2020-21
Record: 24-26-6 54 points – 5th in the Honda West Division
Playoffs: Did Not Qaulify
Key Losses
D – Alex Goligoski, G – Darcy Kuemper, G – Antti Raanta, D – Oliver Ekman-Larsson, F – Connor Garland, G – Adin Hill, F – Tyler Pitlick, D – Niklas Hjalmarsson, F – Christian Dvorak
Key Additions
G – Carter Hutton, F – Dmitrij Jaskin, F – Ryan Dzingel, D – Anton Stralman – F – Jay Beagle, F – Antoine Roussel, F – Loui Eriksson, D – Shayne Gostisbehere
Jerseys
2021-22 Preview
It’s a new era in Arizona as Andre Tourigny takes over behind the bench from Rick Tocchet, who did not re-sign with the club. Tourigny has had success as a coach in the Ontario Hockey League and at the most recent IIHF World Championship, but the question will be “How will that translate over to the NHL?” And it’ll be a tall task for Tourigny too as they Coyotes have a whole new goalie tandem, and traded away their top defenseman and forward for fourth line players.
In goal both Antti Raanta, signed with Carolina, and Darcy Kuemper, traded to Colorado, are now gone, and it’ll be Carter Hutton being looked to to be the new number one in Arizona’s net. How he will do will truly determine the true fate of the Coyotes this season.
On defense the Coyotes did a bit of an overhaul as they traded captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Vancouver and let Alex Gologoski walk in free agency as he would sign with Minnesota. Plus Niklas Hjalmarsson would retire after the season concluded. However, the would acquire Shayne Gostisbehere for Philadelphia and Anton Stralman from Florida to give them some more grit and offensive puck movement on the backend to compliment Jakob Chychrun, who will now take on the number one spot on the team defensively.
On offense, this where the Coyotes are going to struggle the most. Clayton Keller and Phil Kessel are going to be looked to to produce, but they’re going to need help from the rest of the lineup. Ryan Dzingel comes in via free agency and will probably start on the fourth line, but could become a top six guy if he can prove that he can still produce. Dmitrij Jaskin will be the wild card for the Coyotes. Jaskin is a player I felt should have gotten a bigger opportunity when he was in Washington the last time he played in the NHL. The past few seasons in the KHL Jaskin has worked on his game, and is looking to bring that success with him to Arizona.
Projected Lineup
Clayton Keller — Nick Schmaltz — Phil Kessel
Barrett Hayton — Christian Dvorak* — Christian Fischer
Lawson Crouse — Johan Larsson — Dmitrij Jaskin
Ryan Dzingel — Jay Beagle — Antoine Roussel
Jakob Chychrun — Conor Timmins
Shayne Gostisbehere — Ilya Lyubushkin
Anton Stralman — Victor Soderstrom
Carter Hutton
Josef Korenar
*Dvorak was traded after this preview was written.
