Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe

The Phoenix Coyotes announced today that they have signed 2009 First Round Draft Pick Oliver Ekman-Larsson to an entry level contract. I’m personally expecting the 18 year old defenseman to be invited to training camp this fall.

This is great news for the Coyotes who seem to have a bonified defenseman to build a franchise around. Having watched him in prospects camp this past summer Ekman-Larsson has the tools to be a great defenseman but lacks the size to compete at the NHL level just yet.

Coyotes fans are looking forward to seeing him play at the earliest possible moment. However, it’s up to the Coyotes to take great care to ensure that his development proceeds in the right manner.

The Coyotes announced today that they have traded the rights to 2008 2nd round draft pick Jared Staal to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 5th round draft pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

With this deal, the Coyotes now have five picks in the 2010 NHL Entry draft in Los Angeles on June 25th-26th.

*UPDATE* – 9:00 AM AZ Time

The Hurricanes have just signed Jared Staal to a Three Year entry level contract.

Got some quick news to get out to you all.

Coyotes Accepting Deposits for the 2010-2011 season

It was announced that the Phoenix Coyotes are accepting deposits for 2010-2011 season tickets.  To reserve your seats for next season you can put down as little as a $100 refundable deposit.  Call 480-563-7825 to reserve your seats.  If you put at least $100 down for seats next season you will also have priority purchasing for playoff tickets for this season over the general public.  Playoff tickets go on sale for the General Public on March 27th at 10 AM at all Ticketmaster outlets.

Coyotes sign Lunden to an entry level contract

The Phoenix Coyotes have signed former Univeristy Alaska-Anchorage player Josh Lunden to an entry level contract.  Lunden is a 6’2″202 lb forward who scored 8 goals 9 assists (for 17 points).

Lunden will report immediately to the San Antonio Rampage.

NHL Network Free Preview Week March 20-27

The NHL announced that they are having a free preview week of the NHL Network for the coming week (on right now).

Coyotes Radio Coverage Change for today’s Dallas Game

Tonight’s Coyotes/Dallas game can be heard on KFNN 1510.

Coyotes Prospect Michael Stone honored by the WHL

The WHL has named Coyotes prospect was named to the WHL’s Eastern Conference First All-Star Team and was also selected as the Eastern Conference Finalist for the WHL Defenseman of the Year Award.  The 19 year Stone played for the Calgary Hitmen where he notched career high stats in Goals and points (21 goals and 44 assists for 65 points).

The Phoenix Coyotes have announced today that they have recalled 21 year old Viktor Tikhonov from Cherepovets of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Tikhonov had been on loan to Cherepovets for the duration of the KHL season. In 25 games with Cherepovets he was the second leading scorer amassing 15 points (14 goals 1 assist).

Tikhonov will join the Coyotes but it’s not sure when on the road trip he will meet up with the team.

According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie this morning recently acquired Mathieu Schneider was placed on re-entry waivers this morning. If he clears waivers, he’s eligible to play with the Coyotes.

However, the Winnipeg Free Press reported (in the beginning of February) that Schneider was out for the past month with a knee injury. No word on if he’s ready to play or he’s going to require more time to heal.

If Schneider clears waivers, the Vancouver Canucks will get the conditional 6th round pick that was part of the deadline day deal that sent Schneider to Phoenix.

For those of you who are interested, here is the FULL list of trades made at the 2010 NHL Trade Deadline.

The 2010 Trade Deadline featured 31 trades with 55 players moving on to new teams.

Anaheim traded D Ryan Whitney and its 6th-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft to Edmonton for D Lubomir Visnovsky.

Anaheim traded G Justin Pogge and Boston’s 4th-round pick in the 2010 or 2011 Entry Draft (previously acquired) to Carolina for D Aaron Ward.

Anaheim traded G Vesa Toskala to Calgary for G Curtis McElhinney.

Anaheim traded C Petteri Nokelainen to Phoenix for Phoenix’s 6th-round pick in the 2011 Entry Draft.

Boston traded D Derek Morris to Phoenix for a conditional draft pick in the 2011 Entry Draft.

Boston traded RW Byron Bitz, RW Craig Weller and Tampa Bay’s 2nd-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft (previously acquired) to Florida for D Dennis Seidenberg and D Matt Bartkowski.

Buffalo traded D Nathan Paetsch and Vancouver’s 2nd-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft (previously acquired) to Columbus for LW Raffi Torres.

Buffalo traded LW Clarke MacArthur to Atlanta for Atlanta’s 3rd- and 4th-round picks in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Calgary traded D Aaron Johnson and its 3rd-round pick in the 2010 or 2011 Entry Draft to Edmonton for D Steve Staios.

Calgary traded C Dustin Boyd to Nashville for Nashville’s 4th-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Calgary traded C Riley Armstrong to Detroit for D Andy Delmore.

Carolina traded D Joe Corvo to Washington for D Brian Pothier, LW Oskar Osala and Washington’s 2nd-round pick in the 2011 Entry Draft.

Carolina traded RW Scott Walker to Washington for Washington’s 7th-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Carolina traded C Stephane Yelle and RW Harrison Reed to Colorado for C Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll and Colorado’s 6th-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Carolina traded D Andrew Alberts to Vancouver for Vancouver’s 3rd-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Colorado traded LW Wojtek Wolski to Phoenix for RW Peter Mueller and C Kevin Porter.

Columbus traded D Milan Jurcina to Washington for a conditional pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Columbus traded D Mathieu Roy to Florida for C Matt Rust.

Columbus traded LW Fredrik Modin to Los Angeles for a conditional pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Columbus traded LW Alexandre Picard to Phoenix for C Chad Kolarik.

Detroit traded C Kris Newbury to New York Rangers for LW Jordan Owens.

Los Angeles traded LW Teddy Purcell and Florida’s 3rd-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft (previously acquired) to Tampa Bay for C Jeff Halpern.

Minnesota traded C Eric Belanger to Washington for Washington’s 2nd-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Montreal traded RW Matt D’Agostini to St. Louis for RW Aaron Pulushaj.

New York Rangers traded G Miika Wiikman and their 7th-round pick in the 2011 Entry Draft to Phoenix for D Anders Eriksson.

Phoenix traded D Matt Jones and its 4th- and 7th-round picks in the 2010 Entry Draft to Toronto for RW Lee Stempniak.

Pittsburgh traded D Chris Peluso to Toronto for Toronto’s 6th-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

St. Louis traded C Yan Stastny to Vancouver for LW Pierre-Cedric Labrie.

Toronto traded D Martin Skoula to New Jersey for New Jersey’s 5th-round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Toronto traded G Joey MacDonald to Anaheim for Anaheim’s 7th-round pick in the 2011 Entry Draft.

Vancouver traded D Mathieu Schneider to Phoenix for D Sean Zimmerman and a conditional pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Here’s a breakdown of the deals that the Coyotes have made so far today along with trade analysis. I’ll be adding to the analysis of all the trades as the day goes on.

8:24 AM – Coyotes acquire Boston Defenseman Derek Morris from Boston for a conditional fourth round pick

This was a salary dump by the Bruins as they are looking to acquire a scoring forward for their roster. Good to have Morris Back!

10:44 AM – Coyotes acquire Wojtek Wolski for Kevin Porter and Peter Mueller

Problem player for problem player is what this deal boils down to. According to the Denver Post:

- Wolski has 2 goals in last 25 games. One was an empty netter.
- 4 PP goals in his last 150 games.
- Wolski has been in the doghouse of every coach dating back to Quenneville and Granato

According to the Denver Post, Wolski is “a Jeff George-type of hockey player. He puts up good numbers, but never in the clutch and never in the tough areas.”

11:20 PM – Coyotes acquire Mathieu Schneider for Sean Zimmerman and a conditional 6th round draft pick

According to Jason Botchford of the Province (out of Vancouver), the conditional pick is dependent on Schneider clearing waivers.

This is a pretty bad deal for the Coyotes as they have someone who has been a locker room cancer in Vancouver and burned his bridges with the team so badly, that NO ONE in the Canucks organization, from the top on down, wanted him back this season.

Here’s an article I wrote about Schneider from earlier this season that breaks down the deal:

http://bit.ly/4PbpyQ

Schneider has a lot to prove if he clears waivers and makes it to the Coyotes.

1:05 PM – Toronto Trades Lee Stempniak to the Coyotes for defenseman Matt Jones and 2010 4th and 7th Round picks

Stempinak brings a 30 point campaign (14 goals and 16 assists) to the Coyotes.  Averaging around 17 to 19 minutes a night he’s been marginally average on a Maple Leafs team that lacks chemistry.  In 2006 27 goals and 25 assists for 52 points but hasn’t been able to match this point production ever since.

2:30 PM – Phoenix trades Chad Kolarik to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Alex Picard

Forward Alex Picard is a former first round draft pick in 2004 (#8 overall) that the Blue Jackets have pretty much given up on.  Given how the Jacket’s screwed up Gilbert Bule’s (another Blue Jackets first round draft pick) development I’m not going to jump to any conclusions just yet.

Hockey’s Future has a GREAT Breakdown of Kolarik as a player:

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/alex-picard

Update: 4:04 PM

The Coyotes sent out a note saying that Picard will report immediately to the San Antonio Rampage.

2:46 – Phoenix sends D Anders Eriksson to the New York Rangers for goaltender Mikka Wiikman and a 2011 7th round draft pick

Highway Robbery. That is the only way to explain this deal over a player that Don Maloney signed from free agency for a player that was the #1 goalie on the Rangers AHL farm club. In 2007-2008 he had a 21-18-4 record with a 2.70 GAA over 43 games for the Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers AHL affiliate. This season he saw limited action with the Wolfpack this season starting only seven games with a 2-4-0 record and a 4.20 GAA. Wiikman also spent time with the ECHL Charlotte Checkers playing 17 games with a 9-3-1 record and a 2.84 GAA.

It seems that since an injury earlier this season, Wiikman’s value with the Rangers has slipped and Matt Zaba has moved up on the organizational depth chart.  Wiikman seems to have the skills and its looking more and more like a change of scenery to a Coyotes team that lacks organizational depth is a perfect fit.

This is the second of the rangers top prospects that General Manager Don Maloney stole from the rangers.

Here’s a scouting report of Wiikman:

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/miika_wiikman

2:48 PM Phoenix acquires RW Petteri Nokelainen for a 6th round draft pick

Following a Olympic League campaign that ended the season for the Finland Hockey team short of a championship, defenseman Sami Lepisto was shipped to the Phoenix Coyotes on loan until 2014. Apparently, the reason Finland will be recalling Lepisto in 2014 is because the Olympic league will start up again then in some town called Sochi in Russia.

This is a great pickup for the Coyotes as they have a need for depth on defense leading up to the trade deadline.

The Phoenix Coyotes have sent defenseman Anders Eriksson and forward Joel Perrault to the San Antonio Rampage, for conditioning assignments. The Coyotes also sent forward Brett MacLean back to San Antonio.

Coyotes fans were wondering if this was a pre-cursor to a potential trade as Coyotes GM Don Maloney has expressed publicly that he is looking for more depth on the defense before more scoring forward depth.

However, since the press release has stated this is a conditioning assignment, this may just be nothing more than just that. Playing a couple of games on the farm to get back into shape.

In what has to be the quickest recall/re-assign in the NHL this season, the Phoenix Coyotes Wednesday recalled goaltender Joel Gistedt from the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers and then re-assigned him back to the Wranglers on Thursday.

The re-call was mainly to have a secondary goaltender to help the Coyotes in practice while Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov was still in the Olympics. Now that Russia has been eliminated due to incompetent coaching, Gistedt’s services were no longer needed.