The Arizona Coyotes announced Sunday that they have placed forward Steve Downie on waivers. Downie had appeared in only two games in the past month for the Coyotes.
Arizona Coyotes general manager Don Maloney announced Sunday that Steve Downie had been placed on waivers.
The move was first announced by TSN’s Bob McKenzie.
Steve Downie had scored three goals and six points in 25 games with the Coyotes this season. He also averaged just 9:06 of time on ice.
"Downie, 28, has appeared in just two games this month, which included a 7:12 stint in a 2-0 loss to the Devils yesterday. He’s been a healthy scratch on a number of occasions recently and, prior to that, had missed a fairly significant period of time with an upper-body injury."
The roster move comes as little surprise. Downie has been unable to crack the lineup with the Arizona Coyotes, and when he does crack the lineup he alternates between being ineffective and outright detrimental.
A former twenty goal scorer with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009-10, Steve Downie occupied the agitator role and throughout his tenure with the Yotes seemed unable to separate himself from that in order to play efficient hockey.
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His love of mixing it up and goading opponents got him into penalty trouble on more than one occasion, hurting the team at times when his actual hockey abilities would have sufficed.
Despite his reputation, Downie is actually a very serviceable veteran player, but seemed unwilling to pick his spots with his role as pest in order to maximize the return he could give to his team.
While Don Maloney and the Arizona Coyotes had likely hoped Downie would provide some scoring in the bottom six while filling out their roster in what was expected to be a down season, things have dovetailed from that original plan.
The Coyotes are holding onto a slim lead in second place in the Pacific Division, and Downie’s scoring touch never materialized due to a mixture of injury, healthy scratches, and general knuckle-headed behavior.
Fans had talked throughout the week of the possibility of the Coyotes moving on from Steve Downie, but it seems that no general managers were willing to take on the $1,750,000 contract.
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General Fanager reports that since Downie is on a 1-way deal, he’ll make his full $1,750,000 salary in the AHL. The move won’t save the Coyotes any salary, but they save $423,924 in cap space if he stays there.
For the Coyotes, this is no real loss on the ice whatsoever.
Downie was barely in the lineup during their recent run and his presence on the ice can easily be replaced by one of the younger options the Arizona Coyotes have in Springfield if the need arises.
Preferably a kid with a little more discipline on the ice.