Jason Demers – McKeen's Hockey

Raising Arizona – Arizona Coyotes 2018-19 Season Preview

Robert Howard — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 20:34:09 +0000

Review/State of Play - Finishing out of the playoffs for the sixth straight season and third worst in the league with 70 points, netting another high draft pick. They entered 2017-18 expecting to be more competitive, but instead by seasons end were adding more pieces to a young group of talented prospects selecting center Barret Hayton fifth in this year’s Draft.

The team did finish with a 17-12-3 record as pieces started to fit together late in the season, providing reason for optimism for a developing franchise. They have now had a season under coach Rich Tocchet, establishing a fast paced system, coming out of the Penguins system, he should have the benefit of a team on the same page out of the gate this season.

Clayton Keller

Keller leads the youth movement - Management will be encouraged by a terrific rookie season from Clayton Keller leading the team in scoring with 65 points - finishing second behind Matt Barzal in rookie scoring. He was the clear leader on offence and a fixture on the power play leading the team with 20 points.

On the disappointing side of the prospect development saw Max Domi struggle through a difficult season. He was dealt in the off-season to the Montreal Canadiens for Alex Galchenyuk, whom GM Chayka sees as a center, a subject of much controversial debate in Montreal. Having already scored 30 in a young career, Galchenyuk is seen to address the Yotes inability to puck the puck in the net. He will be given a lot of opportunity to shine in a fresh start and prove he belongs in the middle

A blue-chip group of prospects in Lawson Crouse (21), Dylan Strome (21), Brendan Perlini (22), Christian Fischer (21), Nick Merkley (21) remain in development. They added more youth in a trade with Chicago for Vinnie Hinostroza.

Fischer had a solid rookie season firing 15 goals and more is expected as a sophomore. Perlini now has two seasons under his belt and came close to the 20-goal scorer they hope he can be with 17 in his sophomore season and 31 over two seasons. Strome appeared in 21 games last season with the Coyotes but also delivered 53 points in 50 games as an AHL rookie. He may be ready to contribute full time this season. Merkley also delivered 39 points in 38 AHL games in an injury shortened season. 6’4”, 220-pound Crouse could earn a spot on the fourth line. He appeared in 72 NHL games in 2016-17, but only 11 last season. His physical game might have him NHL ready, but power forwards of his size often take time to develop fully.

Development amongst that group will have a big impact on the coming season and how the lines shake out. Make no mistake it will be another year of growing for the forwards.

Defensive rock Ekman-Larsson signs for eight – the biggest off-season move that secures their backend and a key piece to future aspirations and a signal to the team and community that improving sooner rather than later is the plan.

The defense however, is reliant up on veterans, whom left some room for improvement last season, but the organization sees as a strength. 32-year-old Alex Goligoski had a mixed campaign producing 35 points, one less than the prior season. Jason Demers and Niklas Hjalmarsson were to provide responsible veteran support on the back end. Demers delivered a solid performance on the top pairing with Ekman Larsson but Hjarlmarsson struggled appearing in 48 games in an injury-marked season. The resigned him for two years and believe he can play a shut down role.

Jakob Chychrun missed time to injury to start the season and enters his third season after surprisingly making the team as an 18-year old. Injury played a factor last season but a clean bill of health to start and he will be counted on to provide 30 points after two seasons of 20. He has the potential to do more.

Antti Raanta was outstanding last season and is signed through 2020-21 at $4.25 million AAV. In his 47 starts he posted a 0.930 save percentage and 2.24 goals against, second place in the NHL for goaltenders playing more than 30 games in both categories. He was dominating in the second half, posting a 16-6-4 record, 1.84 GAA, and .942 save percentage in 27 games starting on Jan. 1^st. Injuries limited his appearances at the start of the season and a healthy season will see 60 or more starts. Sparkling numbers may be hard to repeat with a developing team in front of him Arizona signed veteran, and former starter, 29-year-old Darcy Kuemper as his back up for the next two years hoping to provide stability.

Outlook – Weak special teams were bolstered by the additions of Galchenyuk to help the power play and speedy Michael Grabner on the penalty kill. The Coyotes will struggle to make the playoffs and will be primarily looking to get a group ready to challenge in the following two to three seasons rather than immediately. The pieces are there, and they could surprise given their finish at the end of the season, but smart money is on forward progress and glory down the road.

McKeen’s 17-18 Yearbook Updates

Ryan Dadoun — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 21:20:54 +0000

It is early in the pre-season, but Ryan Dadoun brings a round up of the news so far. Nothing earth shattering, but lots to keep an eye on. McKeen's will do an update end of day Monday based on injuries, camp performance, etc.

In the meantime here is what you need to know.

Anaheim

Hampus Lindholm – Shoulder injury will probably keep him out until early November. That’s not surprising given the initial projections from when he had surgery in May, but it’s his absence is more probable now than it was over the summer.

Ryan Kesler – The hope is to have him back by Christmas after he underwent hip surgery in June. Over the summer it looked like he might be back in November, so the recent news here has been discouraging.

Antoine Vermette – Might end up being the one to fill the void left by Kesler. He’s been practicing on a line with Andrew Cogliano and Jakob Silfverberg. If we’re talking about standard fantasy leagues though, Vermette’s value is still borderline at best.

Arizona

Jason Demers – The Coyotes acquired him from the Florida Panthers. Arizona views him as a top-four defenseman, but it’s not clear who his defensive partner will be. He got a decent, but not great, amount of power-play time in Florida last season while Keith Yandle/Aaron Ekblad served as the team’s primary defensive options with the man advantage and he’ll probably end up in a similar situation in Arizona behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson/Alex Goligoski when it comes to power-play ice time.

Boston

Torey Krug – He suffered a non-displaced jaw fracture on Tuesday and was projected to miss at least three weeks from that date. That will cost him most of training camp and at least three regular season games.

Buffalo

Alexander Nylander – He suffered a lower-body injury on Sept. 8 and hasn’t skated at all in training camp as a result. Good news is that the Sabres think he’ll resume skating in near future, so maybe he’ll still return with enough time to spare to make his case for a roster spot.

Carolina

Lee Stempniak – More of a side note for now, but he’s been dealing with an undisclosed problem that might be more serious than initially believed. He has soreness in his hip/back and had an MRI on Thursday, so we’ll see what the results of that are.

Detroit

Andreas Athanasiou – Still hasn’t signed. There’s the threat of him heading to the KHL and even if he does re-sign in the not too distant future, he’ll be a young player that’s missed a good chunk of training camp/preseason play.

Edmonton

Ryan Strome – It’s a bit of a stretch to mention at this stage, but the Oilers seem to be going with a top line of Maroon, McDavid, and Strome so far. As a fun aside, McDavid also thinks Strome is a good sleeper pick in fantasy leagues. (https://www.nhl.com/news/edmonton-oilers-connor-mcdavid-sees-ryan-strome-as-fantasy-sleeper/c-290885390?tid=277729150)

Drake Caggiula – Similarly, it might be too early to read into it, but so far Drake Caggiula is being tested on the second line with Draisaitl and Lucic.

Los Angeles

Marian Gaborik – Is taking some contact as he recovers from a knee injury. Still unclear if he’ll play in the preseason, but it’s progress.

Nashville

Ryan Ellis – This happened a couple weeks before training camp, so you probably already have it in your projections, but just in case he’s out for four-to-six months with a knee injury. That has led to them mixing up their defensive pairings though. Ekholm and Subban were split up so that Ekholm is now with Josi (although Ekholm-Weber has also been experimented with) and Subban is with newcomer Emelin.

New Jersey

MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 21: New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier (13) waits for play to begin during the third period of the NHL preseason game between the New Jersey Devils and the Montreal Canadiens on September 21, 2017, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire)

Nico Hischier – Another stretch, but for what it’s worth Nico Hischier has stood out in preseason games so far, upping what were already good odds of him making the team. Hynes suggested that Hischier has forced talks of him having a bigger role than previously projected. Hischier-Hall is an interesting combo, though of course it’s another preseason pairing so who knows.

NY Islanders

Alan Quine – Quine sustained an upper-body injury in mid-September that was projected to cost him four-to-six weeks. So he’s missing training camp and a couple weeks of the regular season in all likelihood.

Ottawa

Colin White – Suffered a broken left wrist on Monday and is projected to miss six-to-eight weeks. He had been seen as being in a good position to make the team, especially due to Derick Brassard being a question mark. Although…

Derick Brassard – His recovery from shoulder surgery is ahead of schedule, per what Guy Boucher said today. He still might not be ready for the start of the regular season.

Clarke MacArthur – Unfortunately even after his strong playoff showing, he ended up failing his physical. Sucks to say, but it may be that his playing career is over.

Erik Karlsson – As of Thursday he still wasn’t skating due to his foot injury. He’s unlikely to be ready for the start of the season and who knows if he’ll be begin the curve once he finally is given the green light to play.

Philadelphia

Travis Sanheim – It’s still tentative, but he’s off to a good start and seems to have improved his chances of making the team. Had 10 goals and 37 points in the AHL last season.

Sean Couturier – The Flyers are toying with using Claude Giroux as a left winger. Couturier could be the beneficiary if that happens as he could move up in the depth charts as a result, possibly even on a line with Giroux and Jakub Voracek (which they did test out in practice, but that doesn’t mean they’ll actually use it in games).

St. Louis

Zach Sanford – Suffered a dislocated left shoulder that will keep him sidelined for the next five-to-six months.

Jay Bouwmeester – Has a fractured left ankle that will be re-evaluated in three weeks. Along with Sanford, these ones are fringe just because they didn’t have much in the way of fantasy value even when healthy.

Alexander Steen – Suffered a hand injury in the Blues’ first preseason game on Tuesday that will cost him at least three weeks (at which point he’ll be re-evaluated). Certainly he’s the most noteworthy of the three fantasy wise.

Toronto

Patrick Marleau – It’s looking like Patrick Marleau won’t play alongside Matthews in even strength as Babcock’s preference appears to be a trio of Zach Hyman, Matthews, and William Nylander. Marleau and Matthews should share the ice in power play situations though.

Joffrey Lupul – Team’s says he failed his physical, but now it looks like the league wants to look into it after Lupul’s claim of cheating followed by his retraction(deletion)/apology. Probably doesn’t matter fantasy-wise either way. Even if Lupul is deemed fit to play he’ll probably end up in the AHL at most.

Vegas

James Neal – Has a broken hand that was projected to sideline him for two-to-four weeks. He’s one week into that timetable at this point so perhaps he’ll be okay for the season opener. Still sucks to miss training camp on a brand new team though.

Washington

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 16: Washington Capitals left wing Jakub Vrana (13) makes a pass during an NHL game on March 16, 2017, at the Verizon Center, in Washington, D.C. between the Washington Capitals and the Nashville Predators. Nashville won 2-1 in overtime.
(Photo by Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire)

Jakub Vrana – More grain of salt stuff, but the Capitals have been giving him top-six opportunities. He played alongside Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov in Wednesday’s preseason game and tonight it looks like he’ll be with Backstrom and Oshie (Kuznetsov/Ovechkin aren’t playing).

Winnipeg

Tyler Myers – Feels 100% after only playing in 11 games last season.