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Arizona Coyotes: Top 10 Prospects Entering 2019

By Dave Stevenson

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JUNE 21: Victor Soderstrom (C), eleventh overall pick by the Arizona Coyotes, poses for a group photo with team personnel onstage during the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 21, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JUNE 21: Victor Soderstrom (C), eleventh overall pick by the Arizona Coyotes, poses for a group photo with team personnel onstage during the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 21, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images /

The Arizona Coyotes, a team in the midst of a rebuild, have delivered themselves several excellent prospects. Here are the best of them.

The Arizona Coyotes haven’t made the postseason since 2011. Since then, they’ve been stuck in mediocrity. Led by a young core, the Coyotes are hoping to end their playoff drought. They’ve got some help on the way, as their prospect pipeline is pretty impressive considering how many recent graduates they’ve had.

Before I list their top 10 prospects, let me define what a “prospect” is. Everyone has different definitions, but mine is simple. Anyone who is under 25 years old and has yet to play in a full NHL season (50+ games in any season or 100+ games overall) is a prospect.

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By the way, these rankings are purely my opinion and are based on NHL readiness, how great a prospect can be, and what their floor is. Let’s take a look at who their top 10 prospects are. First, the goaltenders because they are in a special category of their own.

Goaltenders

1. Adin Hill

Acquired: 2015 draft, third-round pick

Stats: 13 appearances, 11 starts, 7-5-0 record, 2.76 GAA, .901 save percentage (NHL); 36 games played, 2.61 GAA, .906 GAA (AHL)

Adin Hill held down the starting role with the Tucson Roadrunners in the AHL. He also got an extended run of 13 games in the NHL and even got his first NHL shutout. Hill has great size at 6’6″ and has a lot of potential.

The 2019-20 season will be an important one for him. He’s got to turn that potential into results. 49 games played is a good start, but he’s got to further improve his durability. Hill should be at worst a nice depth goalie, but I think he could be a quality NHL backup.

2. Ivan Prosvetov

Acquired: 2018 draft, fourth-round pick

Stats: 53 games played, 2.94 GAA, .910 save percentage, 12 playoff games played, 2.38, GAA, .930 save percentage (Saginaw Spirit, OHL)

Ivan Prosvetov took a huge step forward in the 2018-19 season. I admittedly wasn’t a huge fan of him as an overager in the 2018 draft and he was going into an uncertain situation with the Saginaw Spirit. However, Prosvetov grabbed the starting role and didn’t look back.

He’s a huge goalie at 6’6″ and he’s very athletic. Prosvetov improved his positioning quite a bit throughout the year and he was quite impressive in the postseason. He’s shown he has the potential to be a starter. I wouldn’t be surprised if Prosvetov joined the AHL at some point during the 2019-20 season.

Honorable Mentions

Liam Kirk (2017 pick) and John Farinacci (2019 pick) were both close to being number 10 in my rankings. Didn’t see enough of either, so I felt making judgments off a really small sample size for both wouldn’t be fair. I think both are definitely worth keeping an eye on, though. Especially Farinacci.

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