
In Crouse, the Coyotes believe they have found a 6-foot-4, 212-pound power winger to complement the team’s skilled forwards. And waiting in the wings is Clayton Keller (No. They already have Max Domi and Anthony Duclair, who last season combined for 100 points as rookies, as well as Oliver Ekman-Larsson, a 25-year-old defenceman who might be in the Norris Trophy conversation regularly if he weren’t playing in the desert. Indeed, the Coyotes have acquired so many top-end prospects that you could call them Team North American 2.0.

We feel that those guys are guys that have a real good shot of being core pieces for a long term.” At this stage of our organization, we’re still trying to collect and identify and develop core pieces. Previous general manager Don Maloney made the Pronger deal. “Cap space is an asset,” said first-year Coyotes GM John Chayka, who in his first few months on the job is already showing a shrewd ability to exploit the rules in order to stock the cupboards with young talent. On Thursday, they picked up Dave Bolland from Florida, who, according to his agent, might never play hockey again because of a chronic injury that kept him out of the lineup for much of last season. First, the Coyotes acquired the final year of Pavel Datsyuk’s contract with Detroit after the Russian forward retired from the NHL to return home to be closer to family and to play in the KHL. Pronger still had two years left on his seven-year deal and the swap of contracts and players benefited both the Coyotes and Philadelphia Flyers in different ways with respect to the salary cap and salary owed. It all started in 2015, when Chris Pronger was traded to Arizona three years after the Hall of Fame defenceman played the final game of his career. I think the rest of the guys would concur and agree on that.” You’ve had the opportunity to develop, both for myself and my coaches. You’ve looked at everybody’s play, both the World Cup players and your own.

You’ve shared all that information with the coaches. We got together one more time during the summer. You’ve had a chance to be around some of the best coaches in the world at the draft. “The process for a coach in the World Cup has been real good this summer. Smith, Jim Hiller and the guys will have a good chance to be prepared,” Babcock said. “We’ve put the framework in place to keep our guys ready so that D.J. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
