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Examining 2022-23 Arizona Coyotes Depth Chart

What the Coyotes Lines May Look Like Next Season

by William Grigsby

August 6, 2022

in Arizona Coyotes, Featured, NHL

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The 2021-22 Arizona Coyotes season was not a highlight of their 26-year existence. Nor, was it meant to be. Looking forward, the 2022-23 Arizona Coyotes hope to continue the rebuild thingee and added some players to get there. We will examine the 2022-23 Arizona Coyotes depth to see how they may line up.

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New Additions Hope to Help

Player	Position	Contract
Nick Bjugstad	Forward	1 year, $900,000
Troy Stecher	Defenseman	1 year, $1.25 million
Josh Brown	Defenseman	2 years, $1.275 million AAV
Jean-Sebastien Dea	Forward	2 years, $762,500 AAV
Laurent Dauphin	Center	1 year, $750,000
Boko Imama	Forward	1 year, $750,000
Lukáš Klok	Defenseman	1 year, $950,000 *AAV
Jon Gillies	Goalie	1 year, $750,000

* – Includes performance/signing bonuses

It has been general manager Bill Armstrong‘s intention when signing new players that he make his team tough to play against. It seems at first look, he has accomplished that. Bjugstad and Brown are big boys and intend to use their size to help keep the Yotes from being pushed around. Their size has lots of attributes to add to other players like Lawson Crouse, Nick Ritchie, Jack McBain, Liam O’Brien, and Zack Kassian.

So, let’s see how all the additions fit in with the players who were previously on the roster, and how it affects the Arizona Coyotes depth. Craig Morgan of GOPHNX.com put together some line combinations and of course this could very well all change as the new season approaches.

Possible Line Combinations to Increase 2022-23 Coyotes Depth

Forwards

*Nick Schmaltz – Travis Boyd – *Clayton Keller

Lawson Crouse – Nick Bjugstad – Zack Kassian

Nick Ritchie – Barrett Hayton – Christian Fischer

Liam O’Brien – Jack McBain – Miloš Kelemen

Andrew Ladd – Nathan Smith – Michael Carcone

* – Keller (left-handed shot) and Schmaltz (right-handed) played off wing a fair amount last season.

Defensemen

Shayne Gostisbehere – Dysin Mayo

Jakob Chychrun – Troy Stecher

Janis Moser – Josh Brown

Patrik Nemeth – Conor Timmins

Goalies

Karel Vejmelka

Jon Gillies

Ivan Prosvetov

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Possible Conditions

As of this writing, both Barrett Hayton and Lawson Crouse remain unsigned restricted free agents. Crouse had his arbitration hearing on August 9th, and the team offered $2.5M. Crouse wants $4M. He could get as much as $3.65 million according to dobberhockey.com. This will more than likely end up in the middle, say around $3.1M.

Arbitration filings for Lawson Crouse (ARIZ): team is at $2.5M…player at $4M

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 6, 2022

We still don’t know for certain how ready Conor Timmons will be after season ending surgery. Will Jakob Chychrun still be in a Coyotes’ uniform? Will Andrew Ladd decide to retire? All are possibilities as the season approaches.

One of the largest concerns has to be who will Vejmelka have backing him up in net? The goalie market has thinned considerably and Armstrong has mentioned that he hopes to pick up a goalie via waivers as teams whittle down their rosters closer to the drop of the puck for the new season. Gilles is a possibility but has very little NHL experience with just 32 games. Prosvetov is not ready, but will be a RFA next season and needs to prove that he is NHL material before being bumped up to back up Vejmelka. All of this tests the Arizona Coyotes depth for next season.

Final Analysis

Let’s not kid ourselves, this Coyotes’ team is hoping that they will finish with the worst record to have the chance to draft a very special player in Connor Bedard. They will have some competition as the Chicago Blackhawks have the same desires. Both teams will be in the running, and if the Hawks deal Patrick Kane, and/or Jonathan Toews things may sway in Chicago’s favor.

The Arizona rebuild is going strong, and if Armstrong can continue to use his cap space now set at just over $23 million, he will have the negotiating advantage in making deals. They will need to do something, as they are $1.56 million below the cap basement. Signing both Crouse and Hayton will get them there. As of this writing, there are 11 NHL teams OVER the cap limit of $82.5 million. It seems inevitable that Armstrong will be getting some calls for taking over contracts which strap teams wishing to make some moves.

It’s a rebuild. Nothing else to say.