Arizona Coyotes Prospect Report: Brendan Perlini and Christian Dvorak Are Heating Up

The Arizona Coyotes’ top prospects are hitting the midway point of their seasons and it looks like things are starting to heat up for Brendan Perlini.

The Arizona Coyotes are in the midst of a playoff push during a season that was supposed to be written off as fodder for the future.

Though things have been much rosier in the desert than expected, that doesn’t mean that the future has been forgotten. No way.

The potential Coyotes stars toiling below the NHL are numerous, and though some have dominated all season long others are just now finding their stride.

Dylan Strome: Strome continues to be in the top 5 of scoring in the Ontario Hockey League. He helped the Erie Otters rebound from a brutal 8-0 loss to Owen Sound with a nifty assist in a 3-1 Otter victory the next night. Midseason fatigue and playing 3 games in 4 nights might be the reason for a slip in production during this week. The Otters will have had a few days off prior to meeting the Rangers in Kitchener on Friday night.

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Brendan Perlini: The young forward has had a nice week for the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL. Perlini has had four points in the last three games in the lead up to playing against Strome’s Otters on Saturday night at Erie.

After having a slow start to the season and a miserable World Juniors Tournament it looks like Perlini is starting to heat up in the second half. In thirty games this season Perlini has recorded 16 G’s, 10 A’s for 26 points.

Christian Dvorak: Dvorak continues to lead the OHL in scoring. Additionally the London Knights captain scored his 200th OHL point last Tuesday during a 5-4 victory over Kitchener. His two assists that night raised his season point total to 77.

Last season the 19 year-old tallied 109 points for the year. Dvorak has helped pace the Knights on the way to becoming the highest scoring team in the OHL.

Nick Merkley: Merkley had a big game for the Kelowna Rockets vs Prince George on Tuesday night. The Coyotes other first-round selection of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft had 2 goals and 2 assists in a 7-4 victory. This is on the heels of another goal scored against Victoria in a 4-3 loss

Merkley is starting to heat up as well of late. He has now tallied 16 G, 26 A and 42 points in 36 games.

Conor Garland: Garland has thus far outshone all of the Arizona Coyotes’ prospects in 2015-16 and recently notched his 100th point of the season. Conor was the first player in any of the three Canadian major junior hockey leagues to reach the century mark, and now has 29 goals and 71 assists on the season.

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Garland reached the 100 point plateau last season as well, but did not accomplish the feat until the middle of February. He’s stepped up his timetable, and his production is eye-opening for a 5th round pick.

Laurent Dauphin: The 20 year-old Quebec born center recently had his first stint with the Arizona Coyotes where he also tallied his first NHL goal in that three game span. Currently in his first year with Springfield of the AHL, Dauphin has logged five goals and five assists over 36 games with the Falcons.

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The Arizona Coyotes have collected top-drawer prospects for their future while enjoying the present with the success of Max Domi, Anthony Duclair and Tobias Rieder among others.

If Louis Domingue continues to play well and the Coyotes improve their puck possession the Yotes could end up with one of the final spots for the playoffs. That would be a huge accomplishment.

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