Perhaps the biggest off-season news for the Coyotes is that they are moving their home arena (for the next two seasons at least) to the rink at Arizona State University which has a capacity of 5,000. This shouldn't have much effect on how the team plays, but it will limit the players that are willing to play in Phoenix even less than they already were.

GM and Coach

Bill Armstrong has completed two full seasons as the GM in Arizona and will be entering his third season. Before Arizona, Armstrong was the Assistant GM in St. Louis for two years. He's done a good job of stockpiling draft picks in the next two years but this roster is thin in talent.

Andre Tourigny finished his first NHL season behind the bench of the Coyotes and finished with a 25-50-7 record which was not a surprise to anyone.

Salary Cap

Next season, the club only has $990k as a dead cap for the salary retained on the Oliver Ekman-Larsson trade to Vancouver.

On paper, the team has just over $33 million in cap space available to replace eight or nine unrestricted free agents. They will need to spend over $11 million to reach the cap floor, which is probably the more likely of the two numbers.

Draft Picks

Arizona has three picks in the first round of the 2022 draft, with their own at #3 and Carolina's at #30 and Colorado's at #31. They also possess four second-round picks to go along with a 3rd, 5th and 6th round pick.

In 2023, they have a pick in every round in addition to an extra two picks in round three and an extra one in round four.

In 2024, the team already has three second-round picks, two third-round picks and two fourth-round picks to go along with their first-round, fifth, sixth and two seventh-round picks.

With 32 picks over the next three drafts, the Coyotes are in a good position to harvest some great talent in the next five years. They also possess a wealth of trade chips along the way if they choose to deal some of their picks.

Free Agents

Unrestricted free agents are Phil Kessel, Loui Eriksson, Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle, Alex Galchenyuk, Anton Stralman, Dmitrij Jaskin and Harri Sateri.

I doubt the Coyotes bring back any of these eight or come close to the $20 million that these players had in salary cap space.

Restricted free agents are Lawson Crouse, Christian Fischer, Barrett Hayton, Kyle Capobianco, Cam Dineen, Ivan Prosvetov and Josef Korenar.

I think Crouse, Hayton and Dineen will be re-signed for sure, but the jury is out on whether Arizona qualifies Fischer, Capobianco, Prosvetov or Korenar. I think Fischer and Prosvetov get qualified of the four and Capobianco and Korenar become UFA.

Roster

Over the past two years, I've given players ratings based on their results for a game or a season. It takes metrics, like scoring, shooting, hits, blocks, faceoffs, etc., and spits out an easy-to-digest number under 10. Elite skaters are around 6.7 and higher, while the average skater comes in at about 6.41. I've determined that a player around 6.25 or lower is right at the replacement level.

Goalies average a little better at around 6.5, but game-to-game performances are like a yo-yo, so averages can fluctuate.

Here is Arizona's projected roster as it stands with an average of 6.34. Anaheim in the prior week came in at 6.36. Both will be below average unless improved. 

The Coyotes have another season of futility ahead of them next season where 25-30 wins will be their ceiling.

In the forwards, the Coyotes have three forwards above the league average (based on 2021-22), with Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Lawson Crouse. They should be joined by Barrett Hayton this season if he progresses as expected.

The left side is the team's strength with Keller, Crouse, Nick Ritchie and perhaps Andrew Ladd or Mattias Maccelli filling the fourth spot. Keller is coming off of his best season since his rookie year in 2017-18 and will look to grow from it. The same goes for Crouse who scored 20 goals for the first time in his sixth NHL season.

Arizona's question marks and opportunities are at center, where it appears Hayton will be given an opportunity to emerge as an offensive threat. He will be 22-years-old at the start of next season and will look to improve on his highs of 10 goals and 24 points. The other C spots are wide open for Nathan Smith, Jack McBain, Liam O'Brien, Jan Jenik and perhaps John Farinacci to fight over.

On the right side, Schmaltz set his career-high with 59 points in only 63 games and will hope to stay healthy next season (he hasn't played more than 70 games in any of the past four years). Travis Boyd had a very good season (74-17-18-35), but on 31 other teams, he is not a second-line winger. He earned himself a two-year deal at $1.75 million AAV, but ideally, he should be in the bottom six. The other two spots are between Christian Fischer, Michael Carcone and perhaps Dylan Guenther or Josh Doan.

Arizona will need to bring in some added depth, so look for players along the lines of Sheldon Dries, Nic Petan, Stefan Noesen, T.J. Tynan or Andrew Poturalski etc. to be brought in and given a chance to stick in the NHL at the league minimum.

On defence, there are all sorts of rumors of the Coyotes willing to trade Jakob Chychrun who has three years remaining at $4.6 million AAV. He is their best defenceman and Shayne Gostisbehere will be unrestricted after next season, so it is a safe bet that Arizona will Gostisbeher sooner than later. Outside of those two, the rest of the defence is unproven in Dysin Mayo, Janis Moser, Cam Dineen, Kyle Capobianco, Vladislav Kolyachonok, Connor Timmins and Victor Soderstrom competing for four or five spots. The Coyotes likely bring in one or two cheaper veterans in free agency to add to the mix.

In goal, 25-year-old rookie Karel Vejmelka ended up playing 52 games last season with a 3.68 GAA and an 89.8 save percentage where he had periods of excellence but did fade a little down the stretch. We can look for him to get a similar amount of starts next season as Arizona re-signed him for three years at $2.725 million AAV. At backup, the team will look at Ivan Prosvetov or Josef Korenar, but both struggled last season, so perhaps the Coyotes sign someone like Malcolm Subban or Collin Delia in that role. 

This should be a youthful season for Arizona in the leadup to the 2023 entry draft where they will surely be in the mix to win the lottery pick for Connor Bedard.

Even if willing, Arizona is not going to attract top-end free agents to the desert. They will need to bring in second or third-tier free agents that have something to prove and need a chance at the NHL level.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you want me to focus on any players or topics by messaging me below or following me on Twitter @gampbler15.