*Photo from WKBW*
For the Arizona Coyotes, it was an offseason of transition in what has been a tumultuous few seasons in Arizona, most due to drama in the front office, although the team itself has definitely struggled. The Coyotes just missed a playoff spot, finishing in 5th in the Honda West Division, with a 24-26-6 record, for 54 total points in the regular season.
In terms of departures, there are some big names on their way out of town for the Coyotes. The big ones are in net. Darcy Kuemper, their bona fide number one, was traded to the Colorado Avalanche two days into free agency. They also lost Kuemper's backup, Antti Raanta, to the Carolina Hurricanes, and they traded 3rd goalie Adin Hill to the Sharks in exchange for likely backup Josef Korenar.
Outside of goalie, they also traded the big contract of underperforming D Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the Canucks, but they also had to give up Conor Garland to the Canucks as a sweetener in the deal. Garland is a big loss, as he is coming off a career season, scoring 12 goals and 27 assists.
Moving on to additions, they did get Korenar to serve as a backup goalie. In terms of a starter, they went to the Buffalo Sabres, signing their backup in Carter Hutton to a one year deal worth $750,000 to serve as the starter for at least one season. The risk with Hutton is that he has been hit hard with injuries in his career, so they will likely need a good 3rd goalie as well.
The Coyotes also swung some trades. They got defense help, acquiring Shayne Gostisbehere from the Flyers, and Anton Stralman from the Panthers. They got Connor Timmins as well from the Avalanche, in the Kuemper trade, who they just signed to a two year contract extension. They got some forward help with the signing of Ryan Dzingel.
As part of the Ekman-Larsson and Garland trade from the Canucks, they got some gritty bottom six help, getting Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, and Loui Eriksson, absorbing their contracts in order to gain some extra draft picks.
For the Coyotes this season, it seems the goal is to take on some heavy contracts while accumulating draft picks, looking to improve for the future. Despite that, they are still fielding a competitive team right now, although I am not sure how far they will go this year. Hutton, Dzingel, and Gostisbehere figure to help this team in the short term.
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