Arizona Coyotes Trade Deadline Review

The eventful Arizona Coyotes trade deadline has ended. It ended with five roster players being moved during the week. Two forwards (Nick Bjugstad, Nick Ritchie) and three defensemen (Jakob Chychrun, Shayne Gostisbehere, Troy Stecher) were all traded in this NHL trade deadline.

Coyotes Trade Deadline Started Slow and Picked up Speed

By mid-day on March 1st, just two days from the trade deadline, the Coyotes literally had not moved a single roster player. Then, later that afternoon, within 90 minutes both Gostisbehere and Chychrun would be dealt. Ghost went first to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2026 third-round pick. That was followed by the trade that most every Coyotes fan had been waiting forever to happen. Chychrun was FINALLY traded to the Ottawa Senators for the Sens 2023 conditional (top-5 protected), 2024 second-rounder, and a 2026 second-round selection.

It was a bit discouraging that GM Bill Armstrong wasn’t able to get what he had originally demanded for Chychrun. The saga went on way too long, and it is intriguing that it circled back to Ottawa who had shown interest from the very beginning. They just flat-out refused to meet Armstrong’s demand (which changed a couple of times) of two first-round picks, a prospect, and a current NHL player. Armstrong knew he could get some value for his star D-man, but it deflated with a couple of teams during the week.

The closest it may have gotten is when Armstrong was dealing with GM Rob Blake of the Los Angeles Kings. Blake refused to trade one of his future prime prospects Brandt Clarke. So, that fell through. There has been released info from David Pagnotta of thefourthperiod.com that Armstrong refused a deal with LA that included two first-round picks and defenseman Tobias Bjornfot. Armstrong may have nightmares about that one.

SJ & WPG team up here, Namestnikov to Jets for 4th round pick https://t.co/tMDm2sHS3v

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) March 3, 2023

Then, it was speculated that the Yotes were very close to dealing with GM Ken Holland of the Edmonton Oilers. When they decided to trade for Vladislav Gavrikov instead, that meant the Oilers were out on Chychrun. At that point, many considered the possibility that Chychrun could possibly stay with the team at least until the offseason when trades are much easier to accomplish.

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More Trades

The busy general manager of the Arizona club wasn’t done yet. He then dealt rejuvenated Nick Bjugstad and AHL’er Cam Dineen to the Edmonton Oilers for a 2023 third-round pick along with AHL’er defenseman Michael Kesselring. Bjugstad will surely be missed as his play was increasingly improved. The Coyotes gave the Oilers a break by retaining half of Bjugstad’s $950,000 contract. That took away the Edmonton team’s cap space completely, to the penny.

The final Arizona Coyotes trade deadline deal moved two players to the Calgary Flames. Both Nick Ritchie and Troy Stecher were traded for Brett Ritchie (Nick’s brother), and defenseman Connor Mackey. A trade involving two brothers being traded for each other has never happened before in NHL history. (Keep that handy for trivia). Needless to say, losing three experienced defensemen with only two inexperienced blueliners coming back who have just 19 NHL games between them can cause the Yotes goalies some real stress going forward.

Coyotes Also Gathered Enough Cap Space to Keep Them Above the Cap Basement

The team became a financier for other NHL teams by helping the New York Rangers with $2.625 million going toward the Patrick Kane trade. They also took over the $8.25 million contract good through 2023-24 of Jakub Voracek. He has concussion issues and more than likely will not play again. They also accepted the $7.86 million contract of Shea Weber good through 2025-26. Weber is also not expected to play again. That means the Desert Dogs have taken over $26.9 million of contracts from other teams. Staggering.

In The End, The Rebuild is Alive and Well

Bill Armstrong now has a treasure chest of draft picks going forward. He now has 37 draft selections for this year and the next two years. That includes 22 picks in the first three rounds. Now, with the scouting staff formed by Armstrong, the Coyotes had better choose some talented players to get this rebuild going. The best chance will of course be the upcoming 2023 NHL draft. It is said to be one that should be filled with players that Armstrong and his staff will be coveting.

Building through the draft is the way to go. For now, it appears that the Coyotes after losing some pretty high-grade players, are going for it. Stay patient, this is going to take a while.