Opportunities abound for several Coyotes
It’s not clear exactly how many games the injured players on the Coyotes’ roster will miss, but in the meantime some unlikely candidates are going to get opportunities to shine.
The Coyotes announced their 23-man roster on Tuesday ahead of their season-opener on Thursday against the Dallas Stars. The roster consists of 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders.
In addition, the Coyotes will open the season with four players on injured reserve. Those players are Josh Archibald (upper body), Jakob Chychrun (knee), Christian Dvorak (lower body) and Alex Gal-
chenyuk (lower body).
The name that jumps out on the list is Barrett Hayton, who was the club’s first-round pick in June. The 18-yearold center will start the year with the big club, although it’s likely he only spends a maximum of nine games with Arizona so as to avoid burning the first year of his entry-level contract.
“It’s very exciting,” Hayton said of making the roster. “It was really a goal of mine at the start. (Whether I’m) in the lineup or not, I’ll be able to learn a lot here.”
Right now, look for Hayton to serve as an extra forward unless another player goes down with injury. Head coach Rick Tocchet said there is a possibility he could play, but Hayton could still gain valuable experience just being with the team for the first few weeks of the season.
“That’s a plus for us that he’s gaining this experience even if he doesn’t play right now,” Tocchet said. “He’s done a nice job for us. I’ll never say never (in terms of him playing), but he’s going to stay with us and we’ll decide what to do with him later.”
The one forward who is likely to get into the starting lineup is Laurent Dauphin, who missed the tail end of last season with a leg injury but has been practicing on the Coyotes’ fourth line alongside Lawson Crouse and Dylan Strome.
Dauphin, a natural center, should slide over to right wing until one of the club’s injured forwards returns from injury. Dauphin played right wing alongside Crouse and Strome in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Vancouver Canucks.
In addition to Hayton, Mario Kempe will likely be the club’s other extra forward, although there’s a significant possibility he could switch places with Dauphin on the fourth line until the Coyotes get someone back from injury.
There weren’t any real surprises among defensemen, although Ilya Lyubushkin emerged as the victor over Trevor Murphy for the club’s seventh spot on the blue line. Murphy was returned to the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate in Tucson on Tuesday.
Lyubushkin, the 24-year-old signed out of Russia in the offseason, impressed Tocchet and his staff with his physical brand of hockey and his ability to move pucks along the boards. Still, he’ll likely be reassigned when Chychrun returns from injury.
Based on lines and pairings from preseason and recent practices, expect Thursday’s lineup to look something like this:
First
Fischer.
Second
Third
Cousins.
Fourth
First defense pair: Ekman-Larsson— Demers.
Second
Third pair: Goligoski—Oesterle. Starting goaltender: Raanta. Backup: Kuemper.
That leaves Hayton and Kempe as extra forwards and Lyubushkin as the extra defenseman. Injured forwards Nick Merkley (knee) and Conor Garland (upper body) are expected to be reassigned to Tucson when they are healthy. forward line: line: line: line: Panik—Stepan— Perlini—Keller—Hinostroza. Grabner—Richardson— Crouse—Strome—Dauphin. pair: Connauton—Hjalmarsson.
Chychrun, Merkley skate with team
Both rehabbing from knee injuries, Chychrun and Merkley skated with the Coyotes on Tuesday in non-contact sweaters for the first time this preseason.
Chychrun and Merkley had been skating on their own in accordance with their respective rehab processes, but Tuesday marked the first time either took part in organized team activities.
Coyotes President of Hockey Operations and General Manager John Chayka said earlier this preseason that Chychrun, who had offseason surgery to repair a torn ACL, would likely need two weeks of organized skating before being cleared for game action.
By that logic, Chychrun could be on track to return for the Coyotes’ Oct. 16 game against the Minnesota Wild, which is the start of a four-game road trip that also stops in Chicago, Winnipeg and Columbus.
Merkley will likely be assigned to the Roadrunners when he is healthy. Still, he could be an option at wing at some point for the Coyotes this season. When healthy, he was one of the top scorers in the AHL a year ago.