The Arizona Coyotes have acquired defenseman Sean Durzi from the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, a pick that originally belonged to the Montreal Canadiens.

In his two NHL seasons, Durzi has shown some offensive ability. Most recently, he scored 38 points in 72 games for the Kings in 2022-23. He has also recorded a combined 30 power-play points over those two seasons, including 16 in 2022-23.

Durzi has averaged just under 20 minutes in both seasons, but that icetime total should increase on a very inexperienced Coyotes defense. His competition for power-play minutes will be Juuso Valimaki, J.J. Moser, and Victor Soderstrom, likely in that order. In similar power-play usage, Durzi has outscored both Valimaki and Moser by a small margin, so he should be the slight favorite for PP1 minutes at this point. He likely wasn't receiving that in LA with Drew Doughty still firmly entrenched there, so he benefits from the trade. Arizona might seem like a place where fantasy value goes to die, yet both Jakob Chychrun and Shayne Gostisbehere had found success there in recent seasons before being traded.

Trading Durzi should create room for Brandt Clarke and possibly Jordan Spence on the blueline this season. All three are right-shot defensemen, so the trade could have been made in the interest to clear room for Clarke and Spence. These two young defensemen could also be in line for second-unit power-play minutes behind Doughty as well.

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Players this helps, in order:

Durzi

Clarke

Spence

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Players this hurts, in order:

Valimaki

Moser

Soderstrom

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Discuss the trade in this thread on the Forum.