Tye McGinn and Craig Cunningham: New Coyotes

Craig Cunningham and Tye McGinn fill out Coyotes roster

The Arizona Coyotes claimed both Craig Cunningham and Tye McGinn off the waiver wire Monday morning.

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Craig Cunningham is a familiar name to me, at least — back when I covered the Boston Bruins, he’s a depth forward I hoped to see find a permanent spot in the lineup this season. He’s a decent fourth line center, but has the upside potential to fill in on the third line if need be — and with Mark Arcobello and Sam Gagner likely able to sustain the top two lines this season, Cunningham bolsters their center depth for the remainder of the year (making him a good asset).

As for Tye McGinn, his name is a little less familiar to me — although all the San Jose Sharks fans on Twitter had nothing but good things to say about him as an acquisition. Hopefully, he’ll fulfill a decent role in the lineup as well.

With Antoine Vermette departed, the Coyotes had a couple roster spots on offense that would need filling for the remainder of the season — particularly up the middle, since Martin Hanzal was confirmed as being out for the remainder of the year with back surgery. We figured as much when the surgery was initially made public, but general manager Don Maloney confirmed those suspicions when addressing the media this week. He confirmed that Mikkel “I’ve Lost Twenty Pounds Since Having My Spleen Removed” Boedker won’t be back, either — a good long-term decision for the club, but still a sad thing to hear as a Coyotes fan.

On defense, the two pickups made in the Vermette and Yandle deals (which Howlin’ Hockey discussed here and here) will be able to fill in on the roster in lieu of calling up prospects — but the offensive players acquired, Anthony Duclair and Maxim Letunov, won’t be eligible to join the roster until next season or later. Hence the waiver wire pickups; in essence, Don Maloney managed to fill in some of the holes on offense without giving up any players, and then built towards the future with the deals made.

All in all, a pretty good deal.

First – Who is Craig Cunningham?

POSITION: C/RW
AGE: 24
DRAFT POSITION: FOURTH ROUND (97TH OVERALL) 2010 ENTRY DRAFT

As a Boston fan, it stung when Matt Fraser was placed on waivers — then when the team followed up a few months later by sticking Craig Cunningham on waivers as well — but the Bruins were getting a little too bottlenecked with third line-caliber talent.

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That’s one thing for the Arizona Coyotes, who have Max Domi/Anthony Duclair/Brendan Perlini/Christian Dvorak/Top 5 Pick This Summer in the system — but for a perennial cup contender who hoped to see offensive spark from one of these guys, that was a bit much.

Boston’s pain is Arizona’s gain in this instance, though.

Playing all but one season with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL, Craig Cunningham is a little on the short side — he’s listed at five foot nine — but put up decent numbers in the major juniors and now in the minors. Five goals and ten assists in twenty-one games for the Providence Bruins this year is fairly acceptable for a smallish, bottom six guy.

He’s not the best defensively, which could pose a problem for the Coyotes — but as a player who would never have broken through the depth in the Boston system in a way that served him well, Cunningham could be a player who values the chance Arizona gives him and really steps up. We’ve seen it from Mark Arcobello, and players like Matt Fraser in Edmonton did the same. Now it’s Craig’s turn.

Who is Tye McGinn?

POSITION: LW
AGE: 24
DRAFT POSITION: FOURTH ROUND (119TH OVERALL) 2010 ENTRY DRAFT

Noticing a theme here? Fourth rounders who haven’t quite broken the lineup on their teams are Arizona’s secret gold mine.

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The San Jose Sharks have only had Tye McGinn for part of a season; he was initially drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, who let him go to the Sharks for a third round draft pick at the end of last season.

He’s another player who may have simply slipped through the cracks with other franchises; he spent a bit of time following his brother around, both at the major juniors level and in the NHL, and he’s not the same player as the older Jamie.

At six foot two and well over two hundred pounds, though, McGinn is a player that could add size and bulk to the Coyotes moving forward — if not beyond this season, then at least as the year winds down. He’s a bit patchy on offense — he has trouble pushing up and scoring, which has resulted in him taking on a bottom six role, but he’s a positionally sound player who provides good defense and has a quality hockey IQ (something teams covet, particularly when used the right way).

Although McGinn did well in his first NHL season — he appeared with the Flyers during the lockout-shortened year, pitching in a respectable five points in eighteen games — he’s struggled to fit into the lineup since. He was scratched in favor of fourth line enforcer John Scott by San Jose often enough that he was considered a limited role player on the team; as such, he’s had trouble establishing a quality on-ice presence long term.

If the Coyotes are able to coax a bit more offense out of him, that’ll be a best-case scenario — but for the time being, he’s able to inject some size and a bit of two-way hockey sense into a team that’s young, inexperienced, and having trouble with just that exactly.

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