Phoenix Coyotes Off-season

Free Agent List…
UFA: Matthew Lombardi, Lee Stempniak, Derek Morris, Adrian Aucoin, Zbynek Michalek, Taylor Pyatt, Robert Lang, Mathieu Schneider
RFA: Wojtek Wolski, Martin Hanzal, Daniel Winnik, Sami Lepisto

Salary Cap Space…
About $24 million
Summer Shopping List…
2 Top-nine forwards
- Alex Tanguay, Fredrik Modin, or Jason Williams
2 Defensemen
- Shaone Morrisonn, Jordan Leopold, or Mark Eaton
Possible Trade Bait…
None

Top 5 Prospects…
1. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D
2. Brett MacLean, LW
3. Maxim Goncharov, D
4. Chris Summers, D
5. David Schlemko, D

Outlook…
Who knew that the words home-ice and Phoenix Coyotes would go in the same sentence?! Well it happened this season, much to the surprise of everyone around the league. Phoenix was the feel-good story in the NHL, finishing fourth in the conference. GM Don Maloney now has to make sure he can keep that great product on the ice in 2010/11.

It’s hard to get a feel for what Maloney will do this summer. Obviously, there are some important pending free agents on this club. I’m sure he’d like to keep guys like Lombardi, Michalek, and Stempniak; but all three would be able to get considerable raises elsewhere.

In a weak summer for centers, I’d expect Lombardi to exit stage left to a team needing a #2 center – yet would pay him damn good money. Michalek is in a similar situation, where he’d be coveted by other teams with more cash to throw around. Stempniak, I believe, was a nice month-long story after the deadline… but will get overpaid by one of the 29 other teams.

Assuming they may be able to only hold on to one of those three, Maloney will have some extra dollars to spend on established veterans – including their own, Derek Morris and/or Adrian Aucoin.

If Maloney stands pat during the frenzy, it should send a message that he’ll be relying on the youth to finally live up to their potential. This is the time for youngsters like Kyle Turris, Mikkel Boedker, and Viktor Tikhonov to take the next step and keep the Coyotes’ play at a high level.

This is a well-built team that Dave Tippett can work his craft with. Depending on what Maloney can or can’t do in the next few weeks, Tippett should once again be in a position to thrive if the Coyotes’ success story wasn’t a ‘one-year wonder’.