Jason Demers from the Panthers
The Arizona Coyotes have a stacked defensive corps, especially when everyone is healthy and able to take to the ice.
One player that was acquired by Chayka in a trade is Jason Demers – who holds down a top-two pairing role with the Coyotes when he is fully healthy.
Demers is a regular defensive partner of Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson and has been sorely missed this season, with the 30-year-old right-handed blueliner having been sidelined since mid-November.
The trade that brought Demers to the desert also appears to have been a master-stroke by Chayka, with the deal being a straight one-for-one, with forward Jamie McGinn going the other way to the Florida Panthers.
As a part of the trade, the Panthers also retained $562,500 per season of Demers’ contract, reducing his cap hit to just $3,937,500 until 2021.
McGinn, also 30, has had a less than stellar time since being traded to the Panthers. Making 76 regular season appearances in the season following the trade, McGinn registered 13 goals and 29 total points.
This season, however, McGinn has found himself featuring just twice for the Panthers all season – registering a goal on the single shot he had in that brief span.
Demers, meanwhile, had been a top contributor for the Coyotes along the blueline and will slot back into the top-four immediately upon his return from injury.
McGinn’s future in Florida is questionable, but Demers will still be a key player for the Arizona Coyotes, costing them relatively little over the next two seasons.