Arizona Coyotes: Clayton Keller leads exciting young team
Strengths
Center Depth
Don’t look now, but the Coyotes have quietly assembled a nice group of centers. You can pencil Derek Stepan in for 50 points as season despite facing tough competition. It remains to be seen if Galchenyuk will play center for the Coyotes, but it’s worth noting his best days have come down the middle. He’s flawed defensively, but he might be Arizona’s most gifted center option on offense.
Christian Dvorak got one of the more unexpected extensions this summer a year ahead of the last season of his entry-level contract, but he’s done well for the Coyotes. Dylan Strome had a strong March and has dominated in the AHL. He’s ready for the NHL. Brad Richardson should lead their fourth line and Vinnie Hinostroza has experience down the middle as well.
Dvorak, Galchenyuk, and Strome won’t all start off the year as centers. Someone’s moving to wing. It’ll likely be either Strome or Galchenyuk, given their faceoff woes. But, as they say, you can never have too many centers.
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Goaltending
Arizona has better goaltending than a lot of people think. Antti Raanta was phenomenal once you look past his record. His save percentage put him among the league’s best goalies. Raanta also finished strong, posting a save percentage of at least .920 in 15 of his last 17 appearances (though one of those was a relief appearance).
Last year, the Coyotes didn’t have a quality backup behind him. That won’t be the case in 2018-19. Darcy Keumper isn’t a starting goalie, but he’s proven to be a reliable backup. Between Raanta and Keumper, the Coyotes have a pretty solid tandem.
Sneaky Good Top Pairing
OEL and Jason Demers were very good together last season. They nearly broke even at five-on-five in goals, which is impressive considering they played over 900 minutes together and the Coyotes had a -24 five-on-five goal differential last season. The Coyotes still have to figure out their other two pairings, but they can at least hang their hat on a sneaky good top pairing.