GLENDALE, Ari – The Arizona Coyotes had a pair of great offseasons in 2015 and this past summer before the 2016-17 season. They acquired Dylan Strome with the 3rd overall pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft and selected Clayton Keller with the 7th overall pick in 2016. Both promising young forwards have yet to play a full NHL season.
Strome is currently with the OHL’s Erie Otters due to the CHL transfer agreement and 
Keller is in the NCAA, playing college hockey for Boston University.
As the club celebrates its 20th season in Arizona, it looks forward to a bright future but without these future stars in the lineup they have found themselves nearing the end of a very mediocre season.
Much like previous seasons the Coyotes, sit outside of the Western Conference playoff picture and are hovering near the bottom the National Hockey League’s standings.
Just five years ago, in the 2011-12 NHL season, they were on the verge of getting to a Stanley Cup Final and broke through into the post season three years in a row.
At the beginning of the season, the Coyotes started off poorly and never found gained momentum throughout the entire first half of the year.
Month after month of poor performances has resulted in their current 7th place standing in the Pacific division and 29th in the NHL; 17 points ahead of the lowly Colorado Avalanche.
February was their best, most successful month of the whole season. With a chance to have 7-6 in the record in the month, they tallied off big wins against some of the more elite squads in the NHL including Pittsburgh, Calgary, and San Jose.
They are 5-4-1 in their 10 games and none games under .500 at 26-35-8.
If the Coyotes can end the season on a high note they will be making important steps on the road to a brighter future with young stars like Strome, Keller and Max Domi hopefully finding their way.
The Coyotes traded Martin Hanzal and Ryan White to open up cap space, receive future draft picks, and rebuild a new foundation for the club.
Over the past few years, the Coyotes took important steps in that direction, adding Anthony Duclair and Max Domi.
As rookies, they were stars on a young and improving Coyotes roster; but this season Domi and especially Duclair have been experiencing the infamous sophomore slump. Duclair’s in the first half of the season was so poor, John Chayka sent him down to Arizona’s AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
Even in Tucson with lower competition and more ice time, Duclair’s performance still hasn’t shown Coyotes management that he deservers to be in the NHL.
In the future, the Coyotes hope to see Duclair find his stride in Tucson, and for Domi to be a leader both on and off the ice.
If these two important players can regain the form seen in their rookie seasons, it will go a long way towards the Coyotes once again becoming an elite force in the NHL.
In addition to Duclair and Domi, there is even a possibility that Clayton Keller might turn pro during the offseason adding yet another young gun to the roster. In the 2017 draft, the Coyotes once again will almost certainly have a top ten pick and will continue filling the organization with young talent. Arizona is rebuilding and given the prospects and future outlook, they are nearing a successful program turn around.
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