In our review of the NHL’s 31 teams this off season, we hit the Arizona Coyotes with our next installment. The Coyotes managed to avoid arbitration with restricted free agent Jordan Martinook.
The deal was reported early on 22 July and is said to be a two-year deal worth around 
$1.8 million per year.
The signing of Martinook leaves only Anthony Duclair, a restricted free agent, unsigned.
The problem for the Coyotes is that Duclair has been a difficult signing given his production.
Since coming out of the QMJHL and the Quebec Remparts’ system, Duclair has missed expectations. The Coyotes acquired Duclair in a trade with the New York Rangers two years ago.
His inconsistency since joining Arizona is leading the club to seek a short-term deal with the player to assess his future impact in the desert.
Duclair was emoted to Tucson of the AHL during the season to work out his issues with the Roadrunners.
“It’s going to be a one- or two-year deal,” General Manager John Chayka said on azcentral.com. “That’s where we’re at. We’ve talked. We understand where each other’s at.”
In other player moves, Alexander Burmistrov, Peter Holland, Josh Jooris, and Radim Vrbata all departed Glendale in free agency deals.
At 36, Vrbata is the oldest of that list with the others in their mid-20’s.
As of 22 July, the Coyotes had yet to dip their toe in the free agent market and the remaining talent is limited but may be picked up at bargain prices this late in the summer.
The departure of Shane Doan from the Coyotes was mishandled by the club. The captain of the Coyotes had spent every season the Coyotes have prowled the desert in Phoenix and Glendale. At 41, Doan’s best years are behind him but the franchise acknowledged this summer that the process was flawed in letting him go to free agency without another short-term contract.
Team owner Andrew Barroway took the blame early on and accepted that blame for the handling of Doan’s ignominious send off.
“He’s going to be a 41-year-old winger,” Barroway said. “We wish him the best. He’s the bedrock of this franchise. He’s been here in the Valley since Day 1. Great guy, lovable, personable. In our mind, he wasn’t a right hockey fit for the team.
“Do I wish it would have been handled differently? Yes I do. Do I wish Shane would have retired at the end of last year? Yes. That’s his decision, and the mistake I made was I should have flown across the country to tell Shane this personally. That was my bad.”
From a purely business and hockey operations decision, the separation of the Coyotes from Doan the player is understandable. But the process of severing ties from Doan the Coyotes’ icon may make any reconciliation impossible.
That means the Coyotes will have an even more difficult time finding a permanent home in the Valley of the Sun. There have been plans and rumors aplenty about new arenas and recent reports suggest that the Phoenix Suns of the NBA are no longer, if ever, interested in sharing an arena with a hockey club.
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