Rebuilds are never fun, not for the fans, the players, or the coaches and management but the Arizona Coyotes have been running headfirst into a rebuild for the last couple of years. Through no fault to the new GM of the Coyotes Bill Armstrong, he was handed the keys to a car with a blown engine and four bald tires.
Hindered with ridiculous contracts to players that have yet to earn it or were aging out of their cap hit left the Yotes with minimal cap space. Armstrong came in and took a good look at what the current roster had to offer and realized very quickly that this was a very mediocre roster.
Armstrong’s calling card has always been his drafting and development of young players, look no further than the Blues’ recent drafts. If the Coyotes ever want to be looked at as a legit franchise they need to completely start from scratch, which Armstrong has begun to do this off-season.
Arizona Coyotes have a long road ahead
Though it does hurt to lose players like Conor Garland and OEL it was a necessity. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was the face of the Coyotes since Doaner left but had yet to regain his form from a couple of years ago when he was among the top 10 defensemen in hockey.
OEL was most likely not going to turn it around in Arizona, he lost his confidence and no one in the organization including former head coach Rick Tocchet seemed to instill any real faith in him. With minutes being diminished and his production dropping as a result it seemed to be the only way that relationship was going to end.
Unfortunately to get rid of an aging, declining player with 7 years left on his contract you have to give something up if you want to avoid retain a ton of salary or getting no real value in draft picks in return. That brings us to Conor Garland, who was a fan favorite from the time he made his debut with the Yotes.
Once Keith Yandle left Garland quickly became my favorite player as well, and as hard as it was to see him go fans need to take an honest look and realize that the team as it was constructed was never going to be better than getting dog walked by teams like the Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs.
With unloading the likes of OEL, Garland, and Adin Hill while also taking on other team’s bad, expiring contracts, Armstrong has loaded the franchise with a litany of picks over the next couple of years including 5 2nd round picks in next years draft.
Granted I don’t think he will make all those picks with next year’s draft regarded as one of the deepest in history I would love to see him package those seconds and try to get multiple picks in the first round.
This rebuild is going to get a lot worse before it bets better but this is the only way to build a legit cup contender with the sustainability to be a team like the Lightning or the Blackhawks during their run. The top priority for Armstrong should be finding an elite No. 1 center.
The lottery luck the coyotes have experienced over the past decade deprived them of players like McDavid, Eichel, or McKinnon and Mathews, and though it isn’t a guarantee this will turn it all around (see EDM/TOR) this is a very key step into becoming a contender.
It is going to be a tough couple of years for Yotes fans, (but so have the last 10 years) this is the necessary step to turn this franchise around. Luckily with a guy that has the record that Armstrong has, it should be quicker and more successful than most.