Arizona Coyotes: Is John Chayka Done Making Moves?

Arizona Coyotes General Manager John Chayka has been very busy this offseason. After acquiring Lawson Crouse, is he done making moves or is there more to come?

The Arizona Coyotes have been making waves this off season.

That continued with a big trade for last year’s 11th overall selection Lawson Crouse.

Standing at 6’4” and 215 pounds, Crouse has that prototypical power forward body and is only 19 years old. To put how remarkable that is in perspective, he is only 10 pounds lighter than Milan Lucic.

The Coyotes know how difficult it is to play against a menacing power forward. Fans do as well, and they have been praising the Lawson Crouse trade for good reason.

John Chayka has put his mark on this franchise in a matter of just four months.

This seems to be the roster that he wants to enter the season with, however, is there anything else potentially in the works?

Tobias Rieder

Tobias Rieder’s name has been coming up a lot this off season and his name will continue to come up until he is signed.

More from Howlin' Hockey

Rieder has been a very consistent two way forward for Arizona and they would be wise to keep him with the core they are building.

With the World Cup starting up in about two weeks, this will be a chance for the German forward to show why he deserves a contract in the 2.2-2.5 million dollar range. This is also an audition for other teams to see if they will pull the trigger on an offer sheet for Tobias Rieder.

The Arizona Coyotes have gone on record saying they will not trade Rieder, however their hands could be forced if another team comes calling with an offer that they cannot match.

Arizona has a reputation of being unable or unwilling to pay for their homegrown talent. This is an opportunity to change that negative reputation the organization has earned under previous owners.

The next month or so will be a good indication of how or when the Tobias Rieder stalemate will be resolved.

Henrik Samuelsson

Another Arizona Coyotes forward that could possibly be on the move is 2012 first round pick Henrik Samuelsson.

Arizona is absolutely stacked at forward in their farm system and they could look to move Samuelsson for help in other areas.

Henrik Samuelsson has shown glimpses of being an NHL-viable player. In 2014-15 in the AHL, he had a promising 40 points in 68 games. Unfortunately, he hasn’t made that jump that other 2012 draft picks have made.

Jacob Trouba

One last move that management could look at is adding Jacob Trouba.

This is more of a long shot and would require a hefty offer sheet or the movement of some key assets for his services.

Trouba is only 22 years old and has the potential to be a top pairing defenseman in the National Hockey League. Arizona has been searching for a right handed defender to play with Oliver Ekman-Larsson for some time and Trouba could be the answer.

Connor Murphy has done a nice job on that top pair with OEL, but if he were to shift to the second pair this would take some of that burden off of him. Murphy would be given every opportunity to succeed playing with Alex Goligoski.

It will likely take a massive offer to pry Trouba away from Winnipeg. However, this is the type of trade that could take a franchise to the next level if it pays off.

This acquisition is unlikely to happen, but this is the type of bold move that John Chayka may be looking for.

Next: Chayka Produces Impressive First Offseason

We could see all of these moves happen or absolutely none of them.

For now, we sit back and wait through what might be an interesting couple of weeks if John Chayka has something else brewing prior to opening night.

Home/Coyotes News