- Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: The Coyotes have 11 players under contract for next year, and with Mike Ribeiro’s buyout and the retaining of a portion of Keith Yandle’s salary, the Coyotes sit at about $34.2 million. The salary floor will be at $52.8 million next year. The Coyotes have the flexibility to take on some salary in a trade.
“When the crunch starts coming where (teams) need to move contracts, that’s when I think we’ll be in a good position to take advantage,” Maloney said.
The Coyotes do need to keep some of their internal budget for re-sign RFA Mikkel Boedker. They don’t expect to re-sign any of their UFAs before July 1st – Martin Erat, Dave Moss, B.J. Crombeen and Andrew Campbell. The Coyotes hold Viktor Tikhonov’s rights until July 1st, but he’s expected to become a free agent.
“We know we have to make some deals to bring some players in,” Maloney said. “But we also know we’ll end up signing some free agents at some point , whether it’s July 1 or September 1.”
- Chris Johnston of Sportsnet: Last week Coyotes GM Don Maloney would have told you he’s keeping the pick, but offers are coming in and he might re-consider. Maloney has received two trade offers, with one of them firm, which included a lower first round pick.
“There’s been so many different things kind of pushed my way of late I can honestly sit here and say I don’t know (what I’ll do),” he told Sportsnet on Tuesday. “There’s one team really aggressively trying to get No. 3, and we’d trade down a bit.
“I’ve had two offers outright for that pick.” Maloney is deciding on whether it would be better to get a player who is further along or to keep the pick.
The Blue Jackets are one of the teams that are interested in Noah Hanifin and Ivan Provorov. (The Blue Jacket own the No. 8 pick)
If they Coyotes decide to trade the third overall pick, it may not happen until they are on the clock.
“I think generally you get your best offer on the draft floor,” said Maloney. “That’s what I’ve found. Unless somebody really blows us over and needs an answer I think that’s generally how these things work.”
- Bob McKenzie: GM Maloney said the offer to move down in the draft, but was still in the top 10.
- Craig Custance: One of the trade offers the Coyotes received for the No. 3 pick was good enough that they wouldn’t get another 1st round pick back.
- Sarah McLellan: At least six teams have inquired about the Coyotes 3rd overall pick. Two are looking aggressively.
- Jason Gregor: Sarah McLellan: “If they keep pick, they are leaning towards Strome. They want a big C. Maloney has said two teams are trying hard to get #3”