While the playoffs are ongoing, many teams have already started their offseason planning. What storylines lie ahead around the league? Our Offseason Keys series continues with a look at the Arizona Coyotes.
Last summer, GM John Chayka made a pair of big trades in an effort to shore up the roster, bringing in Derek Stepan, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Antti Raanta. The end result wasn’t much different than the year before as they finished last in the Western Conference which is a sign that Arizona is likely to be active again this offseason. Here is what is on the horizon for them.
Rebuild The Offense
With extensions handed out to Raanta and Darcy Kuemper after they acquired him from Los Angeles, the Coyotes have some stability between the pipes. They’ve been active in terms of adding to their back end in recent years with Hjalmarsson, Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers, and Jakob Chychrun. That leaves their forward group to be rebuilt.
There is a young nucleus in place led by Clayton Keller but it’s still a largely inexperienced group. Their oldest forward heading into next season is Dave Bolland (who hasn’t played due to injury the last two years and has one more season left on his contract). After that, it’s Stepan who is only 27. He’s a nice veteran piece that fits in with this young group but the Coyotes need a couple more players like him to help shoulder the load and give them more threats up front.
Fortunately for Arizona, salary cap constraints won’t be a problem. They finished 2017-18 under the cap by more than $16MM so they have plenty of wiggle room to work with. At some point, they’re expected to become more active in terms of spending and with a lot of teams projecting to be tight to the Upper Limit this offseason, this may be their window to take advantage.
Determine Ekman-Larsson’s Future
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been a fixture on the back end since 2010-11 and has become one of the more underrated blueliners in the league. He is set to enter the final year of his contract next season and with that, questions about his future with the Coyotes are inevitable.
In fact, they’ve been around for a while already. Towards the trade deadline, GM John Chayka did his best to try to quash any speculation regarding Ekman-Larsson’s future but while he obviously wasn’t dealt back in February, the scuttlebutt will only intensify if he enters the season with no extension in hand.
Ekman-Larsson is set to earn $7MM in salary (with $5.5MM cap hit) for next season and his next contract should eclipse that salary as contracts continue to grow. Given their payroll parameters, can they afford to keep him and build an eventual playoff contender around him? Will Ekman-Larsson want to stay if spending stays at the floor?
If the answer to either of those questions is no, then he becomes a prime candidate to be dealt and the offseason may be the best time to do so; we’ve seen how much of a constraint the salary cap can be towards the trade deadline. Officially, the two sides can’t come to terms on an extension before July but Chayka would be wise to have a backup plan or two in place if the two sides can’t find common ground on a new contract.
Deal For Domi
Heading into 2017-18, center Max Domi was viewed as a key cog of Arizona’s future. Despite an injury-plagued sophomore campaign, he still played at a point-per-game level equal to that of his rookie year where he put up 52 points. Unfortunately for him and the Coyotes, this past season was a rough one that saw him score just nine times despite playing in all 82 regular season games.
The 23-year-old now enters the offseason in need of a new contract and is the most intriguing of Arizona’s free agents. In a time where bridge deals are becoming less and less frequent, will the Coyotes follow that path and commit long-term or opt for a shorter-term, ‘prove it’ type of contract which, given the year he had, makes a lot of sense?
Alternatively, there is another type of deal out there and that’s a trade. Chayka was receiving interest on Domi leading into the trade deadline but he wasn’t too interested at that time. The interest is bound to be there again in the coming months and if the team decides to shake up its forward group, Domi may make some sense to move even though it may be when his value is relatively low. It’s not as prominent of a decision as their own with Ekman-Larsson but Domi’s case is still an important one to watch for.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.