Time for a Trade: Who Should the Arizona Coyotes move?

Louis Domingue

I’ve been a major critic of the Edmonton Oilers for the majority of the past decade. They have no idea how to develop prospects, and they draft all out of order. Rather than rebuilding from the back to front, they started with their offense — and as a result, they have no solid goaltending, no effective defense, and no hope of seeing that change in the future.

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In comparison, the Coyotes have extremely solid defense and one of the best goaltending prospect pools in the league. Mike Smith is what he is, and dwelling on his monstrous contract is only going to make fans cry and pull their hair out — but beyond him, the team is set to look good in net for quite some time.

As a matter of fact, they’re set to look so good that they might even be hitting a bottleneck. They’ve got Mark Visentin, who might be the next wonderchild out of Team Canada. They’ve got Connor Burke, whose dad seems to be the puck whisperer of all goaltending coaches. Then, they’ve got Louis Domingue, who has the potential to be either a solid backup or even a decent starter within the next season or two.

The Coyotes have a jam-packed arsenal of budding prospects that are set to do big things with the team for quite a while; they can afford to part with a goaltending prospect like Domingue and a draft pick or two for someone like Nail Yakupov, who’s a work in progress defensively but undeniably has scorepower (so long as someone is covering his back on the blue line).

Of course, Domingue could also be packaged with a defensive prospect — or even a defenseman himself, like Chris Summers or Zbynek Michalek — for a bigger forward out of Edmonton. Would they be willing to part with RNH or Jordan Eberle? Probably not, but teams have done crazier things under duress.

Keith Yandle

Nov 13, 2014; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Arizona Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle (3) controls the puck against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary Flames won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

This is the last player I’d ever recommend trading under normal circumstances, but if another team is willing to make a blockbuster deal… they might want to do it. A couple teams have been sniffing around for a top-four blue liner, and Yandle would fetch a high enough asking price to bring home something big for the Coyotes on the front end.

Puck Prose

The trick here is to find a team that not only needs help on the blue line but has the money to take on Yandle; unless the Coyotes get a player like Taylor Hall as a return, the team on the receiving end of this trade will probably end up losing a bit of money, or the Coyotes will be stuck eating some of his salary. I doubt they’re willing to do that, so my best guess is that he’d be a part of an extremely high-profile trade, and not to a team that needs cap space (like the Boston Bruins or the Los Angeles Kings).

The Dallas Stars are the obvious team that fits this description; if the Coyotes target anyone in the Big D, it will have to be someone like Tyler Seguin. Seems super unlikely, but weirder things have definitely happened — and after watching Seguin’s poor performance on Thursday night, it doesn’t seem too unlikely to suggest the team might be willing to let him go for someone more reliable (and who knows how to play defense). Tippett might not want a behavior rap sheet like Seguin’s, but the need for scoring could overshadow that.

Another team that might be willing to pick up Yandle would be the Toronto Maple Leafs. That franchise is a defensive disaster — and there have been talks of making a movement there, as well. I personally really like Tyler Bozak with Phil Kessel (and don’t think Bozak is as good without him), so I’d obviously prefer to see Nazem Kadri and a couple smaller players — Matt Frattin? Trevor Smith? — head to the desert. Then again, I never really know how the Leafs work, and that kind of trade would require the Coyotes to eat some of Yandle’s salary, so Bozak would probably be headed to Arizona in that kind of swap.

Antoine Vermette

Oct 23, 2014; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Arizona Coyotes forward Antoine Vermette (50) carries the puck past Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise (11) during the second period at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

My surprise offer for the trading block is Antoine Vermette. If the Coyotes can trade him for a high-scoring player who might just not be a good fit for his team, they should try to do so. It’s really one of the only ways Don Maloney and Dave Tippett are going to get significant dividends off him; unless they’re willing to settle for a few prospects and a high draft pick, it’ll be hard to move this center.

Puck Prose

Why should they move him? It’s simple — he’s not putting in the kind of effort night after night that the fans are looking for. During the loss to the Dallas Stars, there were a couple moments where he just kind of floated around on the ice — and the team was down by two goals!

He’s an inconsistent player on an inconsistent franchise, and he’s a pending free agent; quite a few teams would be willing to take the gamble on him for negotiation rights alone. He’s also quite a bit cheaper than Keith Yandle, so you could see a couple of the tighter cap teams willing to swap him for someone who’s costing them, in their opinion, more than he’s worth.

The biggest two teams that come to mind for this trade in particular are the Maple Leafs (see a theme? The Leafs are probably willing to make a trade with just about anyone right now) and the Boston Bruins.

From the Leafs, you’d most likely get the same guys you would in the Yandle trade, simply because Vermette has been playing in a defensive system for quite some time now and could bring something to that franchise. The Bruins, though, would most likely try to swap him for a pricier player in order to squeeze just a few more bucks into their salary space come the trade deadline. Brad Marchand has a modified no-trade clause; if he was willing, the team could try to switch things up by sending him packing for a player with more size (and maturity). They could also swap out Loui Eriksson, who has yet to prove that he’s got the physical stature the Bruins rely on.

Of course, Eriksson might not be quite what the Coyotes are looking for, either; with Vermette, they might simply have to take what they can get.

Prospect Packaging

Sep 25, 2013; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Phoenix Coyotes left wing Lucas Lessio (51) crushes into Calgary Flames goalie Reto Berra (29) during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Phoenix Coyotes won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Ultimately, the Coyotes might have to be willing to take on some salary in order to pick up the kind of player they’re looking for. Not many teams with talent to spare are willing to take on salary, particularly from players that aren’t performing well on their own franchise.

In this instance, the most likely scenario would be the Coyotes picking up someone talented for a clump of prospects or a few draft picks. Naturally, it seems like a given that they’d stick David Schlemko in any package deal they make — but they might have to part with someone they like in order to get someone they need.

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If the team needs to get rid of a top Portland guy, my first recommendation would be either Lucas Lessio or Henrik Samuelsson. Both players are being developed for a similar role on the team, and it’s probable that only one of them is going to get slotted in where he wants to be. Many would prefer to see Lessio go first — he’s less exciting than Samuelsson, and he hasn’t immediately clicked with another up-and-comer like Samuelsson did with Domi. The team might want to hold on to Lessio, though, simply because he’s been categorized as a solid two-way player; it’s going to hurt, but they might need to let Samuelsson go.

Teams that might be willing to do this? The Islanders gave away pretty much every draft pick they have between now and the end of the world; they could be interested in giving away someone for the future relief, though I’m not sure who they’d be willing to give up. The Kings are still insanely broke (despite getting some cap relief for Slava Voynov, which I won’t even get into now), and might be willing to ship off a big-name player on offense to free up the space to replace Voynov on defense. Finally, the Colorado Avalanche are looking a little broke, and might be willing to dump some salary in hopes of picking up a blue liner at the trade deadline. Jamie McGinn could probably be acquired for peanuts, and he’s been known to bring that energy on offense that the Coyotes lack.

When a team needs to make a trade, it’s never going to be pretty. The Bruins and Blackhawks were both devastated to lose blue-liners over the summer, but they needed to make cap space. Such will be the case with the Coyotes — in order to get back a player that they need, they’ll have to part with someone that they want to keep.

Can we all agree that they’ve got to do something, though?

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