Coyotes ready to take on another toxic contract

The Coyotes are setting their sights on more draft picks and young prospects to build a better future in the desert and team insider Craig Morgan took a look at 31 NHL teams’ troublesome contracts Arizona could target this summer to get those returns.

His suggested options include the Montreal Canadiens’ Shea Weber, Toronto Maple Leafs’ Petr Mrazek, San Jose Sharks’ Kevin Labanc, New York Islanders’ Josh Bailey and the Philadelphia Flyers’ James van Riemsdyk.

What the Coyotes need to remember is that some of those choices brought forward by Morgan hold specific clauses. For example, Mrazek has a partial no-trade clause but might accept a trade to the Coyotes if he knows he doesn’t have a future in Toronto following changes that we all know will take place in the summer.

Weber, Labanc, Bailey and van Riemsdyk, however, lack no-trade protection and would be prime cost-cutting candidates.
Morgan also lists notable names, like Chicago Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews, Boston Bruins’ Nick Foligno, Calgary Flames’ Sean Monahan, the Florida Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky and the San Jose Sharks’ Marc-Edouard Vlasic, but you have to imagine the Coyotes would hit a wall there. They all have full or partial no-trade clauses and probably won’t waive them to go to Arizona.

We have to understand how players might not be interested in joining a rebuilding team that will be playing in a much smaller arena for seasons to come while another is being built in Tempe.

The market is tough in the desert to bring players its way, and only a player like Weber, who won’t return to the ice, looks like a plausible move for the Coyotes and the Canadiens.

What picks or prospects could they get their hands on?