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Arizona Coyotes: 5 player predictions for next season

By Nick McAdam

GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 31: Goalie Antti Raanta #32 of the Arizona Coyotes is congratulated by teammate Derek Stepan #21 after a 6-0 shutout victory against the St Louis Blues at Gila River Arena on March 31, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 31: Goalie Antti Raanta #32 of the Arizona Coyotes is congratulated by teammate Derek Stepan #21 after a 6-0 shutout victory against the St Louis Blues at Gila River Arena on March 31, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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With a revamped team, the Arizona Coyotes may be a surprise to the NHL in the upcoming season.

It’s safe to say that the Coyotes’ team heading into training camp is much more improved than it was last season. Major improvements to the offense while collecting depth pieces to the defense is starting to put Arizona on the NHL map.

Improvements started with the NHL Draft back in June. The Yotes progressed their development in areas such as the defense which ended up being the most selected from Arizona. Notable selections came in Barrett Hayton; a big-bodied center that can fill depth positions in the future, and Liam Kirk who was the first England-born player to be selected in the cycle.

Free Agency thus followed shortly after, as the Coyotes went out to pick up big names in Alex Galchenyuk, Vinnie Hinostroza and Michael Grabner. The focus was the offense after July 1, and there’s justification to that since the club totaled one of the league’s lowest goals for total in 208.

Of course, this goes without mentioning that John Chayka has been able to keep a respectable amount of cap space while locking up franchise defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Excitement should be pouring from the supporters of the Coyotes. A fresh and young team combined with a host of different qualities should propel Arizona farther up the NHL standings, and maybe even sneak into the playoffs as well. It’s been a long time being able to say that.

Expectations are high and setting realistic standards for the current team heading into the 2018-19 campaign is a must. In this piece, coverage of five random players for the Coyotes most important season in a while will be provided.

5. Clayton Keller

  • Over 25 goals
  • Reaches just above 70 points
  • Averages around 20 minutes per game
  • Low +/- score

It will be interesting to see how Rick Tocchet lines up Keller in the upcoming season especially on special teams.

The Calder nominee from the 2017-18 campaign seems to be more of a pass-first player. Chayka has provided more options for Keller to pick out this year in Galchenyuk, for example, as the two should lineup together on the man advantage.

Somewhere near 25 goals seems realistic considering he’ll most likely flank Derek Stepan’s left for another season. That means more minutes for Keller, and more chances to collect a massive amount of points.

Also, the possibility of Keller increasing possession metrics such as his Corsi and PDO averages would really help his final goal amount. Last season, Keller finished just below the NHL average in terms of Corsi for percentage, while opposing goalies collected a 90.8 save percentage each time he hit the ice.

Again, with more time on the ice, Keller can definitely bump those ratios up. Tocchet should have a good amount of trust in the 19-year-old to get the job done on a night-to-night basis.

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