4. Arizona Coyotes
Much like the Ducks, the Arizona Coyotes are a dark horse to sign Matt Duchene. They’ve been linked to him and he would certainly be a fit on their team. Duchene can score goals and the Coyotes need them desperately.
During the 2018-19 season, the Yotes scored just 213 goals, which ranked 27th out of the 31 teams. Furthermore, the Coyotes were the lone team in the NHL without a single player who scored at least 20 goals. Alex Galchenyunk and Brad Richardson both scored 19, though.
The Coyotes would be hard pressed to find the cap space to keep him around. It’s weird talking about Arizona not having much cap space, isn’t it? Anyway, according to CapFriendly, they have about $6 million of cap space and they have some RFAs to re-sign.
So in order to make room for Duchene, the Coyotes would have to move some fairly significant salary. Backup goaltender Darcy Keumper could make sense. Also, they could put Marian Hossa on the LTIR. Remember, there’s no LTIR in the summer.
Duchene going to Arizona is at least plausible. The Coyotes should have a new owner shortly. However, it probably won’t get finalized until after July 1, which likely means it would take nothing short of a miracle for Duchene to sign in Arizona.