Arizona Coyotes: Top 8 prospects worth getting excited about

6. Lane Pederson

Lane Pederson is the first of two undrafted players on this list. The 23-year-old center, who has spent the last three seasons with the Tucson Roadrunners, had his best professional season to date in 2019-20 with 16 goals and 34 points in just 37 games. He was on pace to shatter his previous career-high of 47 points set in 2018-19 if not for missing time with a lower-body injury.

Pederson has improved every season, and there is no reason to suggest that won’t continue. The organization clearly believes in him, and recently gave him a one-year contract extension to prove it. It remains to be seen whether or not he will make the Coyotes out of camp to begin the 2020-21 season, but he will likely play at least some NHL games, something he has not yet done.

5. Mike Callahan

When the Coyotes selected Mike Callahan in the fifth-round (No.142 overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, they likely didn’t have him pegged as a potential offensive threat from the back-end as he had just three goals and 18 points in 59 USHL games that season. He has since joined Providence College, who he has spent the last two seasons with. His first season with the team again didn’t have him looking like much of an offensive defenseman either, posting just 10 points in 41 games.

This past season, the narrative on him completely changed. The now 21-year-old posted a very unexpected 28 points in just 34 games. That total was good enough for third on his entire team and ranked first among all defensemen on the team. As a result, it has turned the Franklin, Massachusetts native into a high-end prospect for the Coyotes. They will have to do everything in their power to get him signed to an Entry-Level deal, something they have not been able to do to this point.