Arizona Coyotes Monday Mailbag

Arizona Coyotes face Colorado Avalanche, Talking Trades, and Mats Zuccarello

Welcome to the weirdly slow week of Arizona Coyotes hockey, fans!

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Last week saw the Coyotes play two separate back-to-back contests — which, for those who aren’t really good at math (or deciphering my horrible sentence structuring), means that they played four games in seven days. Add in the fact that they didn’t get breaks in between them twice, top it off with the gentle reminder that Mike Smith played ALL FOUR OF THOSE GAMES, and you’ve got one interesting week to digest.

Luckily, this week only sees Arizona play twice — once on the road and once at home, as they attempt to either continue developing their young players or showcase the guys that they need to.

Either/or.

We’ve got some trades to discuss, some players to highlight, and — most importantly — some fun fan questions to answer! We’ll round it out with a preview of the game tonight, then send you off with warm wishes not to sunburn too much as you lay out by your pool in this eight-five degree President’s Day weather.

Trade Rumors: Vermette, Yandle, and Zbynek Michalek

Ah, the trade deadline.

First, we heard that Antoine Vermette was all but out the door, with some insider information even circulating that he would be traded the very day of the report (spoiler alert: he wasn’t, and has scored since. Take that, insider reporting!).

Then we went through some fun reporting lies, which pinnacled with a report that Shane Doan was likely headed to either the Winnipeg Jets or the Boston Bruins and then exploded in a ball of flame and a cute bunny tweet.

Anyways.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson popped up in trade talks briefly after general manager Don Maloney mentioned that the only player who was ‘untouchable’ is Shane Doan. Martin Erat was discussed as a player the team was willing to move, as was Zbynek Michalek. Nothing’s come of the Erat chats, but there are murmurs that the Tampa Bay Lightning are interesting in big Z. This could be interesting.

Keith Yandle is always a big name to discuss leading up to the deadline, because he plays for a fringe team on a budget and has unreal offensive output. He has trouble with turnovers, but he’s also one of the team’s biggest puck-handlers, so take that with a grain of salt. Detroit could want him (Cody Franson is off the market), so could St. Louis.

Three Stars

1st Star: Mark Arcobello

I know, I fangirl a little too hard over Mark Arcobello sometimes — but he became the first player in NHL history to record a point with four separate NHL teams in one season. He’s underrated (mostly because he’s a little undersized), but he’s as effective on the wing as he is as a center — and watching a line of him, Sam Gagner, and Tobias Rieder showed a rare ‘NHL-caliber’ line coming out of the Coyotes this season.

Oh – and he scored on his first shift with the Coyotes in a week that saw the team go 1-3-0, so he pretty much rocks.

2nd Star: Lucas Lessio

Lucas Lessio has quickly developed into one of my favorite players in the NHL to watch on the ice, mostly because his flair for the melodrama is unparalleled.

He also got an assist during the New York Rangers Beatdown and scored in the shootout win over Chicago, so he deserves our praise and accolades.

3rd Star: Mats Zuccarello

Feb 2, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Rangers right wing Kevin Hayes (13) is congratulated by right wing Mats Zuccarello (36) and left wing Chris Kreider (20) after scoring a goal against the Florida Panthers during the second period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

I have never heard more Rangers fans screaming for a player roughly the size of a Hobbit in my entire life, but that’s exactly what happened at the Coyotes-Rangers game on Saturday night.

With roughly half the arena wearing Rangers jerseys (and roughly half of those having Mats Zuccarello’s name on them), the tiny, spritely winger did his best to make Arizona’s life a living hell for the entire game. It worked, because they lost, and he did a fabulous job exhausting them from start to finish. *sigh*

Game Day: Arizona Coyotes @ Colorado Avalanche

DATE: Monday, February 16th
TIME: 7:00 P.M. (MST)
LOCATION: Denver, Colorado
ARENA: Pepsi Center
TV INFO: Fox Sports AZ, Alti
GOALIE: Mike McKenna (after four straight starts for Mike Smith, each in back-to-back pairs of two. Oof.)

Mailbag:

Asked by Kristy on Twitter, while discussing Coyotes prospects:

"“Does Bozak to Arizona for Gormley seem realistic to you?”"

Since this came in the face of me suggesting this particular trade (possibly packaging in another prospect and a third round pick or Antoine Vermette, depending on Dave Nonis’ mood), I say yes. I think that this would benefit both teams, freeing up Vermette to be moved and giving the Coyotes a bona-fide 1 or 2C. In exchange, the Leafs add to the arsenal of picks they apparently want, and Gormley to bolster their blue line down the road. Rebuild away, Toronto.

Asked by Nicholas on Twitter:

As this shows, he asked in the face of me giving the NHL-Equivalency points of the Max Domi – Christian Dvorak – Mitchell Marner line over their first fifty-three OHL games.

NHL-Equivalency points are calculated using a formula that I’m not very good at on CHLStats.com. I read the breakdown a while back — it basically factors in the average QoC (or Quality of Competition) at the OHL level and at the NHL level, then compares how each player’s league comparables have performed at the other levels of competition.

Obviously, this isn’t a perfect stat, but it gives a good indication of whether a player will be sustainable at the NHL level. This takes into consideration that the QMJHL has a lower QoC than the OHL, but that certain OHL teams are also worse than others — and if a player has competed against one or more of these differing-quality teams over the season, I believe that’s factored in as well.

All the numbers I pulled to give these stats on the Twitterwebz were pulled from the CHL Stats site, which you can link to right here.

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