Coyotes Place Kyle Capobianco On Waivers

Jan. 31: Friedman reports that Capobianco has cleared and will be assigned to the taxi squad.

Jan 30: The Coyotes have placed defenseman Kyle Capobianco on waivers, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).  The move isn’t entirely unexpected with Ilya Lyubushkin now in Arizona after finally getting his work visa issue resolved so now with him being available, they can try to send Capobianco down.

The 23-year-old has played in two games with Arizona this season and has been held off the scoresheet while logging just over 14 minutes per game.  It’s actually the fourth straight season that Capobianco has seen NHL action but in that stretch, he has been limited to just 14 contests where he has a single goal while averaging just shy of 15 minutes per contest.

He has been much more productive in the minors though, notching at least 30 points in each of his first three AHL seasons despite not playing in more than 49 games in any of them.  2019-20 was his best performance when he had 10 goals and 27 assists in just 42 games with AHL Tucson.

It’s that type of offensive upside coupled with an affordable contract (a two-year, one-way deal with an AAV of just $775K) that could make Capobianco at least a bit intriguing to some teams, especially those who are in need of some defensive depth but don’t have the cap room to try to make a bigger splash.  They’ll have until 11 AM CT on Sunday to place a claim.