Arizona Coyotes pre-season report

Dan Payment was named General Manager of the Arizona Coyotes just over a month ago. He came in with one thing in mind and that was to rebuild this franchise who, in his opinion, was lacking depth, youth and draft picks. Payment felt that, a part from maybe youngsters Mika Zibanejad, Kyle Turris (who were evantually traded) and Robin Lehner, there was no one to build the franchise around. He chose to look at the future instead of the now and with that, he completed a multitude of trades to try and land some depth, good young players, a solid blueline and draft picks.  The roster for the upcomming season will look very different from the one that was iced during the 2013-14 campaign. Some trades completed by PAYMENT were not very popular with fans and raised a few eyebrows with Management and ownership, but those moves had to be made for the good of the franchise. Here is a look at some of the changes:

Key Substractions:

Kyle Turris (trade - MTL), Mika Zibanejad (trade - CHI), Chris Kunitz (trade - WIN), Valteri Filpulla (trade - NYR), Jared Spurgeon (trade - OTT), Mats Zucarello (trade - BOS), Luca Sbisa (trade - NYR), Marco Scandella (trade - BUF), Maxime Talbot (TOR), Martin Brodeur (UFA - DAL), Dmitri Orlov (trade - DAL)

Key Additions (via trades):

Nick Leddy (BOS), Erik Gudbranson (TOR), Eric Gelinas (CHI), Riley Sheahan (CHI), Chris Stewart (CHI), Matt Stajan (BUF), Ryan Ellis (BUF), Dylan Olsen (WIN), TJ Galiardi (BOS), Milan Michalek (ANA), Antoine Roussel (EDM), several picks in 2016 (incl. 3 first rounds picks) and other young players such as Joe Colborne, Linden Vey, Brett Connolly, Alexander Khokhlachev, Cedric Paquette, Anothony Camara, Devin Shore and Scott Laughton, etc...

Key Additions (via free agency):

Nikita Nikitin (re-signed with the team), Erik Nystrom, Pat Bordeleau, Dainius Zubrus, Jay Harrison, Tanner Glass, Travis Moen, etc...

Projected Lineup:

Forwards:

1st line: Nystrom - Stajan - Michalek

2nd line: Roussel - Zubrus - Paajarvi

3rd line: Moen - Sheahan - Galiardi

4th line:Glass - Colborne - Vey

Defense:

1st pairing: Methot - Nikitin

2nd pairing: Leddy - Ellis

3rd pairing: Gudbranson - Olsen

4th pairing: Gelinas - Harrison

Goalies:

#1: Lehner

#2: Emery

As we can see, PAYMENT made more moves than we can count. Some were good, some were bad. The team solidified it's blueline and is confident it has one of the best young defensive corps (yes - "young") in the whole league. In nets, Robin Lehner will split his duties with the ever energetic Ray Emery. Lehner will become the starter as the season goes along and has all the tools to become an excellent goalie for the franchise. At least we hope.

The problem with this team is offense. The only real goal scorer is Milan Michalek. Coach Paul MacLean will have to work his magic to find the best combinations possible to generate some offense. "We may not have the best players in the world on this team, but all these guys are hard workers. I am confident they will give it their all every time they step on the ice." said MacLean. 

Will it be a long season in the desert??

My answer is: "F*CKING RIGHT IT WILL BE"