Arizona Coyotes Leave Big Questions After First Major Cuts
By Alex Temes
Question 5: What happens when Michael Stone returns from injury?
During a game in late March last season against the Philadelphia Flyers, Michael Stone collided with Michael Raffl and subsequently had to have surgery to repair some seriously injured tendons in his left knee.
During his absence, the Arizona Coyotes called up stopgap minor league players like Alex Grant to fill that void.
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But as the new season is set to begin, Stone remains on the injured reserve roster and has been skating in a non-contact jersey during practices, leaving many to wonder who will fill his void.
In all likelihood, it’ll be young power play specialist Anthony DeAngelo, who was acquired for a second round pick during this last draft from the Tampa Bay Lightning. DeAngelo has a bumpy history, having been suspended multiple times in junior and minor hockey for threatening teammates and officials.
Yet, DeAngelo has shown this fall why John Chayka dealt a second round pick to Tampa for the beleaguered defenseman.
DeAngelo is the puck moving, offensively-minded defenseman Arizona has needed to put on their power play in support of Oliver Ekman-Larsson for a long while. There is little doubt that DeAngelo would be unable to succeed at an NHL level, and for any more proof, look at his goal against Vancouver from Monday night.
But what if DeAngelo does succeed and Stone returns as scheduled. Arizona could send DeAngelo down to Tucson, but if he’s played such an integral role in the power play, is that such an easy call?
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This question has perhaps quietly been the most important question for the Arizona Coyotes all training camp, because Anthony DeAngelo is part of the future of Arizona’s defensive structure and the answer is that at some point, players like Michael Stone and Zbynek Michalek will have to be phased out.
It’s simply a matter of how well DeAngelo produces and how soon that happens.
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It’s always a gamble to trust youth over experience, but in the case of DeAngelo, the more goals you score on the power play, the more game you win and wins get you to the playoffs.
If you want “White Out’s” in the desert again, you should probably be pulling for the youngster from New Jersey.