Plenty of options for trade-seeking Arizona Coyotes

Last month, Coyotes personnel retreated to Sedona for a string of meetings that prepped for the offseason.

Team brass evaluated the organization and its on-ice needs with a wish list emerging that would act as a compass for potential maneuvering.

And the Coyotes’ preferred direction has steered them to the trade market rather than the free-agent pool.

“I think we’re looking at both,” General Manager John Chayka said. “But at this point, I’m looking to exhaust the trade alternative, and if we have to pivot, we pivot.”

Prioritizing trades over free agency isn’t an unusual strategy, especially this summer with a lackluster free-agent class available – perhaps a reality of the salary-cap era that has teams locking up the players they find most valuable.

“I don’t think we’re going to be big spenders in free agency,” coach Dave Tippett said.

But the trade market also looks like a more feasible option for the Coyotes, who are looking to improve at center and defense. Price tags can be steep for free agents, and with the team rebuilding and arena uncertainty still lingering after Andrew Barroway became the sole owner of the franchise last Monday, it may be a challenge to compete with other suitors.

Regardless of the motivation, this isn’t a bad time to focus on trades because the salary cap, expansion draft and individual teams’ potential appetite for change have crafted an intriguing list of candidates.

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Plenty of possibilities

Brokering deals to create cap space isn’t uncommon in the offseason, and this summer could be no different.

With the Oilers needing to sign forward Leon Draisaitl and captain Connor McDavid eligible for what figures to be a lucrative extension July 1, Edmonton could move out right winger Jordan Eberle and/or center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to give the team flexibility.

Nugent-Hopkins is making $6 million for the next four years, while Eberle, who has reached the 20-goal plateau in each of the last five full-length seasons, is owed $6 million in each of the next two seasons. Although the Coyotes have numerous options on the left side, they could have holes on the right. Adding more goal-scoring help also couldn’t hurt.

Teams have been mindful of the expansion draft, and with some positions in tough to protect every key player from the Vegas Golden Knights, the opportunity to recoup an asset instead of losing someone for nothing has stirred trade talk.

A stacked blue line in Anaheim means the Ducks could be in the market to swing a deal, and Sami Vatanen is the most buzzed-about defenseman. Vatanen is recovering from shoulder surgery but can play top-pairing minutes. His four-year, $19.5 million contract ends after 2019-2020.

Minnesota is another team that doesn’t appear to have enough protection spots with defensemen Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba potentially vulnerable for the Wild. Both could easily slide into the top four; Brodin has four years left on a six-year, $25 million contract, while Dumba has one season remaining on his two-year, $5.1 million deal.

Roster shakeups are also possible.

After getting swept in the first round, the Blackhawks may be looking for a jolt, and defensemen Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson have been mentioned as potential trade bait.

Maybe the Capitals mix up their look after falling in the second round the past three seasons. “That’s another team that probably could get a pretty good player for a guy that they haven’t won with for a long time,” a league source said.

Avalanche wing/center Matt Duchene has been rumored to be available for quite some time and with the team needing to improve from its last-place perch, perhaps captain Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Tyson Barrie could also be moved.

Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic, Canadiens center/winger Alex Galchenyuk and Rangers center Derek Stepan are other players to watch.

What do the Coyotes have to offer?

Arizona’s most abundant assets are prospects and draft picks, trade pieces that could certainly close deals.

Both would seem to be intriguing to teams up against the cap because of the relief they’d receive for parting with an established NHLer for a cheaper prospect or picks. And that’s a tradeoff that could also help the Coyotes, who need to take on a nearly $7 million cap-hit to reach the floor if the parameters go unchanged.

They also have expressed a need for what Tippett called “better good players,” pros that can support the growth of the team’s young core by making a difference. Many of the players expected to be available in the trade market seem to fit that bill and satisfy an age group – mid-20s – that the Coyotes are lacking.

The downside, however, to prospects and picks is that they’re unproven assets.

In recent years, the Coyotes have accumulated a talented pool of young players, but it can be difficult to project if/when these players will be successful in the NHL. This can lead to riskier trades and potentially lopsided returns.

Winger Anthony Duclair has been linked to trade rumors in the past, but Chayka called Duclair an important player. It’s possible the former 20-goal scorer still merits interest, but his value has likely dropped after a terrible 2016-17 in which he managed just five goals and was at one point demoted to the minors.

“I think they missed the boat on what they could have gotten earlier in the year, which would have been probably a second-round pick,” the league source said. “I don’t think you can get higher than a fourth-rounder for him now, at best.”

Trade chatter has included goalie Mike Smith, who holds a modified no-trade clause that prohibits a trade to eight teams, but Chayka said, “We’re not looking to move him unless something makes sense that we can make our team better or build our team in a way that we think improves our club.”

The players most likely appealing to other teams – think defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and winger Max Domi – are the players most essential to the Coyotes. Finding a fair return can be difficult with conversations potentially getting shelved before they really get started, but blockbuster deals do happen.

Nashville made its first Stanley Cup Final appearance after acquiring defenseman P.K. Subban from Montreal for fellow blue-liner Shea Weber. And Edmonton snapped its 10-season playoff drought after flipping winger Taylor Hall to the Devils to land defenseman Adam Larsson.

Whether the Coyotes make a splash like this, take a conservative approach or emerge empty-handed remains to be seen, but tweaking their roster via trade is their preference.

Only time will tell if that decision gives the team a chance to be more competitive.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.

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