Arizona Coyotes Should Pursue Top-Scoring Forward

With the Arizona Coyotes sending a 5th round pick to the Dallas Stars Thursday afternoon for the rights to negotiate with pending-UFA Alex Goligoski, it appears as if the Coyotes are decidedly interested in competitive hockey next season.

Newly crowned Arizona Coyotes General Manager John Chayka taught Coyotes fans something very important today; he wants the team to be competitive and he wants that to be sooner rather than later.

We know this because of Thursday’s trade with the Dallas Stars, in which Chayka gambled that he could sell Alex Goligoski into signing with the Coyotes before he has a chance to test he free agent market. Chayka isn’t all in, but he is certainly being more active with the chips he has to play with as opposed to the conservative mannerisms Coyotes fans were accustomed to with former GM Don Maloney.

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But there is another angle to this story with two crucial aspects; one is that Arizona may not be done acquiring talented defenseman.

The other?

Arizona desperately needs a proven, high-scoring talent to mentor the young guns coming out of the development system.

The Coyotes need to be in a winning, playoff environment in order to continually grow the organization, both from a hockey operations standpoint and from a fanbase standpoint. If the Coyotes can not create this environment, who knows what the young pups like Christian Dvorak and Dylan Strome would actually be capable of because their best years would be spoiled at the bottom of the weakest division in the NHL.

Arizona needs to go find this type of forward, and they need to do it this summer.

Sitting at nearly $37 million dollars in cap space according to GeneralFanager.com, the Arizona Coyotes have the room to make moves whether by free agency or by trade.

We’ve compiled a few names that stand out as compelling options for the Coyotes, given their enormous cap space and apparently aggressive new General Manager.

Next: Steven Stamkos

A deal with Steven Stamkos is likely far-fetched, but Arizona has the resources to make a competitive offer.

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos is an interesting player. He has all the skill, speed and leadership that a coach or GM would want in a franchise player, but is not quite labeled a generational talent.

Currently, Stamkos is raking in $7.5 million dollars in his current contract with the Bolts and he is only 26 years old.

That same contract was over 5 years, and depending on how Stamkos feels about his career, he could be looking for a short contract over 2-3 years or a longer, 5-6 year deal. Either way, whomever signs him will be forking out the loose change in their assistant GM’s pockets to make sure he plays for them.

In the context of the Arizona Coyotes, Stamkos could essentially name a number as long as it isn’t ludicrously out there. His number would likely be between where he is sitting now at $7.5 million and as high as $8.5-9 million dollars.

The Arizona Coyotes are likely willing to give Stammer whatever contract he wants including bonuses and and no trade/movement clauses. Other teams who may want in on the Stamkos-sweepstakes like Detroit and his current team may not have this flexibility given the list of players they need to resign. Moreover, teams like Toronto aren’t really immediately built for the playoffs.

The Coyotes, on the other hand, were in the hunt for a playoff spot up until late February this year.

The Yotes have the money to land Stamkos, but the prospect of him coming to the desert doesn’t seem too likely, unfortunately.

Next: Kyle Okposo

Kyle Okposo is not necessarily the All-Star forward with second to none talent the Coyotes are looking for, but the skills he brings to the table would still upgrade the Arizona offensive effort.

In his 2015-2016 season for the New York islanders, Kyle Okposo netted 63 points (22 goals, 41 assists) in 79 games. The closest Coyotes player to that total was defenseman Olvier Ekman-Larsson and the closest forward to that number was rookie Max Domi.

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Okposo would bring immediate changes to the Coyotes top-6 forwards, offering speed and hands that are comparable to some of the youth still percolating through Arizona’s development system. Okposo’s skills could make him a great mentor to players like Domi and Anthony Duclair, as well as players who have yet to crack the NHL roster like Christian Dvorak and Chirstian Fischer.

Okposo also comes at a relatively cheap price in comparison to Stamkos, not that the price really matters to a bottom-5 cap team.

Okposo’s concluding New York contract was a 5-yr, $14 million dollar hit, with a cap hit of $2.8 million cap hit over those 5 years. At 29, Okposo may still have a slight upward trend in production but as he gets older and begins to decline, whatever deal he’s signed to will come into larger focus. Okposo is probably looking for a 3-5 year deal with a paycheck in the ballpark of $4-5 million or so.

If there is bidding war between teams, that number may inflate beyond the top of that spectrum.

Should John Chayka see the right statistics and analytics next to Kyle Okposo’s name he’s looking for, expect this signing to be one of the more realistic moves the Coyotes could make in the coming free agency period.

Next: Andrew Ladd

The Chicago Blackhawks traded for Andrew Ladd in pursuit of another Stanley Cup and the ‘Ladd Experiment, Part 2’ didn’t really pan out too well. However Ladd’s talents and price could match up well with Arizona’s hockey experiment in the desert.

When Andrew Ladd was moved to Chicago in a trade deadline move that sent Marko Dano to the Great White North, Chicago expected to see the dynamic player they had in 2010 when they brought home their first Cup in a long time.

However what they got was an OK performance and a subpar playoff run.

Now Ladd is due to be a free agent and unless he’s willing to take a big discount to stay in the Windy City for a second stint, Chicago can’t really afford to keep him around.

Puck Prose

The Arizona Coyotes can certainly afford Ladd and might like his experience as a captain in Winnipeg to lead the youth movement in the desert.

Until this summer, Ladd was rocking a 5 year deal with an annual cap hit of $4.4 million.

Ladd’s point totals over that 5 year deal has ranged from the mid-40’s to the low-60’s, which would put his scoring number at about where Max Domi was this year and will likely end up next year.

Ladd will likely seek out a similar deal with a similar or smaller time frame, but comments from the forward suggest he is motivated to find a place where his family will do well and he feels comfortable.

Ladd is not necessarily the big name the Arizona Coyotes can go market around Phoenix, but he can contribute solid points and ice time over the next couple years, mentoring young players into stars while helping propel the Coyotes into a perennial playoff team.

Next: David Backes

David Backes has been at the helm of the St. Louis Blues for much of the recent past, but as Blue coach Ken Hitchcock enters his last year before retirement, the Blues organization may be looking to move on from their Captain and Arizona may be looking to rent him.

Over the last few years, David Backes has consistently posted +/- 50 point seasons. That number is not crazy high by any NHL standard, but from a Coyotes perspective, that number looks pretty good.

Arizona has struggled over the last couple seasons to manufacture offense and their lack of 50 point scorers showcases this issue. Inserting Backes into the pack, likely as a second line centerman should John Chayka not trade Martin Hanzal, would give some young Coyotes another resource in their development but also a more talented form of protection against big hits on young skill players.

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By this, we mean that Backes can fight and with Shane Doan‘s career in its twilight, you couldn’t imagine Doaner skating out and fighting every time a young player gets demolished. But you could imagine Backes doing this (see the picture above).

Backed just finished a 5 year, $4.5 million dollar deal and sitting at the age of 32, he’s likely looking for a 2-3 year contract to bridge him into a final contract to retire on.

If Backes believes the Arizona Coyotes are gonna be a playoff teams and he thinks they have a chance to get him closer to a Stanley Cup, he may sign on. But if he’s thinking Cup now, Arizona might not be a good place for him to sign just yet.

Next: James Neal

James Neal isn’t set to become a free agent, but he may be on the trade market if Nashville is either looking to upgrade wingers or promote prospects.

The Nashville Predators don’t really have a cap issue, yet.

This year’s cap is gonna be friendly to the Preds, but next year may be less so and as Pekka Rinne‘s window to win a Cup begins to close, Nashville may be willing to shake up their roster again in order to give their goaltender and captain Shea Weber a solid shot at winning it all.

Shaking it up may entail moving some big pieces, as we saw Seth Jones get moved to Columbus for Ryan Johansen during last season.

James Neal could be in the same boat as Jones.

Neals fits in Arizona short term, meaning just this final year of his contract because he can fill a top-line scoring spot while Arizona’s youth matures either down in Tucson or on the second and third lines.

However the issue of James Neal as a Coyote is not on the Coyotes end but on who the Preds would get back, as Arizona would need to trade to get Neal.

Nashville has way too many centerman on staff and nearly no wingers. They need some outside talent soon and they need it bad. Arizona has Brandon Perlini to offer and maybe one or two other prospects ready to come out of the CHL, but this match up seems almost as unrealistic as the Stamkos signing in the desert.

It sounds good but really won’t have legs beyond a good conversation of “what ifs”.

Next: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins