy Kuemper and Phil Kessel to extensions.

Kuemper went from being a lower-end backup early in his career to one of the top goalies in the league after being acquired in 2018.  In each of the last two seasons, he was among the league leaders in save percentage but took a step back this season as his save percentage dipped to .907, his lowest since his final year in Minnesota.  Still, there has been much more good than bad for the 31-year-old and with Adin Hill not looking like a starter of the future (though he should be the full-time backup next season), there is a need for Kuemper to stick around a little while longer.

Meanwhile, Kessel has seen his offensive numbers plummet since joining the Coyotes but he still finished one point off the team lead in 2019-20 and led the team in points this season.  He may not be a player that can carry a line which is what they were hoping for when he was acquired in 2019 but he is still a capable, albeit streaky, scorer.  The free agent market wasn’t kind to wingers last year and it’s likely to be the case for most wingers this year as well which means he won’t have any success trying to find a deal close to his current $8MM price tag (with Pittsburgh still paying 15% of that).  If Armstrong is able to upgrade their forward group, Kessel could be in line for a rebound year which would give him a better case for a new contract a year from now.

Of the two, Kuemper seems like the likeliest to sign an early extension but Armstrong will undoubtedly be having discussions on both fronts in the months to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Cap information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Prospect Notes: Plasek, Walli Walterholm, Westerlund

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There are more than two dozen prospects that will see their draft rights expire if not signed by tomorrow afternoon, but for some of them the decision is already made. The Vancouver Canucks for instance are expected to sign Karel Plasek according to Thomas Drance of The Athletic. Drance notes that it’s Plasek’s hockey IQ that the team believes in and wants him to join their AHL team in Abbotsford next season.

The 20-year-old forward had six goals and ten points in 44 games with Brno Kometa this season and is two years removed from going 175th overall in the 2019 draft.

  • Not everyone is signing though, as Craig Morgan of AZ Hockey Now reports that Erik Walli Walterholm will not ink a deal with the Arizona Coyotes. Walli Walterholm was a seventh-round pick in 2017 and has experience at the SHL level, but played this season in the Swedish second tier. Though he scored just 14 points during the regular season, the 22-year-old forward turned things around in the playoffs, recording nine points in 15 games for Timra.
  • Perhaps more significant is the news on teammate Filip Westerlund, the Coyotes’ second-round pick, 44th overall in 2017. Morgan reports that he is also not expected to sign, making him a free agent. The 22-year-old defenseman had 21 points in 52 games during the regular season and was once regarded as a top prospect, even ranked 15th among international skaters by NHL Central Scouting in 2017. Of the nine players selected by the Coyotes that year, only two—Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Mackenzie Entwistle—have played in the NHL, but neither for Arizona.

Arizona Coyotes Executive Brian Daccord Resigns

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The Arizona Coyotes and GM Bill Armstrong sure have their work cut out for them this summer. With just a dozen 2020-21 regulars under contract beyond this season – eight forwards, three defenseman, and a goalie, no first-round pick due to forfeiture, and the impending NHL Expansion Draft, there was already more than enough for the team to handle as they look to improve ahead of next season. Now, there will be one less mind to help out. As confirmed by Coyotes beat writer Craig Morgan, Special Assistant to the GM and Director of Goaltending Personnel Brian Daccord has resigned from his position. He follows Assistant GM’s Lindsay Hofford and Steve Sullivan out the door, all in the past nine months, leaving behind a desolate front office.

Daccord was in fact Armstrong’s first hire after he landed the Arizona GM job in September. Morgan describes Daccord as Armstrong’s “right-hand man” and someone who held many different responsibilities. Many of those duties involved goaltending, which was a bright spot this season in the desert with Darcy Kuemper’s continued strong play and Adin Hill taking a step forward. However, it could quickly become an area of concern with Kuemper a fixture in the trade rumor mill, Hill potentially exposed to expansion, and veteran Antti Raanta heading for free agency, without much in the way of high-end talent in the pipeline. Perhaps even more important though is that Morgan notes that Daccord was also heavily involved in recommending front office hires to Armstrong. Not only must the GM replace his two departed assistants, but he now must replace the man who was supposed to help him with the selection process. Entering his first full off-season, this could already be a do-or-die summer for Armstrong with so many major decisions on his plate and not much support.

As for Daccord, the respected hockey mind is sure to find work elsewhere, if he hasn’t already. A professional goalie in Switzerland during his playing career, Daccord has worked his way up the coaching ranks from assistant coach at his alma mater, Merrimack College, to goalie coach positions with the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and in Germany, and finally to a front office position overseeing goaltending personnel, among other things. One possible landing spot could be with the Ottawa Senators, where son Joey Daccord is himself a goaltender.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Ben McCartney

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The Arizona Coyotes have added another prospect, signing Ben McCartney to a three-year entry-level contract. McCartney had previously joined the Tucson Roadrunners on an amateur tryout for the end of the season after his WHL campaign came to an end. Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong released a short statement on the deal:

We are very pleased to sign Ben to an entry-level contract. Ben had a great junior career and played well for the Roadrunners last season. We look forward to watching him continue to develop next year in Tucson.

McCartney, 19, was a seventh-round pick in 2020 and has spent the last four seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL. In 24 junior games this season he recorded 37 points, a nice improvement over his point-per-game 2019-20 campaign. Though his offense is obviously important, McCartney also brings a level of physicality to the ice every night and has shown a willingness to drop the gloves. In his WHL career, he had nine fighting majors and racked up more than 100 penalty minutes last season.

In his four regular season games with the Roadrunners, McCartney actually scored a goal and five points, immediately making an impact at the professional level. It’s a tough climb for a seventh-round pick, but he has taken a strong first step towards becoming a legitimate NHL prospect. The Coyotes rewarding him with an entry-level deal is proof of that. Because he was in his second year of draft eligibility and will turn 20 later this summer, McCartney can report directly to the Roadrunners next season.

Darcy Kuemper And Adin Hill To Play For Canada At World Championships

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With the Sharks missing the playoffs the last couple of years, it’s fair to wonder if some of the veterans may be hoping for a change of scenery.  Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was among those asked about that today and he told reporters, including Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, that he has no intention of going anywhere:

I’m here to the end.  I’ve signed here for 20 years; I’m going to be here for 20 years. I would’ve signed somewhere else if I didn’t want to be here. I want to win in San Jose.

20 years isn’t an exaggeration either.  The 34-year-old just wrapped up his 15th NHL season and still has five years left on his deal with a $7MM AAV.  Between that and a no-move clause that Vlasic acknowledged today he didn’t even know he had until recently, it’s safe to say he’ll be in a Sharks uniform for a while yet.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • Coyotes goaltenders Darcy Kuemper and Adin Hill will be Canada’s tandem for the upcoming World Championships, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link). This will be Kuemper’s second time at the Worlds after playing in the 2018 event while Hill will be playing at the international level for the first time.  It’s worth noting that Hill is a pending restricted free agent and several players have declined offers from their respective countries as a result of the nearing expiration of their contract.
  • While meeting with the media to discuss the purchase of his expansion Indoor Football League franchise, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley told the media, including SinBin.Vegas (Twitter link) that a pair of veterans have concerning injuries. Defenseman Alec Martinez has been dealing with a lingering lower-body issue that he was finally unable to play through while winger Max Pacioretty’s upper-body injury is worse than the team initially thought.  Martinez missed Monday’s game while Pacioretty has been out for a week with Vegas having to dress just 15 skaters on Monday due to salary cap constraints.
  • Having played that game shorthanded, the Golden Knights have now been granted cap-exempt recalls. Their farm team in Henderson announced (Twitter link) that forward Dylan Sikura and defenseman Brayden Pachal have been recalled, suggesting they’ll be in the lineup for Vegas on Wednesday in San Jose.  Sikura has been held off the scoresheet in five games this season while if Pachal plays, it will be his NHL debut.

Snapshots: Coyotes, Seguin, Hintz, Lightning, Ryan

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The Arizona Coyotes and head coach Rick Tocchet have mutually parted ways and the team announced they will begin the search for their next head coach immediately. However, knowing that Arizona is struggling financially, it’s seems likely that the team will be looking at cheaper options for their head coach.

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun points out that the team has as many as 10 candidates already for their open head coaching position with a strong likelihood they will reach out to several interesting hires, including New York Islanders assistant Lane Lambert, San Jose Sharks associate coach Rocky Thompson and Providence College’s Nate Leaman, who recently coached Team U.S.A to a gold medal at the 2021 World Junior Championship.

All three come with interesting resumes if the Coyotes can convince them to leave their current posts.

  • It looks like the season is over for two Dallas Stars. Head coach Rick Bowness said that forwards Tyler Seguin and Roope Hintz will not play in the team’s final two games, according to Dallas Morning News’ Matthew DeFranks. With no playoffs this year, the team will allow both players to rest. Seguin has appeared in three games after missing most of the season due to hip and knee surgeries. Hintz has been playing with a lower-body injury for months, so now that the team has been eliminated from a playoff berth, both will be held out to prevent any more injuries.
  • When asked whether Tampa Bay Lightning defensemen Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Jan Rutta, who are all considered day-to-day, would be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs, head coach Jon Cooper didn’t give a convincing answer, according to The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required). “I don’t know,” Cooper said. “I hope so. We’re planning on it. But we’ll have to see.” Hedman is dealing with a lower-body injury, McDonagh with an upper-body injury, while Rutta is dealing with a lower-body injury. There is a report, according to Smith, that Hedman, who missed his first game of the season Saturday, was injured in a collision against the boards against Columbus on March 30 and had to be helped off. While he came back to the game not too long after, the rumor is that he might require surgery after the season, although Smith was not able to get that confirmed by Tampa Bay staff.
  • Despite briefly considering retirement before his triceps surgery, Detroit Red Wings forward Bobby Ryan said he is eager to return for a 15th season and hopes it can be with the Red Wings, according to MLive’s Ansar Khan. The 34-year-old, who signed a one-year deal last offseason with Detroit and will now be an unrestricted free agent, scored seven goals and 14 points in 33 games before going down with an injury on March 28. “I want to play hockey next year. I hope it’s Detroit,” Ryan said. “I haven’t had those conversations yet. I expect they’re going to come sometime down the line.”

Arizona Coyotes, Rick Tocchet Agree To Part Ways

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With their season complete, the Arizona Coyotes announced they have parted ways with head coach Rick Tocchet. The two sides opted to mutually part ways as the team failed to reach the playoffs this year after Tocchet, whose contract was set to expire on June 1, led them to a 24-26-6 record. The Coyotes will begin their search for a new head coach immediately.

“After meeting with Rick, we have agreed that a coaching change is in the best interest of the club,” said general manager Bill Armstrong. “This was a very difficult decision, but we believe that it is time for a new direction and new leadership. Rick is a very good coach and an incredible person, and we sincerely appreciate all his hard work and dedication to the Coyotes the past four years. We are grateful for everything that he has done for our organization and wish him the best of luck in the future.”

The 57-year-old Tocchet is the second head coach to hit the free agent market. The Columbus Blue Jackets mutually agreed to part ways with John Tortorella late Saturday as well. The coach was hired by Arizona back in 2017 and spent four years as the team’s head coach, reaching the playoffs last year, but losing in the first round. He was a highly sought-after coaching candidate back in 2017 after serving as assistant coach with Pittsburgh during their 2016 & 2017 Stanley Cup Champion runs. Tocchet finished his tenure as Arizona’s head coach with a record of 125-131-34 in 290 games.

“It’s been an honor to coach the Coyotes the past four seasons,” said Tocchet. “I have great respect and admiration for all the players I coached in Arizona, along with my coaching staff, the medical staff, the equipment managers, the PR staff and the team services staff. They are the best in the NHL, and I appreciate all their help and hard work. I also want to thank the fans of the Valley for all their support. I have loved living, playing, and coaching in Arizona and this place will always be special to me.”

Like Tortorella, Tocchet could be a highly sought-after commodity on the coaching free agent market, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger, as several teams could consider him, including the expansion Seattle Kraken. Other teams had been in the mix in hiring him back in 2017, including the Buffalo Sabres, who also will be looking for a head coach this offseason.

Niklas Hjalmarsson Considering Return To Sweden

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Veteran defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson is nothing if not loyal. In his 14-year NHL career, Hjalmarsson has never once tested the free agent market. Instead, he has always signed an extension with his current team, each time arguably below market value as well. Hjalmarsson spent a decade in Chicago to begin his career, playing a key role in three Stanley Cup championships. Then, after the team traded him to the Arizona Coyotes, Hjalmarsson again decided to re-sign with his team, despite an unfamiliar rebuild underway in the desert. This season, in the final year of his current contract, Hjalmarsson even told the Coyotes that he would not waive his No-Movement Clause, opting instead to stick it out with his team.

It should come as no surprise then that, with the 33-year-old finally expected to become a free agent this summer, he is considering a return to a former team. No, not the Blackhawks. Swedish new source AftonBladet reports that Hjalmarsson is considering a return to the SHL’s HV71, the club with whom the blue liner played his developmental hockey. Hjalmarsson spent four seasons with HV71 before making the move to North America in 2007, but clearly the club has not forgotten their star alumnus. The report quotes the club’s GM, Johan Hult, as stating that Hjalmarsson is a “dream recruit”. Hult also notes that he has met with Hjalmarsson multiple times – at his home near HV71’s Jonkoping no less – to discuss the possibility of this move.

Of course, Hult admits that the move is dependent on Hjalmarsson not being blown away by an NHL offer this summer. It will be interesting to see what kind of attention, if any, Hjalmarsson draws in the off-season. Formerly a dominant two-way defenseman, Hjalmarsson’s game has slipped over the past few years. With two games left in his 2020-21 season, the veteran defenseman is on pace to record career-lows (among his full NHL seasons) in points per game, plus/minus, and time on ice per game, while his blocks, hits, takeaways, and possession numbers are all down as well. With that said, veteran presence still has value and contenders could still see Hjalmarsson as an experienced third-pair option – at the right price. However, the potential to return home to HV71 to play a major role may be more enticing to Hjalmarsson than chasing a fourth Cup as a depth piece. With the regular season ending soon, we could know shortly what Hjalmarsson’s next step may be.

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