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

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.

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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.