Keys to Success: Arizona Coyotes

By William Espy

The Arizona Coyotes seemingly dropped off the face of the hockey world following a conference final appearance in 2012. Immediately following that season, the team fell into an almost forced rebuild. Now they have a very deep prospect pool, but they still need a few more assets.

Young #1 Goaltender.

Mike Smith has been a solid goaltender for a majority of his time in Arizona, however last season he seemed to be fading at the NHL level. At the World Championships he showed he still had his skill when he put up a .930 save percentage for team Canada. The Coyotes thought they had their future number one in Mark Visentin, unfortunately for them he never gained traction in professional hockey and he was not qualified as a restricted free agent. The biggest name in their goaltending prospect pool appears to be Louis Domingue, who is a respectable prospect but he will likely never have the ability to start regularly at the NHL level.

A Youth Movement.

With the prospect pool containing players like Domi, Strome, Duclair, Samuelsson, etc. the Coyotes need to make room for those players at the NHL level if they get off to an undesirable start to the season. By the trade deadline, Don Maloney would be smart to get rid of pending UFAs like Gordon, Downie, Grossmann, Chipchura and possibly even Boedker if they cannot get him to agree to a deal for the foreseeable future. The issue with these moves would be trying to stay above the salary floor, however with a lot of space to take back contracts it would likely be much easier to swing a deal. Other players who could possibly be on the way out for specifically goaltending and defensive prospects include Michalek and Smith.

Do Not Rush.

The most important thing for the Coyotes is prospect development. In order to have a good team within the next few years, they have to wait to promote their prospects until they are ready. For example, say Duclair gets off to a tremendous start at the AHL level then they can afford to call him up. If a top prospect like Duclair is not ready to come up, a smarter call up would be someone along the lines of Lessio.