It is no secret the Coyotes have had a rough go of it. Can they turn it around?
After more than a decade of turmoil and uncertainty, this year’s draft may be the turning point for the Arizona Coyotes. The local NHL team has been through a lot over the past few seasons.
When the NHL took ownership of the Coyotes in 2009 the problems for the franchise were all just starting. The league sold the franchise to the Meruelo Group, LLC with Alex Meruelo being the Majority owner, in 2019. The minor league system was depleted, and draft picks were traded away, or taken away by the NHL for a scandal by the former General Manager, John Chayka. This was the lowest point the Coyotes have ever seen.
Current General Manager, Bill Armstrong took the reins in 2020 and decided that the team needed a rebuild. He started by trading many of the better players on the roster for draft picks. One of these was Darcy Kuemper. He was traded to the Colorado Avalanche for a first-round pick in the 2022 draft, and a conditional third-round pick in 2024. Kuemper went 10-11-3 with 2.56 goals against average and a .907 save percentage in the 2020-2021 season. Kuemper went on to help the Avalanche win the Stanley cup for the 2021-2022 season.
Depleting the roster of talent, and keeping a good core group together, led the Coyotes to a total of 10 picks in the 2022 draft. The Coyotes had 3 first-round picks, and 4 second-round picks. These picks help rebuild the minor league system. The most exciting was their number three pick, Logan Cooley. Cooley is a smaller Forward, but he is fast. I can see him coming up to the Coyotes quickly. He has great stick handling and is a sniper with his shot. His speed was what got me. I can see him on a line with Lawson Crouse, or Clayton Keller in the near future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzmPf8IDylo
Now that the draft is over, and the Coyotes’ farm teams are replenished, free agency is the next step for the team. The Coyotes will be losing some of the core group to Unrestricted Free Agency. There are still a lot of free agents out there to pick up.
I still think they are a few years out from the playoffs, but this is the first step.
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