Hello, it is I once again, one of 7 Coyotes fans who exist. In a world with a hard salary cap and guaranteed contracts, making sure every dollar counts is essential in this hockey economy. However, there are some contracts out there that fail to do so. The current regime (and even the previous regime to an extent) of the Coyotes have abused that fact to get some assets from other teams for essentially nothing. With an owner willing to spend whatever the hell the current GM of the team wants, and said GM being a master at swindling bad front offices, and the fact that the team is several years away from being consistently competitive and can afford to be bad in the short-term, here are some "cap dumps" for the Coyotes to target over the rest of the year.

To other fans visiting, I am not 100% familiar with every team's cap and contract situation; most of this was gathered by information from CapFriendly and the general consensus I have seen and heard from other NHL fans about their own teams. If you feel like I am being disingenuous about a contract, I apologize in advance and feel free to correct me. Also, I am not going to list any return value because I will leave that to Bill Armstrong the Wizard to handle.

So first off, not every team has bad contracts; or rather, they do not have the need to get rid of any. Teams in deep rebuilds or with tons of cap space may not feel the need to get rid of any of their bad contracts. Also, if a contract isn't very good value wise but only has a year left on it, they may as well at that point bite the bullet and let it expire in the offseason and keep any assets that they have. With that said, if a contending team desperately needs cap space, they would be willing to move assets to give up a 1 year stinker to make room for someone useful in their lineup. These are the cap dumps I have identified that the Coyotes should try to get their hands on:


VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
G Laurent Brossoit - 1 Year, 2.325M AAV (1.2M buried cap penalty), UFA
C Nolan Patrick - 1 Year, 1.2M AAV, LTIR RFA

The Golden Knights are using up a lot of cap right now and are under the ceiling thanks to LTIR, but that's not going to last forever. Plus, Vegas always seems to make massive moves at the deadline, and they will need all the space they can get to afford whatever shiny new player they buy. Brossoit will alleviate a little bit of cap for them and wouldn't cost them too much to get rid of to begin with. Patrick will simply open up a contract spot since it doesn't seem like he's going to play anymore.


EDMONTON OILERS
RW Jesse Puljujarvi - 1 Year, 3M AAV, RFA
W Warren Foegele - 2 Years, 2.75M AAV, UFA

Puljujarvi seems to desperately need a change of scenery from Edmonton. He has been in the dog house with coaches and fans alike, and takes up a decent bit of cap for a team wanting to go far in the playoffs. The Coyotes could take him as a reclamation project and give him a cheap extension in the offseason or even trade his rights to a team. As for Foegele, he is a servicable bottom 6 forward but those are not worth 2.75M per year, especially with term. Perhaps the Coyotes could get both in one go; or perhaps they could get both along with other assets in a Chychrun trade to get an even bigger haul? Regardless, these two should be targets, especially Puljujarvi while his value is way low.


VANCOUVER CANUCKS
LW Tanner Pearson - 2 Years, 3.25M AAV, UFA (7 team NTC)
RD Tucker Poolman - 3 Years, 2.5M AAV, UFA

I highly doubt that Vancouver would consider trading with us again given what happened last time, but if they do, these two should be on the block. Both are currently on LTIR which would make it much easier to trade for if you're Arizona, but would make it less of a necessity to trade as of now if you're Vancouver. This would be better done in the offseason. The question is whether or not the Canucks would even trade them to begin with - the Horvat trade they did today signals a rebuild (which they desperately need), but if they decide that instead they are going for a retool then they may want to offload these contracts. Poolman especially, that is a terrible one and should fetch a pretty penny.


PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
LW Nicolas Deslauriers - 4 Years, 1.75M AAV, UFA (20 team NTC)
RD Ryan Ellis - 5 Years, 6.25M AAV, LTIR

Once again, I am not sure that the Flyers would be willing to trade with us given what happened last time, but if they do these two should be on the table. The team has openly said they are retooling so I do think they'd consider trading away some assets to give away certain contracts. First up, I knew the Deslauriers contract was bad but wow I had no idea it was THIS BAD. A 20 team NTC for 4 years? That's absolutely terrible. I doubt he'd be willing to waive it to come to Arizona but if he does the team should be able to get a lot of assets out of grabbing that contract. As for Ellis, I do not know if he is LTIRetired. If so I wouldn't mind grabbing this because, once again, it should fetch a pretty penny for us to take. If it ages even more terribly, the Coyotes could buy it out in 2025 or 2026 for a negligible cap penalty for a few seasons.


ST. LOUIS BLUES
LD Marco Scandella - 2 Years, 3.275M AAV, UFA (7 team NTC)

I highly doubt this one would happen given the Blues trajectory (they should retool in the offseason), but if they do I believe the Coyotes should try for this contract. I don't think it would fetch too large of a return, plus with a 7 team NTC it's not a guarantee of happening even if the did try, but any assets is a plus.


PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
RW Kasperi Kapanen - 2 Years, 3.2M AAV, UFA

Another excellent buy-low candidate, the Penguins are trying to maximize their window with Crosby and Malkin and Kapanen is not playing very well given his contract. As opposed to a cap dump, we could trade one of our useful forwards for Kapanen+more.


NEW JERSEY DEVILS
W Andreas Johnsson - 1 Year, 3.4M AAV (2.275M buried cap penalty), UFA
G Jonathon Bernier - 1 Year, 4.125M AAV, LTIR

I highly doubt the Devils would pull the trigger on getting rid of Johnsson; if they were smart they'd let the contracts expire and then use that cap space in the offseason. However, if they wanted to add a big piece, the Johnsson contract would be alleviate 2.275M dollars for the cap, so that would be a good one to grab. There really isn't a need to drop Bernier but I included him anyway.


BOSTON BRUINS
LD Mike Reilly - 2 Years, 3M AAV (1.875M buried cap penalty), UFA
C Chris Wagner - 1 Year, 1.35M AAV (225K buried cap penalty), UFA

Once again I don't see the need for Boston to do this. I don't see the need for them to make any trades with how dominant they are this season. If they wanted to free up 2.1M in cap space however, the Coyotes should ask about these two.


SAN JOSE SHARKS
D Marc-Edouard Vlasic - 4 Years, 7M AAV, UFA (3 team NMC)

There are plenty of contracts with too much term and too much money on the Sharks and this is the only one I would feasibly take if I were the Coyotes. 7 million is a lot of money AAV wise to take for 4 years but the return might be worth it. I doubt the Sharks would trade Vlasic and just let his contract expire or buy him out.


LOS ANGELES KINGS
G Cal Petersen - 3 Years, 5M AAV (3.875M buried cap penalty) (10 team NTC), UFA
W Austin Wagner - 1 Year, 1.133M AAV (8.3K buried cap penalty), RFA

Wagner is more there as a joke honestly, an 8.3K cap penalty is nothing for a single season, but every dollar counts I guess? Anyway, the big fish here is Petersen. The Kings gave him a big contract for his play and then he immediately fell off of a cliff. 3.875M is a lot of dead cap hit, especially for 3 seasons. Given the Coyotes track record with goaltending, I would absolutely be willing to take Petersen with the hopes of revitalizing his play. I bet he'd be willing to waive his NTC too if it meant getting playing time in the NHL.


DALLAS STARS
G Anton Khudobin - 1 Year, 3.33M AAV (2,208,3M buried cap penalty), UFA

If the Stars wanted to go all in, 2.2 million in extra cap would go a long way in that goal. With that said, I know the Stars love having Khudobin in the minors to be a leader on their AHL team so I don't think this one would happen, even though it makes a lot of sense for them to do.


NEW YORK ISLANDERS
LW Kyle Palmieri - 3 Years, 5M AAV, UFA (16 team NTC)
LW Ross Johnston - 4 Years, 1.1M AAV, UFA
W Richard Panik - 1 Year, 1.375M AAV (250K buried cap penalty), UFA

The Islanders are not in a good cap situation, especially for a bubble team. Palmieri has been massively underproducing since coming to New York but I doubt he'd waive his NTC to come to Arizona but it'd be worth a shot. I do not understand how Ross Johnston got a 4 year deal (at least its not as bad as Deslauriers), but 1.1M would be easy for the Coyotes to swallow. Panik doesn't really affect their cap that much but 250K matters if they want to try and get more pieces like Horvat. Just looking at their CapFriendly page there are a lot of options ripe for the taking, but I doubt the Islanders would do any of these to begin with since they are competing for a playoff spot.


OTTAWA SENATORS
RD Nikita Zaitsev - 2 Years, 4.5M AAV, UFA (10 team NTC)

The Senators have been extremely open with wanting to move Zaitsev and willing to pay a price. Honestly I'm shocked the Coyotes haven't traded for him sooner. Once again, you could send Chychrun the other way for assets and grab Zaitsev as well for even more assets. This is probaly the most likely cap dump trade to happen of everything I have listed.


DETROIT RED WINGS
LW Jakub Vrana - 2 Years, 5.25M AAV (4.125M buried cap penalty), UFA
Alex Nedljkovic - 1 Year, 3M AAV (1.875M buried cap penalty), UFA

I don't think Detroit needs to shed any salary, they'd be better off waiting for these to expire. However if they really wanted to dump Vrana I would absolutely be willing to.


There were some I noted but didn't list because I didn't see the point due to negligible cap gain but I will put them here anyway:
C Kevin Rooney, Calgary Flames - 2 Year, 1.3M AAV (150K buried cap penalty) UFA. Very negligible cap penalty but every dollar matters!
W Vinnie Hinostroza - 1 Year, 1.7M AAV, UFA and W Anders Bjork - 1 Year, 1.6M AAV, UFA for the Buffalo Sabres with a 575K and 475K buried cap penalty respectively. No need for the Sabres to shed cap since they have so much already.


Of all the trades I listed, the most likely to happen to me in my opinion are:
Nikita Zaitsev, Ottawa (this one is basically guaranteed, like I said, surprised it hasn't happened yet)
Cal Petersen, Los Angeles
Kasperi Kapanen, Pittsburgh
Laurent Brossoit & Nolan Patrick, Vegas
Jesse Puljujarvi and/or Warren Foegele, Edmonton
Andreas Johnsson, New Jersey
Mike Reilly & Chris Wagner, Boston


WHOOPS another long text wall, but as the token Coyotes fan on this website I want to throw stuff like this out into the forums every now and again just to drum up interest and let people know some of the general consensus within our fanbase is. If you see anything in here that is wrong or inaccurate please leave a comment.

IN BILL ARMSTRONG WE TRUST #TankAway

This is a really well thought out and well-encompassing post, so first of all, hats off to you for it.

I agree with most of the dumps you list at the end as likely to happen, I really only disagree with Peterson (I think LAK will keep him around for at least one more year to see if he can play better and/or make dumping him less expensive with one year less AAV) and possibly Patrick (I think Vegas may just ride that one out if they don't need the contract spot), but players like Zaitsev and Puljujarvi seem pretty inevitable. Pulju in particular would be a nice grab if they can reform him back into a more consistent top 9 option and let him play with Maccelli to get the Finnish connection up.

I absolutely want Puljujarvi, that's an obvious reclamation project for a guy Edmonton is running out of town. I do want us to grab a Dman salary dump because if the team is trading Chychrun, Ghost, and (apparently teams are asking for some reason?) Brown and Stetcher, we will have a total of 3 Dmen from this season for next year. To put it bluntly, we do not have any good D prospects who will be more than 3rd pair guys; we should grab a salary dump to at least have some sort of experience on the blue line (plus more assets). I would also like to trade for Kapanen and all of the ones that end this season, I think it'd be foolish not to.