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Arizona Coyotes GM Threatens Trade Over Poor Play

By Catherine Silverman

Dec 4, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Coyotes left wing Mikkel Boedker (89) carries the puck as Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin (6) defends during the third period at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 4, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Coyotes left wing Mikkel Boedker (89) carries the puck as Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin (6) defends during the third period at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Arizona Coyotes could be looking at a roster change after last night’s poor play

The 2014-2015 Arizona Coyotes bear a strong resemblance to the 2013-2014 Winnipeg Jets, and that’s really not a good thing.

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To be fair to both teams, they’ve been dealt some pretty bad cards from day one.

The Jets, relocated from Atlanta in 2011, are attempting to build a competitive roster out of a very bad one without having any kind of expansionary grace period.

In comparison, the Arizona Coyotes are in the middle of a poor man’s catch-22; the team cannot afford any high-ticket free agents (as they were barely able to cling on to their own players in the off-season — see Radim Vrbata for deetz), yet hasn’t been bad enough in recent years to warrant an impressive, high draft pick. Players like Aaron Eckblad, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and now Connor McDavid hypothetically have the power to turn a franchise around… but you have to really bomb to get them, and Arizona hasn’t done that.

Regardless of why they hover in mediocre-hockey-team limbo, though, the Coyotes know they cannot afford to stay there, either — which is why general manager Don Maloney has already started to make good on his threats to trade players who don’t deliver.

According to NBC’s Pro Hockey Talk, Maloney has already been in talks with the agents of pending free agent center Antoine Vermette, up-and-coming winger Mikkel Boedker, and alternate captain Keith Yandle; these are the team’s three most tradable pieces, although there’s no word on what kind of return they would yield this early in the season.

With a pending majority ownership sale set to go through as early as the All Star Games, the Coyotes could have the financial injection to pick up some more reassuring players on offense before too long — but it might not be soon enough. With a team that won’t play well in front of the only netminder inked to a no-trade, multi-year, sky-high contract and zero scorepower over the past few games, it’s entirely possible that Arizona will have to get worse before they can get better.

The only consolation to this? At least the Coyotes still have the ability to get worse — they could be Edmonton.

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