Fansided

Arizona Coyotes: Round Two Choices-Trade With Flyers

By William Grigsby |

Arizona Coyotes Select 4 Forwards, 1 D-man, 2 Goalies In Second Round

Just Announced: Gagner goes to Flyers for either 4th round ’16 draft pick, or 3rd rounder in ’17 for D-man Nicklas Grossmann, and contract of Chris Pronger

And just when you started wondering when GM Don Maloney was going to make a move — he does. The Arizona Coyotes had mentioned that they were considering buying out Sam Gagner’s contract if they could not trade him, and today they traded him.

More from Coyotes News

Grossmann, 6′ 4″, 230 lbs will provide the big blue-line presence the Yotes were looking for when they almost landed Dougie Hamilton yesterday. To make the deal work financially, the Coyotes took over Pronger’s contract. He will not play again due to post-concussion issues. The Flyers will reportedly retain $500,000 of Grossmann’s $3.5 million salary. They pick up $3.2 million of Gagner’s salary, but lose $4.9 million of Pronger’s cap hit which went to LTIR, anyway. Pronger has two years left on his contract, and had no issues waiving the trade clause.

The trade seems to help both teams. The Flyers wanted Gagner’s scoring, and the Coyotes need another experienced, big blue-liner. While Gagner never reached the potential the team expected, he may do better in the Flyers’ offense. Grossmann is a stay at home D-man, and will solidify the weak defense the Arizona Coyotes displayed last season. He was a +/- 8 with a weak Flyers’ defense, so he will certainly be a good addition to the desert.

Day Two of the Draft:

The Yotes drafted four forwards:

One Defenseman:

Two Goalies:

To summarize — the Arizona Coyotes addressed some of their needs. Being able to draft Dylan Strome was huge. Some hockey experts are saying he could be the number two center within two years… or sooner. GM Don Maloney is not ruling out the fact that he has some excellent young prospects who will be attempting to make the team in training camp in September.

With the likes of Max Domi, Christian Dvorak, Anthony Duclair, Brendan Perlini, Henrik Samuelsson, and possibly Dylan Strome, the forward lines are looking promising. When you add in the veterans already on the team like: Mikkel Boedker, Martin Hanzal, Toby Rieder, Mark Arcobello, Joe Vitale, and of course Captain Coyote Shane Doan — the hope is that this collection of youth and experience will advance the chances of the team making the playoffs next season.

With the addition of another Swedish D-man Nicklas Grossmann to join OEL, Stone, Dahbeck, Moore, Murphy, Campbell — the defense is starting to look promising as well. With Brandon Gormley, and Philip Samuelsson available from the AHL, the depth is fortified well too.

It was a pretty good day in Coyote-land, and if and when the team can fix the arena lease situation, this team could really be something to watch next season.

Next: Arizona Coyotes: Strome, Merkley First Round Draft Choices

More from Howlin' Hockey

Home / Coyotes News