32 in (roughly) 32 Sesaon Preview: Arizona Coyotes

Coyotes hope added depth helps clinch playoff berth in the ever-competitive Central division

Team: Arizona Coyotes

GM: Trevor Sifton

Power Ranking Placement: 9/32 in league, 3/8 in division, 6/16 in conference

Significant Additions:

William Karlsson, C/W - 86 OV

Jake Allen, G - 85 OV

Lawson Crouse, C/W - 83 OV

Jordan Greenway, C/W - 80 OV

Significant Subtractions:

Cam Atkinson, C/W - 85 OV

Christian Dvorak, C/W - 83 OV

Anton Khudobin, G - 79 OV

Danton Heinen, C/W - 77 OV

Offseason grade: A-

The off-season was basically about addressing depth for the Arizona Coyotes, something that they lacked last season. With the additions of William Karlsson, Lawson Crouse, and Jordan Greenway, GMTS has filled out his middle 6 very nicely and looks better even in spite of losing Cam Atkinson to free agency. He gets a solid improvement over Anton Khudobin in Jake Allen, who will look to split starts with Jake Oettinger. They’ve made good improvements during the off-season, but I think despite the upgrade in nets, they could have gotten a better upgrade. Though it’s hard to blame them when you look at how the goalie market has been fluctuating this off-season, and frankly, I’m kind of nitpicking here. They had a great off-season and have done a great job building up their middle 6 which, after a season where they missed the playoffs despite having 2 of the top 5 point leaders in the league, was exactly what Arizona needed to do. 

Projected Lineup: 

Svechnikov - Barkov - E. Kane

Crouse - Karlsson - Nichushkin

Pearson - Lowry - Greenway

Erne - Stenlund - Bellows

-

Josi - Provorov

Bouchard - Krug

Fabbro - Bean

-

Oettinger

Allen

Quote from the GM:

GM Trevor Sifton, in regards to his expectations for the upcoming season: “My expectations for this season are to make the playoffs. I know a number of GMs think highly of my team, and I do as well, but given the results from last year, I’ve lowered my standards. Given the strength of the central, it’s possible to be anywhere from 1st to 6th in the division. Time will tell. Hopefully, my off-season acquisitions are enough to get me to the dance.”

Season Expectations: Playoffs

In my mind, the Arizona Coyotes are a top 3 team in the Central, though it is still fairly close between them, Dallas, St. Louis, and Colorado for the #3 spot. That being said, those other teams either remained at the same level or got worse during the off-season while Arizona got better. The Central division is definitely the most consistently good throughout. Realistically, there are 6 teams that are very good, but there are only 5 playoff spots available to them. Arizona has a very strong top 9 forward group that few teams will compete with, as well as a very good top 4 on the blueline, all of which should help them get ahead of the rest of the aforementioned Central teams. Teams wanting to beat the Coyotes will be looking to take advantage of their goaltending, as that is seemingly the weakest part of their team. I don’t think their goaltending will be too much of an issue though, because what they lack in net, they more than make up for in every other area on the ice. The Coyotes will be fighting for a playoff spot and GM Trevor Sifton is more than competent enough to get them there. As the man himself said, time will tell, but I’m a fan of the changes made and the direction of the team, and I think they will be among the top 3 in their division. Regardless, the Central as a whole looks to be very competitive and should make for a fun season.

Previous entries:

Anaheim Ducks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-anaheim-ducks

Tomorrow, we’ll be taking a look at the Boston Bruins. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!