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Arizona Coyotes Sign Jordan Gross, Dryden Hunt

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The Arizona Coyotes have announced two minor signings, inking Jordan Gross and Dryden Hunt to one-year, two-way contracts. Gross was one of the team’s remaining restricted free agents, while Hunt is coming over from the Florida Panthers after failing to receive a qualifying offer.

Gross, 25, was an undrafted free agent signing out of Notre Dame in 2018 and has spent the last two seasons with the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL. The puck-moving defenseman did make his NHL debut with the Coyotes this year, recording a single point in two games.

Hunt meanwhile played in 21 games for the Panthers this season and even suited up twice in the postseason bubble. Not much of an offensive threat at the NHL level, he nevertheless has been excellent in the minors, scoring 29 points in 35 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds in 2019-20.

Johan Larsson To Sign With Coyotes

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The Arizona Coyotes may be up against the cap, but they have identified their bottom-six as a need area and have addressed it. After signing Tyler Pitlick and John Hayden yesterday, the team is working on adding another capable forward. Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider reports that Arizona is finalizing a two-year contract with Johan Larsson. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds that the deal carries an AAV of $1.4MM.

Larsson, 28, has quietly been a consistent contributor for the Buffalo Sabres over the past six years, culminating in a career year this past season. In five of the past six seasons, Larsson has recorded at least six goals and 14 points. Yet, his games played have been all over the map. In 2017-18, he played a career-high 80 games and posted 17 points. The year prior, he played in just 36 games and still notched 11 points. This season, he recorded a career-high 18 points in just 62 games, as well as career-best in possession numbers. At his best, Larsson appears to have 30+ point upside, but can at least be counted on to finish with around 20 points if he plays a full season.

Larsson’s offense is just a small part of his game though. The two-way center is capable at the face-off dot, plays a physical game, and is skilled at creating turnovers and winning puck battles. At under six feet and 200 lbs., Larsson is not the biggest player, but makes his presence felt on the forecheck and defending his own zone. In the Coyotes system, Larsson has a chance to excel given his defensive focus and could find that with more ice time and responsibility, his offense also picks up as well.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Tyler Pitlick, John Hayden

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The Arizona Coyotes have added a pair of bottom-six options, signing Tyler Pitlick to a two-year contract according to his agent Ben Hankinson and John Hayden to a one-year deal per TSN’s Darren Drager. The Pitlick deal will carry an average annual value of $1.75MM, while the Hayden contract is for $750K.

Pitlick, 28, is a bang-and-crash winger that recorded eight goals and 20 points this season for the Philadelphia Flyers. Scoring double-digit goals just once in his career, he nevertheless adds a little bit of punch on the third or fourth line and does all of his damage at even-strength. Hayden, 25, has never played in more than 54 NHL games in a season and is not one to produce much offense, but is an injection of energy and physicality when needed.

Still, neither player really helps a team that has lacked high-end scoring talent for years. The Coyotes tried to address that problem with Phil Kessel and then Taylor Hall, but both players failed to live up to expectations. Pitlick will add a little bit of versatility and bit to the bottom-six, but the Coyotes still don’t have a go-to offensive weapon up front.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Places Deadline On Potential Trade

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The Arizona Coyotes have been trying to trade captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson over the past few weeks, asking him to give them a list of teams that he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to. The star defenseman has given them an option of just the Vancouver Canucks or Boston Bruins and has now put a clock on the negotiations as well.

Ekman-Larsson’s agent Kevin Epp of Titan Sports Management has contacted several media members including Darren Dreger of TSN, explaining that his client wishes to be traded before free agency opens on Friday. If a deal cannot be completed before then, Ekman-Larsson will remain in Arizona.

The 29-year-old defenseman is heading into just the second season of an eight-year, $66MM contract extension he signed in 2018 to stay in Arizona. When Ekman-Larsson signed that contract and included a full no-movement clause throughout, he likely believed that he would spend his entire career with the Coyotes, the team that drafted him sixth overall in 2009.

Instead, new management approached him this offseason with the potential of a trade, likely due to the need to cut payroll drastically after the coronavirus shutdown. Ekman-Larsson is the Coyotes’ highest-paid player and will be entering the most expensive years of his contract after this season. In each of the three seasons following 2020-21, he is owed $10.5MM in total salary, before his contract starts to fall off. Getting out from under that now would save Arizona plenty of cash, plus hopefully recoup several valuable assets.

If they’re going to pull it off, it’s going to have to happen quickly. Notably, the Coyotes do not have a selection in the first three rounds of tonight’s entry draft.

Arizona Coyotes Will Not Qualify Vinnie Hinostroza

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The Arizona Coyotes are expected to slash payroll dramatically this offseason as the team deals with a new financial reality. While that may play out most dramatically with an Oliver Ekman-Larsson trade, it also may be seen in the margins with some less expensive players. Vinnie Hinostroza, one of the team’s pending restricted free agents, is not expected to receive a qualifying offer according to Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider. That would make him an unrestricted free agent on Friday.

Hinostroza, 26, would need a $1.5MM qualifying offer from the Coyotes to remain in the organization, but it could end up costing them even more than that to get him signed. The sixth-round pick is also arbitration-eligible, and with a 16-goal season in 2018-19 may end up landing more than just $1.5MM should he get that far. The only way to avoid arbitration is by cutting bait, something we suggested the Coyotes may do in our Free Agent Focus piece last month.

Frankly, Hinostroza hasn’t been good enough to deserve a raise this offseason. The former Chicago Blackhawk scored just five goals and 22 points for the Coyotes this season and doesn’t bring a ton of value outside of his expected offense.  When he first arrived in Arizona it seemed like a strong fit, but the combination of a lack of scoring and salary restructuring appear to have made him expendable.

As a free agent, he’ll be an interesting name to keep an eye on. Perhaps a team can get the relatively young forward on a bargain contract to attempt a bounce-back season, especially in a flat-cap world that could squeeze the midrange free agents.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Kyle Capobianco, Ilya Lyubushkin

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According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Arizona Coyotes have taken care of a pair of restricted free agents, signing Kyle Capobianco and Ilya Lyubushkin. The former has signed a two-year contract that will carry an average annual value of $775K, while the latter has inked just a one-year deal worth $1MM.

Capobianco, 23, was the 63rd overall pick in 2015 but has spent almost his entire professional career in the minor leagues to this point. Since leaving the junior ranks in 2017, the puck-moving defenseman has played just 12 games at the NHL level, recording a single point. In the AHL though, Capobianco has been a star, registering 88 points in 135 games and twice taking part in the league’s All-Star festivities. The question now will be whether he can ever translate that minor league success to the NHL, but he’ll get two years to try before his next contract negotiation.

It’s Lyubushkin that is the more interesting signing, after his second year in North America finished much like the first. The 26-year-old defenseman was signed out of the KHL in 2018 and has now played in 92 NHL games without registering a single goal. In fact, Lyubushkin has scored just four points in each of his two seasons for Arizona. Despite those paltry offensive numbers, the big defenseman is still a positive player for the team thanks to strong defensive instincts and a physical presence that is unmatched on their roster. The 6’2″ Lyubushkin easily led all Arizona defenders in hits with 151 this season, despite playing in only 51 of the team’s 70 games.

Unlike Capobianco, who will still be a restricted free agent when his new contract expires, Lyubushkin will be able to test the UFA waters next offseason. His one-year deal takes him to age-27, at which point he’ll be able to hit the open market if he chooses. Amazingly, that lines up with four other Arizona defenders, meaning that new GM Bill Armstrong can reshape his blue line however he wants before the 2021-22 season. Lyubushkin joins Alex Goligoski, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jason Demers, and Jordan Oesterle as pending 2021 unrestricted free agents.

Arizona Coyotes Shopping Taylor Hall’s Negotiating Rights

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With just a few days remaining before Taylor Hall becomes an unrestricted free agent, the Arizona Coyotes are trying to recoup some of the value they spent to acquire the star forward. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the Coyotes are shopping Hall’s negotiating rights, which would give a team the chance to try and sign him before he even reaches the open market.

Just recently, reports surfaced that Hall would consider signing a short-term deal with a contender instead of trying to land the biggest deal possible in free agency. After a frustrating season that resulted in another early playoff exit, Hall has now played in just 14 postseason games over his ten-year career.

Earlier this summer we saw the Montreal Canadiens trade a fifth-round pick for the negotiating rights of defenseman Joel Edmundson, before eventually signing him to a four-year, $14MM deal. Given Hall’s status as the 2018 Hart Trophy winner and a top offensive winger, one would imagine the trade cost would be higher than that of a depth defenseman.

Still, it’s hard to know if acquiring him early would even be beneficial for a team interested in his services. Sitting just a few days away from the free agent market opening, Hall could easily just wait to see what kind of offers come from around the league. Negotiating with just one team would limit his options unless of course, he has a destination in mind that has already expressed interest to the Coyotes.

Hall, 28, scored 52 points in 65 games this season split between the New Jersey Devils and Coyotes. After reaching the 93-mark in 2018 and carrying the Devils to the playoffs, it’s been another few disappointing seasons. The first-overall pick in 2010, Hall has scored 563 points in 627 games but has played playoff matches in only two seasons.

Taylor Hall Considering Signing One-Year Deal With Contender

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Taylor Hall has played in the league for 10 years, but has appeared in a total of 14 playoff games. Despite being one of the top unrestricted free agents on the market, there are plenty of rumors that Hall is hoping for a big payday, but more than anything, the forward wants to play on a winner. With a flat salary cap coming this year, the Denver Post’s Mike Chambers writes that Hall might be willing to accept a one-year deal with a team like the Colorado Avalanche to play on a winning team and then test the free-agent market in a year, hopefully after the COVID-19 concerns have lightened up.

With the league being hit hard due to the coronavirus, most teams are reconsidering spending big when a flat cap could be a given for not just next year, but potentially the next few years. That isn’t good news for someone like Hall, who was looking to ink a long-term deal and with most of the top teams already close to being capped out, his goal of playing for a top team seems even more unlikely now.

However, Chambers writes that Hall is considering signing a one-year deal and Colorado is a team that makes the most sense as they are already one of the top teams in the league and the Avalanche have the cap space (approximately $21.5MM to spend) to at least offer a short-term deal. While the team’s top needs include a goaltender and some bottom-line toughness, but a top-six forward could be a great addition, especially on their second line. Hall might be the perfect fit alongside Nazem Kadri and restricted free agent Andre Burakovsky to form a second dominant line behind the Nathan MacKinnon–Mikko Rantanen–Gabriel Landeskog line.

Colorado general manager Joe Sakic seriously considered trading for Hall in December when the New Jersey Devils were shopping him. However, they decided against it, mainly because of the likely asking price and term that Hall would likely demand once his contract ran out at the end of the year. The team currently has plenty of cap space to work with, but the team will have to work out long-term deals for defenseman Cale Makar and Landeskog next year and still have to sign a number of restricted free agents this year, including Burakovsky and Ryan Graves.

If Colorado can get Hall on a one-year deal, then the team shouldn’t lose long-term cap space as well as they can see what kind of fit Hall is on their team. Since winning the Hart Trophy back in 2017-18, Hall has not been able to duplicate that type of season. He struggled with injuries in 2018-19, playing just 33 games and then struggled between New Jersey and the Arizona Coyotes with 16 goals and 52 points in 65 games.

Latest On Oliver Ekman-Larsson Trade

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With the complexities of a trade involving Arizona Coyotes’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson increasing between the two teams the defenseman put on his short list, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday evening on Sportsnet’s Hockey Central that Arizona went back to their captain and asked him to expand his list of teams. His response was ’No.’

“Ekman-Larsson is only willing to stay at Boston or Vancouver, so that’s how Arizona has to proceed if it wants to get this done,” said Friedman.

Friedman also notes that Arizona Coyotes’ new general manager Bill Armstrong was with the St. Louis Blues when they acquired center Ryan O’Reilly from Buffalo in which there was some money exchanged as Buffalo had to take back Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka. However, essentially, the team got a prospect, a first-round pick and a second-round pick as the key to that deal. That is what the Armstrong is looking for in an Ekman-Larsson deal.

“Berglund and Sobotka were part of that deal, but it was Tage Thompson, a first and a second and that’s what he would like to do, I think, if he can,” said Friedman. “I believe that the Coyotes like the prospects in Boston better than they like the prospects in Vancouver. But I think that at this point in time, Vancouver might be the team that’s more eager to get the deal done than Boston in terms of the want.”

While that might be a case, getting a deal done won’t be easy. The Canucks have plenty of cap issues to deal with that that’s without factoring in Ekman-Larsson’s $8.25MM AAV for the next seven years, which they have to factor in. The team still has three key unrestricted free agents to deal with, including Tyler Toffoli, Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev, and little cap room to accommodate all three, plus a number of restricted free agents, including Jake Virtanen. The Canucks also have to consider soon-to-be RFA’s Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes to long-term deals next year, as well as the fact that they are still paying $3.04MM for the next two years on the recapture penalty from Roberto Luongo. The Canucks also lack some of the necessary draft capital with no first or second-rounder to deal in the upcoming draft on Tuesday and Wednesday. The team may also be hesitant to move future picks.

Regardless, the team would still be interested in bringing in Ekman-Larsson, who along with Hughes, would give the team a solid No. 1 and No. 2 defenseman on the left side for the next seven years. The team has little depth on their defense after the 2020-21 season. The team has Tyler Myers locked up at $6MM until 2023-24, but veterans Alexander Edler and Jordie Benn will both be unrestricted free agents in one year.

While Boston was considered the frontrunners only a few days before, Friedman reports that the Bruins may not be ready to make a strong offer as the team can just bring back UFA Torey Krug as a less costly option rather than trade prospects and picks to get Ekman-Larsson.

Arizona Coyotes To Buy Out Michael Grabner

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Sunday: Friedman reports that Grabner has cleared waivers and now is an unrestricted free agent.

Saturday: The desperate cost-cutting in the desert has begun. The Arizona Coyotes are in arguably the worst salary cap position of any NHL team heading into this off-season and had to make moves to be compliant ahead of next season. The first casualty is veteran winger Michael Grabner. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Grabner has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout.

With just one year remaining on his current contract, the Coyotes will face penalties for just two years for buying out Grabner. Rather than deal with an AAV of $3.35MM this season, Grabner will count for just $833K against the cap in 2020-21 for a savings of over $2.5MM. This brings CapFriendly’s cap space projection to about $3.6MM (which still won’t go very far with seven roster spots to fill and a number of restricted free agents to sign). In 2021-22, the buyout will cost Arizona just over $1.25MM.

Unlike most buyouts, there is a small chance that Grabner does not clear waivers. Even at 32, Grabner still plays with tremendous speed and is a dangerous penalty killer. However, he has not played a full NHL season in two years and his offensive production, even if healthy, is likely limited to 20-30 points at most. Teams will likely take their chances at getting Grabner at a lower cost on the free agent market than claiming his $3.35MM contract. Grabner will surely draw attention if he does make it to market.

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