Coyotes on the Prowl

Trading has given this pack new hope

The Coyotes have always had a hope of making the playoffs.  Year after year new players are brought in with the hope of a decent team taking the ice.  Trades are always being made or sought after, as management continues to try to improve the team.  Year after year, they trade their first, and year after year, that decision ends with regret.  

This year, perhaps more than others, the Yotes have been extremely active on the trade front.  In the off-season, GM Stocks made a league high 31 trades, and 39 total trades since the end of last season.

Last season, the Yotes had players such as Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty, Jordan Eberle, and Marc-Andre Fluery.  They felt that this core was good enough for the playoffs.  It wasn't.  So the management decided, not just to tinker and tweak the roster, but to do a complete overhaul of the entire roster.  In fact, the only player on the current roster today, that was on the season ending roster last year, is Jamie Drysdale.  

New players that were brought in through trades, include (in chronological order):

Chandler Romeo, Ben Roger, Matej Blumel, Arturs Silvos, Jonah Gadjovich, Nolan Patrick, Nikita Okhotyuk, Mikhail Maltsov, Carl Grundstrom, Kyle Capobianco, Scott Reedy, Nick Blankenburg, Devin Cooley, Donovan Sebrango, Gianni Fairbrother, Jacob Perrault, Sergei Murashov, Nico Myatovic, Glenn Gawdin, Liam Foudy, the return of Cody Glass, Dmitri Ovichnikov, Georgi Romanov, hot dog eating champion Phil Kessel, Gavin White, Patrick Kane, Calle Clange, the return of Trevor Zegras, Erik Johnson, Kiril Kirsanov, Olen Zellweger, Sam Bennett, Tyler Toffoli, Justin Faulk, and the most recently member of the Coyotes organization, Alex DeBrincat.

GM Stocks is hoping that DeBrincat can help the team continue it's strong play and make the playoffs.  When asked about the trades, GM Stocks had this to say, "Yeah, we've tried and failed for too long.  We needed a new plan and that's what we've sent in motion.  Yes, it was nice to have a stockpile of picks and prospects, and we still have some decent prospects, but we had to give up most of our A list prospects to acquire guys like Faulk, Toffoli, DeBrincat, and Zegras.  It hurts, but at the same time, our core got younger and we have a legit chance at the playoffs right now.  As long as we continue to play like we have all season, we'll get there.  And hopefully do some damage.  Our goal is to win the cup, not to be prospect feeder for the rest of the league.  I think we've proven to our fans and our players that we're willing to spend to get this franchise on the right track and into the playoffs.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens by the deadline".

The Coyotes seemed primed to make the playoffs.  Let's see if this pack can deliver a winning season to it's fans.