Utah Hockey Club

The Arizona Coyotes, currently undergoing a rebuild, will begin the 2022-23 season on Oct. 13. They may not be a Stanley Cup contender, but they're hoping to make progress after missing the playoffs each of the past two years.

Although the Coyotes' first regular-season matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins is less than two weeks away, there's still one major question involving Arizona's roster: Will Jakob Chychrun be a part of it?

Trade rumors have been swirling about the 24-year-old Chychrun, who has been with the Coyotes since they picked him in the first round of the 2016 NHL draft. He may be young, but he already has six years of experience in the league.

According to TSN's Darren Dreger, Chychrun wants out of Arizona. And although the Coyotes "still tell everybody that they're willing to be patient" in negotiations, per Dreger, things may be picking up here shortly.

"What is clear now as the regular season is fast approaching is that the trade interest in Chychrun is once again intensifying," Dreger said on TSN's Insider Trading. "Some say that the Coyotes have softened to some degree at least in their expected return and are more willing now to take on a contract or contracts."

Dreger reported that Arizona's asking price is "still high," as it likely expects to receive a first-round draft pick and/or a top prospect in exchange for Chychrun. So a team will need to part with some valuable assets in order to complete a deal with the Coyotes.

However, there are plenty of teams that are potentially willing to do just that.

"Some of the teams that are listed with interest include the Ottawa Senators, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, the St. Louis Blues, the Columbus Blue Jackets and on and on it goes," Dreger said.

With so many suitors, Arizona should likely try to orchestrate a trade soon. If Chychrun wants a fresh start, it would be better for both him and the Coyotes to get that before a new season.

It makes sense why there are a large number of teams interested in Chychrun. He's been a solid offensive contributor during his time in Arizona, tallying 142 points (53 goals and 89 assists) in 337 career games.

But the Coyotes also haven't been the best team during that stretch, and there haven't been a ton of talented players next to Chychrun on the ice. So if he joins a playoff contender, he may put up even better numbers. Especially because he likely hasn't yet reached his full potential.

Chychrun has three seasons remaining on his contract, as he won't hit free agency until 2025. That's another reason why teams should be willing to part with substantial draft capital, as it'd be getting him for more than just the short term.

At this point, it makes sense for the Coyotes to trade Chychrun as soon as possible. He wants to leave, and if he were to get injured early in the season, it could negatively impact the offers that Arizona would be receiving. Now is the opportune time to make something happen on this front.

The Arizona Coyotes have found their center of the future, selecting Logan Cooley with the third pick in the 2022 NHL draft on Thursday at Bell Centre.

The selection comes as little surprise as Cooley was widely viewed to be the third-best prospect available in this year's class behind Shane Wright and Juraj Slafkovsky.

The Pittsburgh native has spent the last two seasons with the United States National Team Development Program and is committed to play college hockey at the University of Minnesota.

In 51 games with the USNTDP during the 2021-22 season, Cooley tallied 27 goals and 48 assists. He also represented the United States at the World Junior Tournament, posting one assist in one game before the event was postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

In addition, Cooley played for Team USA at the Under-18 World Championships, tallying three goals and seven assists in six games, helping the Americans capture a silver medal.

The 5'10", 174-pound center is a great skater who has excellent speed and acceleration that helps him elude defenders with ease. He also is a great puck-handler and has patience, poise and vision that make him a great playmaker.

Cooley's smart positioning and high hockey IQ also make him a great defender and give him the capability to play against just about anybody.

The Coyotes struggled to a 25-50-7 record during the 2021-22 season, one of the worst finishes in the league, and Cooley could enter Arizona's lineup immediately.

Barrett Hayton figures to be Arizona's top center during the 2022-23 season, but it's possible Cooley slots into the second line alongside Lawson Crouse and Travis Boyd. He could also see time on the third line.

The Montreal Canadiens went from a Stanley Cup Final in 2021 to picking No. 1 overall in the 2022 NHL draft during a year in which the Habs are hosting the event at Bell Centre.

What a wild year it's been for one of the NHL's most historic franchises. Montreal is going to party like it's 1993. 

Shane Wright is the projected first overall pick. There has been some debate as to whether or not the OHL center is worthy of the honor after a slow start to the season, but 94 points in 63 games with the Kingston Frontenacs was good enough to land him on top of the NHL's Central Scouting bureau's latest prospect rankings. 

The New Jersey Devils are picking second, marking the fourth time in six years the club has selected in the top five. The Arizona Coyotes, who had the second-best odds to land the first pick, will select third, the Seattle Kraken fourth and the Philadelphia Flyers will go fifth. 

The Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings won a few too many games and they'll go seventh and eighth, respectively. The Columbus Blue Jackets got the Chicago Blackhawks' sixth pick as part of the terms of the Seth Jones trade and they'll make two selections in the first round. 

Let's take a look at some of the highs and lows from the night with draft lottery winners and losers. 

Winner: Montreal Canadiens

Wright should start brushing up on his French. 

The OHL forward is one of eight players in CHL history to be granted exceptional status and he was clearly worthy, scoring 39 goals in 58 games as a 15-year-old. A speedy, skilled center like Wright is the perfect building block piece for a team like the Habs. Putting Wright behind Nick Suzuki will give them a 1-2 punch up the middle that can grow together as new general manager Kent Hughes and president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton build around those two and winger Cole Caufield. 

Last year, the Canadiens were the talk of the draft for the wrong reason. Former general manager Marc Bergevin stood at the podium at Bell Centre and defiantly chose Logan Mailloux, a prospect who had asked teams not to choose him after he was convicted of a crime of sexual nature in Sweden. There was some concern that it would damage the brand and isolate women who support the team. 

But Bergevin was fired less than two months into the 2021-22 season and he's now working under Rob Blake in Los Angeles. It's a new era in Montreal, and though it likely won't be a successful one right away, the team has turned the page and the excitement is rapidly building. 

Loser: Philadelphia Flyers

This is a big offseason for general manager Chuck Fletcher. The Flyers don't have a coach, a clear team identity or a clear direction in which the team is headed. The club has decided to stick with the GM it hired in the fall of 2018 as they attempt an "aggressive retool" after a season Fletcher described as "beyond unacceptable." 

It's not that the fifth pick is bad. The general consensus is that this is a very good draft class, but one that still has some question marks after Wright.

Maybe they end up with another center like Matthew Savoie, a very skilled and disciplined playmaker. Maybe it's a big defenseman like David Jiricek they can pair with Ivan Provorov in the future (should they keep Provorov).

The 2023 class is absolutely loaded, but this one has a lot of high-end talent, so the Flyers are going to get a quality player and a possible franchise cornerstone. It just might not be one that makes an impact right away. Fletcher said he's not asking fans to wait 5-7 years for a winning product and a player like Wright, who could step into a lineup next season, would have helped expedite that retool. 

Winner: New Jersey Devils

The Devils have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to prospects these days, which is a change from some lottery seasons a few years ago. The cupboards were pretty bare when they took Swiss center Nico Hischier at No. 1 overall in 2017. They can add another talented young player to that stockpile with the second overall pick.

Things were looking up three years ago when they chose Jack Hughes with the first overall pick, but things quickly fell apart. And now the club is at a crossroads: This rebuild cannot last forever. 

The fans have been angry for years since this was not a club that really underwent any significant rebuilds when longtime former general manager and president Lou Lamoriello was running the show. But they've made the playoffs just once since 2012 and this last season was marred by injuries to top players like Hughes and Dougie Hamilton and bad goaltending. 

They won't find that goaltender with the No. 2 pick, but it could help them obtain one.

Could general manager Tom Fitzgerald be swayed to give it up for a true No. 1 goalie? He seemed to be open to the possibility last week when he addressed the media in his end-of-season press conference, saying if he see a trade that would upgrade the NHL roster he would not hesitate to make it.

The Anaheim Ducks are rebuilding, and John Gibson is rumored to be on the market. Or maybe it's an impact defenseman to play with Hamilton or a high-end winger for Hughes. 

There are tons of possibilities and the Devils are in a good spot with that second pick. 

Loser: Arizona Coyotes

All that tanking and the desert dogs only got the third pick. 

Look, it's not that the No. 3 overall pick is a bad thing, but a player like Wright would bring some much-needed excitement and talent to a team in desperate need of both. 

The Coyotes will play next season and possibly beyond at Arizona State's new rink. No offense to the Sun Devils because that program is a great success story of the growth of hockey in an untraditional market, but an NHL team shouldn't be playing in a 5000-seat college rink intended for intramural sports. The morale is low in the desert right now and for good reason.

Arizona can continue tanking next season to get Connor Bedard or Matvei Michkov. Maybe by the time Michkov, a KHL player who is under contract with SKA St. Petersburg through 2025, is able to play in North America the new arena in Tempe that has long been promised will finally be completed. 

Winner: Columbus Blue Jackets, Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres have a whopping three first-round picks, while the Blue Jackets have two lottery picks. Both teams have options when it comes to using those selections. 

Columbus didn't move up or down, but it did get the Blackhawks first-round pick. Had Chicago won either of the top two picks, the Blue Jackets would have received the first-round pick next year. Chicago did Columbus a solid with such a dismal season but not too dismal, and as a result the team received the sixth pick and the Jones trade was finally completed.

Last season, the Blue Jackets used two of their 2021 draftees, Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger, and saw good production and development from both. They're hoping to replicate that success as they build toward becoming a playoff team in the near future.

This is a chance for the Sabres to grab a few more prospects and show that they have improved their player development program. So far, it appears as though strides have been made in this area, as is evidenced by center Tage Thompson and his breakout season, but these next few years be crucial for a franchise that tries to shed its losing reputation and prove that it can develop talent and build a winning team. 

Loser: Chicago Blackhawks

This was the result of bad management. The 'Hawks went all in last summer and as a result, they gave up that pick in the Jones trade. Former general manager Stan Bowman made a short-sighted decision to try and load up in an attempt to give Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews one more chance at a Stanley Cup. But Bowman resigned amid following the investigation of the sexual assault allegations against Brad Aldrich and the team was bad right from the start. They fired coach Jeremy Colliton and Derek King still has the interim tag. 

The Blackhawks took the interim tag off of general manager Kyle Davidson, and it sure sounds like he's going to start rebuilding. A first-round pick sure would help jump-start a rebuild, but the 'Hawks will have to wait until next year to select one.

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand had some sauce for the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. 

Amid reports that the Coyotes were nearing an agreement with Arizona State University to play at the school's multipurpose facility—which will seat around 5,000 fans—while they finish construction on their own Tempe venue, Marchand took a shot at the organization:

Winnipeg's Canada Life Centre currently has the league's lowest capacity at 15,294. 

Marchand's burn wasn't as much of an exaggeration as you might think. Per Sportsnet, the Coyotes are currently averaging 11,575 fans per game at the Gila River Arena, the third lowest average attendance in the NHL. Only the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres have been worse. 

"As we have said many times, we are completely committed to building our future in Arizona," a Coyotes spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Sportsnet. "As part of that process, we are excited to be exploring some great temporary arena options here before we move in to a new permanent home in the Valley."

One of those options, apparently, will only host 5,000 fans. Not that Marchand thinks the Coyotes will need that many seats.

The Arizona Coyotes have paid off their outstanding tax bills and unpaid arena charges and will not be evicted from Gila River Arena, the franchise told Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports. 

ESPN's Kristen Shilton reported Wednesday the city of Glendale informed the Coyotes they would be locked out of their home rink unless they paid their state and city taxes, which totaled more than $1.3 million.

According to the tax lien notice filed by the Arizona Department of Revenue, the Coyotes had unpaid tax bills dating back to June 2020. The franchise called the incident an "unfortunate human error" in a statement made Wednesday: 

We have already launched an investigation to determine how this could have happened and initial indications are that it appears to be the result of an unfortunate human error. Regardless, we deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused.

We will make sure that by [Thursday] morning, the Arizona Coyotes are current on all of our bills and owe no state or local taxes whatsoever. And we will take immediate steps to ensure that nothing like this can ever possibly happen again.

Even though the Coyotes have paid their taxes, the franchise will be in search of a new arena after the 2021-22 season because the City of Glendale opted out of its joint lease agreement. The termination notice came after months of rocky negotiations between the two sides on an extension. 

The Coyotes have proposed to build a new 16,000-seat rink in Tempe, Arizona. The $1.7 billion proposal includes space for hotels, apartments, a theater, and shopping and dining areas. 

The Coyotes began playing at the America West Arena in downtown Phoenix in 1996 before moving to Glendale's Gila River Arena in 2003. 

The team is last in the Central Division with a 5-18-2 record.

The Arizona Coyotes are reportedly in danger of losing access to their home arena.

Katie Strang of The Athletic reported Wednesday that the city of Glendale is threatening to lock the team out of Gila River Arena because of delinquent tax bills and unpaid arena charges.

Strang added that the Coyotes have a deadline of Dec. 20 to pay their delinquent bills and outstanding invoices, or employees will be denied access to the arena.

Arizona's next home game after the deadline will be on Dec. 23 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

According to Strang, the Arizona Department of Revenue filed a tax lien notice Dec. 3 against the Coyotes' parent company, IceArizona Hockey LLC. The notice was for more than $1.3 million in unpaid state and city taxes. Strang states that the city of Glendale is owed approximately $250,000 in taxes. The Coyotes' unpaid state taxes date back to June 2020.

In addition to denying access to the arena, the Gila River Arena management company, ASM, has been instructed to use the offices within the arena as administrative space if the debt isn't settled by the deadline. Arena vendors would be locked out as well.

The 2021-22 season is set to be Arizona's final year at the Gila River Arena after the city of Glendale notified the Coyotes in August that it was opting out of the joint lease agreement. The team will need to vacate the arena by June 30 of next year.

City manager Kevin Phelps told The Athletic in August that the city is ready to cut ties with the Coyotes, saying, "We've reached that point of no return. There's no wavering."