Arizona Coyotes: Two Trades… Really? Is That IT?

By William Grigsby |

With Just Two Trades Over The Off-Season, The Arizona Coyotes Were Not Active

When one analyzes the off-season deals that the Arizona Coyotes made to improve this team, it’s quite disappointing. One trade went down when the Yotes sent Lauri Korpikoski to Edmonton for Boyd Gordon. Korpikoski was not performing very well, coming in with just six goals, and 15 assists in 69 games. To add insult to injury, his −27 +/- was also good reason to try and find a new address for him.

Feb. 18, 2013; Glendale, AZ, USA; Phoenix Coyotes center Boyd Gordon (15) wins a face off against Calgary Flames center Roman Horak (51) and NHL linesman Michel Cormier (76) watches during the third period at Jobing.com Arena. The Coyotes beat the Flames 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

By adding a known entity like Gordon, the Arizona Coyotes added a great face-off player, penalty killer and fore-checking expert. The team knew what they were getting when they made the trade.

Then, they dumped Sam Gagner for Nicklas Grossmann and Chris Pronger’s contract. Still trying to figure out that one. I know the team needed to get to the salary cap basement, but it seems the Flyers accomplished more by dumping Pronger’s contract, than the Arizona Coyotes got in return. I hear only average reviews on Grossmann, who some in Philly described as ‘slow’, and not that physical for his size.

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So, my question becomes, why has this been the ONLY two trades this summer? There has been plenty of free agent signings, and that is good, otherwise this team would really be hurting. The only asset worthy of trade attention it seems, was trading the third overall pick, and GM Don Maloney did not do that.

We don’t know what kind of offers he received for the pick, but it was rumored that Dougie Hamilton may have been involved. As it turned out Calgary collected Hamilton, and for a pretty small price of a first round pick and two second round picks. The Arizona Coyotes could have done the same thing, since they were knee deep in draft picks.

As it turned out, the better choice of keeping the pick netted the team a talented, maybe not ready yet NHL center in Dylan Strome.

I am still perplexed as to why the Coyotes don’t go after Cody Franson. I think their offense has been upgraded enough to compete, but if Mike Smith will be facing 35 shots a game again — it will be another L O N G season. The defense is still not overwhelmingly impressive, or anything like a normal Dave Tippett defensively strong team.

In the years past, especially the Western Conference challenging team of the 2011-12 season, the defense was strong, and they scored enough goals to win games. With the addition of Franson, they could really put their defense into that category once again.

The only thing I can think of is, perhaps Maloney is going to wait to see how the young prospects do in training camp, and then make a deal or two. The team is deep in prospects, but they take time (especially with Maloney and Tippett’s conservative perspective on young players) to develop the young talents.

The trade offers had to be out there, and yet the Arizona Coyotes are not that much of an improved team come training camp in two months. I guess the Keith Yandle trade shook the cobwebs off some of the trade talks, but I expected some additional moves by Maloney to improve this team.

That is his function, and I think he has failed to some degree, in that respect.

Next: Arizona Coyotes: Roster Changes Not Significant Enough

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