Team: 2024-25 Arizona Coyotes

Initial Creation Date: May 3, 2024

Published: May 3, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

New owner and some financial security are the big changes for the Franchise and now it can finally start to get serious about rebuilding since they have the money.

Overall they have a good pool of NHL ready prospects and young players which will keep costs low for the first few years until the cream of the crop rise and take money after the expiry of their ELCs. The only problem is that with most of their prospects ready to graduate to the NHL it leaves the cupboards bare in terms of remaining prospects. I'd expect the Coyotes to use the majority of their Picks in 2024 and 2025 to restock the shelves and create a strong prospect pool again before they are truly ready to compete for a cup in 2026.

Assuming the team picks somewhere between 6-8 this year I have them taking a D-man as they don't have as many high end prospects on D so I gave them Zayne Parekh.

After taking care of their resigning's with the only significant money going to Durzi, Moser, and Hayton they would have over 20M in cap left. The new Utah ownership has stated they are willing to spend to get players but considering that this team is likely 2-3 years away from competing it may be hard to entice the top end UFAs. But with the huge amount of picks they have acquired I wouldn't be surprised to see them offer sheet someone younger that can grow with the franchise until they are ready to compete rather than signing someone who is already around 30 years old. Thus I have them offer sheeting Byfield, Kings are cash strapped and will likely not be able to match without having to move multiple big contracts. Doesn't necessarily have to be Byfield other RFAs could be targeted instead.

Moving on to the trade deadline Kerfoot and Bjugstad are both on expiring contracts next season and can be valuable depth pieces for a playoff run expect to see both of them moved with single or double retention for picks to teams in the playoff hunt. Schmaltz has a year left beyond 2024-2025 but he is also almost 30 and no-longer fits on the teams competition time line he could go to a team looking for a top 6 forward and the extra year gives him extra value in a trade. Additionally since they have so much cap they could potentially take back an expiring bad contract to make money work on a Schmaltz trade.

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