Coyotes: General Manager John Chayka made some crucial additions to the roster over the summer.

GM checks off all boxes on list

A couple weeks after the Coyotes skated off the ice for the final time last season, General Manager John Chayka began to shape his offseason strategy.

He let the sting from the mountain of losses fade and recalibrated his vision back to objectivity.

And then he got to work, evaluating the organization’s depth chart and outlining priorities for the upcoming summer.

On that wish list were very specific job descriptions: No. 1 center, top-pairing right-handed defenseman, secondpairing right-handed defenseman and No. 1 goalie – positions that are extremely valuable in the game, and therefore, difficult to add outside the draft.

But after a Sunday trade to bring in Jason Demers, Chayka had acquired each one to cap off an impressive roster flip that saw the Coyotes receive the upgrades they coveted most.

“We had a lot of ground to cover,” Chayka said. “There were a lot of areas that we just felt we needed to shore up in order to build an environment that was conducive to winning and growing winning players.”

Landing a top center, partner for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and goalie after trading previous starter Mike Smith headlined Arizona’s pursuits, but team brass didn’t rank the three in order of importance. They were all critical.

The Coyotes ended up adding a toptwo defenseman first, securing Niklas Hjalmarsson from the Blackhawks June 23 in exchange for defenseman Connor Murphy and center Laurent Dauphin. Barely an hour later, they finalized a deal to acquire center Derek Stepan and goalie Antti Raanta from the Rangers with defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and the 2017 No. 7 pick going the other way.

All three players were the Coyotes’ top targets at each position after advanced analysis, scouting, conversations about character and leadership ability and contract details. Chayka had contingency plans in place but didn’t end up needing them.

“It’s rare you get a chance to get the guys that are kind of at the top of your list and anytime you do, it’s kind of luck just meets preparation and that’s the opportunity,” he said.

Arizona was comfortable with its top-four defense with Hjalmarsson in the mix, but an offseason knee injury that has sidelined Jakob Chychrun upped the team’s urgency to find more right-handed help. The Coyotes had previous discussions about Demers, but the price had to be right.

When both sides reached a resolution, with the Coyotes ultimately parting with winger Jamie McGinn, they executed the trade – which is how they impacted their roster the most this summer. Free agency is Chayka’s least preferred option since he believes it typically hasn’t been successful for rebuilds.

But the Coyotes had parameters for their trades. They weren’t going to sacrifice future assets in the Demers deal, and their core youngsters were off-limits for all swaps.

“We just weren’t willing to go down that route in terms of some of our young talent,” Chayka said.

The Demers’ acquisition likely completes Arizona’s new look.

Players were divvied up into two groups for Monday’s set of practices, as the team skated at the Ice Den in Scottsdale after a Monday preseason game at Gila River Arena against the Kings was canceled due to poor ice conditions. Coach Rick Tocchet is hopeful the Coyotes will be back in Glendale later this week and assumes they will play their next home preseason game Saturday against the Sharks.

The first group that hit the ice Monday looked awfully close to an openingnight lineup.

Stepan centered wingers Max Domi and Anthony Duclair. Wingers Lawson Crouse and Clayton Keller were with center Christian Dvorak. Center Brad Richardson lined up with wingers Jordan Martinook and Tobias Rieder, and center Dylan Strome filled out another line with wingers Brendan Perlini and Christian Fischer.

On defense, Oliver Ekman-Larsson skated next to Hjalmarsson, Alex Goligoski worked with Luke Schenn and Kevin Connauton was paired with Adam Clendening.

Tocchet said, “There’s nothing set in stone,” explaining the group was designed this way mostly to work on special teams, but it wouldn’t be unrealistic for Arizona to start this way – or at least a similar version.