GLENDALE, Ariz – The NHL trade deadline has come and gone. As expected, the Coyotes were sellers. I’m not sure anybody anticipated them being quite this busy, however. If any doubted whether General Manager Don Maloney earns his paycheck those doubts were laid to rest this past weekend. Nobody was busier than Maloney, except for movers and travel coordinators.
The first player dealt surprised nobody. Everyone expected Coyotes center Antoine Vermette to be moved. Saturday night the deal was done. Immediately after the Coyotes’ game in Boston, Vermette was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for minor-league defenseman Klas Dahlbeck and the Blackhawks’ first-round pick in the upcoming NHL draft. Dahlbeck is a 6’3”, 207 pound native of Sweden. He has been 
playing for the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, for the last three seasons. His peak season so far came last year, putting up 10 goals and 25 assists for a total of 35 points in 75 games. He had put up 10 points in 49 games with Rockford this season, adding another goal in four NHL games for Chicago. Maloney described Dahlbeck as a “big, strong, two-way defenseman who skates well and competes hard”. He may help shore up a very generous Coyotes defense.
The next move came as a surprise to many. All-Star defenseman Keith Yandle was sent to the New York Rangers, along with defenseman Chris Summers and a 2016 fourth-round pick, in exchange for Rangers defenseman John Moore, forward Anthony Duclair, a second-round pick in the 2015 draft, and a first-round pick in the 2016 draft. John Moore is the most experienced part of the package the Coyotes got back, having spent the last five seasons in the NHL and/or AHL. His stats aren’t all that impressive, but he has been a plus player in each of the last three seasons and did manage 15 points in 74 games for the Rangers last season (his first full season in the NHL). Maloney described him as a “strong skating, puck-moving defenseman”, which usually translates to more points. Where he’ll fit in remains to be seen, but with the departures of Yandle and Michalek there will be some slots available on the Coyotes defense.
Far more intriguing is the young forward Anthony Duclair. After making the Rangers out of training camp this season, Duclair managed 7 points in 18 NHL games as a part-time player. The Rangers allowed him to join Team Canada for the World Junior Championship and he scored 8 points in 7 games while playing on a line with Coyotes prospect Max Domi (who netted 10 points). After the tournament, the Rangers sent him back to his junior team in Quebec, where he continued his torrid scoring pace by posting 25 points in 20 games. He is just the type of dynamic scorer that the Coyotes desperately need. While there is a huge difference between junior hockey and the NHL, he has shown a propensity to score goals by the ton. He had 50 goals and 99 points in 59 games with Quebec last season. Coyotes fans can go to sleep at night dreaming of what he and Domi will do when they’re reunited in Arizona.
On Monday, the Coyotes picked up where they left off, trading oft-injured D-man Zbynek Michalek and a conditional 2015 third-round pick (if Michalek fails to play in another game this season) to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for forward Maxim Letunov. Letunov is a tall, skinny 19-year old Russian who is currently playing for the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL. He was drafted in the second round of the 2014 draft and is committed to play at Boston University next season. He’s a work in progress, at least two or three seasons away from playing pro hockey. He needs time to grow into his 6’2” frame and add some meat to his 155 pounds. He scored 53 points in 47 games this season, which are good numbers but would mean more if he played in a higher-quality league.
The Coyotes’ next move will likely have little to no impact on the big club, at least not immediately. The team traded minor-league defenseman Mark Louis to the New York Islanders in exchange for goaltender David Leggio. Leggio is a solid AHL goalie, posting four straight seasons with a GAA o 2.80 or less before this season (where he currently holds a 3.93 mark). He has also posted a save percentage of .911 or better during that same span (.861 this season). He may be best known, however, for his effect on the AHL rulebook. In a game this season, Leggio found himself facing a 2-on-0 breakaway situation. Armed only with a strong knowledge of the rules, he turned and deliberately knocked his net off its moorings, stopping play. The punishment for his act was a penalty shot, facing only one shooter, which he stopped. He simultaneously received praise and derision for the move and made many sports highlight shows. As a result of his actions, the AHL changed the rule so that now a goalie who does the same thing will receive a game misconduct and his team will still face a penalty shot against their backup goalie. This has become known as “The Leggio Rule”. Beyond that bit of trivia, his acquisition simply means added depth at the position for the Coyotes and their AHL affiliate.
In addition to all of the trades, the Coyotes also picked up two new forwards via the waiver wire; Tye McGinn of the San Jose Sharks and Craig Cunningham of the Boston Bruins. Cunningham is a scrappy, undersized winger (at 5’9”, 175 lbs.). He can find the back of the net, having put up back-to-back 25-goal seasons in Providence (AHL). Having come up through the Bruins system one can assume he’s learned to play hockey the Bruins way, physical and defensively responsible. He’s still young but may develop into a decent player.
McGinn is a big (6’2”, 205 lbs.), young, hard-working winger who has put up decent scoring numbers in junior and in the American League. So far in the NHL, he has scored exactly five points in each of his three seasons (including the current season). In the previous two years he managed to accomplish the feat in 18 games, while this season it has taken him 34 games to achieve the same result.
The Aftermath
There are two kinds of winners on deadline day; those that strengthen their teams in the short term for a playoff run and those who build for the future. While it is far too early to judge the winners and losers in either of those categories, it’s easy to see which teams gave themselves the biggest chances for a big payoff. Some teams stood pat, some tried to tweak their rosters, and some swung for the fences in hopes of reaping big rewards.
The Coyotes are definitely in the latter category. They were the busiest team in the trading frenzy. While it would have been nice if they could have moved Erat (salary retention issues hindered a possible deal), they set themselves up for a huge potential return. With two picks in each of the first three rounds of this year’s draft and two in the first round of the 2016 draft, the Coyotes will have access to a lot of very talented young players. They’ve proven adept at selecting good young talent, so they stand to make huge gains in a couple of very strong draft classes. On picks alone they’ve done well to set themselves up for the future. In addition, they acquired a couple of very exciting young prospects that could be strong long-term assets.
While the losses of Vermette, Yandle, and Michalek will be felt in the short term, the return the Coyotes got will stand them in good stead over the next few years. Vermette is a player the Coyotes wouldn’t have been able to keep after this season anyway. They got a solid player in return instead of getting nothing had Vermette left via free-agency. The team almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford the large raise to which he is entitled. Dahlbeck is a player that could help the team right away. He is a legitimate NHL defenseman, and was widely considered Chicago’s top defensive prospect. In fact, Fox Sports Arizona’s Craig Morgan reports that he likely would have been on the Hawks roster were it not for salary cap constraints.
The loss of Yandle will be tougher to overcome. He was the team’s leading scorer in each of the last three seasons (including this season). He was the quarterback of the team’s fifth-ranked power play, one of the few strengths the team had this year. Though he was prone to committing big turnovers (his +/- rating of -32 led the team by a wide margin), he was one of the few legitimate offensive weapons the Coyotes possessed. Prospect Anthony Duclair could play a big part in replacing that offense (especially once reunited with World Juniors linemate Max Domi). In addition, the two high draft picks the Coyotes received give them a chance to improve quickly via the draft.
Michalek’s situation is a little more complicated. He too would have been a free agent after this season, but given his age and his history of injuries he likely would have been within reach for the Coyotes to re-sign him. In fact, he has already expressed an interest in rejoining the team in the off-season. Even if Letunov never materializes for the Coyotes, the Coyotes gave up practically nothing.
All in all, the Coyotes did more than anybody to improve their team going forward. In the next two years they will receive a windfall via the draft that may soon make people forget about Yandle. They may have a rough couple of years waiting for those young prospects to develop, but then they have the potential to be very good for a very long time. Remember the last few years of the Quebec Nordiques? Using solid scouting and drafting (and one big trade involving one of those draft picks), they managed to rise from mediocrity and win the Stanley Cup in their first season as the Colorado Avalanche. Like their former hometown’s mythological namesake, the Coyotes could be poised to rise from the ashes of the current team and become a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
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