The Desert Floor

Team: 2022-23 Arizona Coyotes

Initial Creation Date: Apr. 29, 2022

Published: Apr. 29, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Arizona has hoarded enough picks to this point that I feel like it's worth trying to use them (and their ability to acquire distressed assets) to try and make a more functional team. Let's see if we can get creative and build -something- in the desert.

-TRADES-
1: Philly dumps JVR's $7M hit - which only costs Arizona $5M in salary. They throw in Morgan Frost and an advantageous pick swap - Arizona gives Frost a long leash to see if he can develop the talents that made him a 1st rounder a few years ago.

2: Edmonton moves on from 2x$3.2M of Zack Kassian and gets back his Irish, non-union equivalent in Liam O'Brien (2x$775K). That's $6.4M of total cap hit at $5.8M in real money - not a crazy steal, but it's something! Edmonton throws in a wild-card goalie prospect that's bounced between the AHL & ECHL this season (open to Konovalov if Oilers fans prefer him instead.)

3: Hard to pin the value on this but I think both sides walk away happy with this. Isles get an LD2 that works cap-wise; Arizona takes on Josh Bailey's 2x$5M (but only paid 2x$3.5M!) and gets a couple of interesting prospects - Holmstrom was a 2019 1st who showed some development this season nd Wilde has the tools but needs a fresh start in a new org. Give Arizona an advantageous pick swap to even out the value on retention, I guess?

4: Swapping bottom-6 guys - Montreal gets a slightly better player, Arizona gets a $3.4M cap hit that only costs $2.8M, Montreal throws in a pick to make up for the difference in value between the two guys.

SIGNINGS

-First off, sign a goalie to play with Vejmelka. I think you've got a couple decent options developing in the system, especially with these trades, but get an NHL guy to share the load and not ruin the kids' confidence. Jonas Korpisalo is probably going to be available cheap and could sign an affordable 2 year deal to rebuild his value.

There's enough forward depth floating around that you don't necessarily have to go crazy signing one, but Nick Merkley's interesting enough to me as a 24 year old with some untapped potential and positional flexibility.

The D corps is really unsettled, so take a couple of low-cost flyers on players who got squeezed out in good organizations. Zboril looked good until his injury - sign him to a 2 year deal so he doesn't feel like he has to rush back. Niku is 25 and can play both sides and is worth a look as depth at least. Andrej Sustr isn't a guy I love having as RD3 but he's got enough NHL experience to plug back there and not completely fall apart. With those guys plus Connor Timmins, Cam Dineen, Vlad Kolyachonok, and Wilde, you've got guys you can cycle in and out of that bottom pair to see what sticks. It's not the best arrangement, but we're not expecting to win just yet.

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