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Why The Coyotes Can't Trade Keith Yandle |
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There has been a large amount of speculation recently about the future of Keith Yandle. Swirling with rumours of potential ownership and perhaps even more potential relocation next season, the two big names of the Coyotes have been in flux. Shane Doan and his UFA adventure...set to end July 9th with the decision of Jamieson and the City of Glendale; and Keith Yandle.
I’d like to try to give my take on why it is nearly impossible to trade Keith Yandle.
The first argument for trading Yandle is the defensive depth of the organization. With OEL taking over as the two-way 25 minute muncher on the team, some people think that means he has taken over for Yandle. This is incorrect. Yandle is still the teams PP quarterback and is the team’s top 5vs5 player where his puck carrying skills are extremely effective. As far as the other players actually set to make the team, none will have the impact Yandle brings. Rostislav Klesla will be paired with OEL and used primarily in a shutdown role on the penalty kill. Derek Morris will find himself in a lesser role this season on the bottom pairing with a young defenseman like Summers/Stone/Schlemko. Lastly newly re-acquired Z. Michalek will join with Yandle like in previous years and help cover any of his mistakes and play on the PK. So as you can see outside of Yandle and OEL there are no real offensive defensemen on the team, Michael Stone is the only other option and he’s still young and inexperienced. Nobody can keep a straight face and tell me at this moment in time that David Rundblad could replace Yandle’s production and all around game.
The defensive depth may in a few years make a trade of Yandle a possibility, but that isn’t this year. Brandon Gormley, David Rundblad, Connor Murphy and all the rest aren’t ready to make the jump yet.
The second reason is simple, pure production. Keith Yandle is one of the better offensive defensemen in the league and has been for several years. The Coyotes have no fancy superstar (Could make a case for Ray Whitney last year) or a scoring first system, yet year in and year out Yandle’s name is high on the lists.
2009 - 82 games 12 goals 29 assists 41 points
2010 – 82 games 11 goals 48 assists 59 points
2011 – 82 games 11 goals 32 assists 43 points
Not only has he provided consistently since the arrival of Dave Tippett, he has been one of the only Coyotes defensemen to stay healthy. As for playoff performances...his play speaks for itself. While many offensive defenders are stifled by a mix of defense first hockey and physical targeting, Yandle has thrived mainly due to his talent at 5vs5 hockey.
In 2009 against Detroit he was the best player on the ice most nights. He led the defense with 2 goals and 3 assists in the 7 games.
In 2010 once again against the Flaming Wheels he was the second best player and one of the few that looked like they belonged there. Outside of Doan, Vrbata and he the team was absolute bullocks. 5 points in the sweep.
Lastly in 2011 on the fun run to the WCF’s Yandle led the scoring from the point again. This time with 9 points in 16 games...oddly enough good for second on the team. While OEL’s emergence as a number one defenseman and how the 20 year old logged 28 minutes a night at times plus Rostislav Klesla’s great offensive outburst were the big stories, Yandle was his model of consistency.
From a pure production standpoint, there isn’t any player on the team that can match him right now and if OEL can, why not have both?
Lastly we look at the contract. Ironically enough this appears to be the big source of the speculation of a trade as people think the Coyotes need to dump salary. This is moronic. Yandle has the highest cap hit of the team at 5.25 million a year and his actual salary is 5 million. The Coyotes are roughly 10 million under the cap floor right now and are second only to the Predators for least money spent. The Coyotes are waiting on Doan’s decision before they make anymore moves, but that slot on Right Wing and a fourth line Centre are realistically the only spots left on the team. Do you see any possibility of that combination reaching 10 million? Don’t say Scott Gomez please. Let’s say Doan stays and he gets 6 million on the cap, they are still 4 under and need to reach it, they re-up Chipchura to play on the fourth at 1.2, still under. This would mean a trade or a UFA signing. So the speculation of a deal for Yandle begins right? No! How in the bloody hell can they trade 5.25 mil in cap unless they are getting about 13 mil back? Plus with a player of his skill that would mean players with significance and not just cap dumps. The logical trade would be some of the young prospects and their fantastically cheap deals for an impact forward with a big cap hit.
The contract is not a point for trading him, if anything it is a lynchpin in why he needs to stay.
These are my reasons why the Coyotes can’t trade Keith Yandle and the logistics of it all. Yandle is a leader on this team and will probably take over as the captain if he remains here long enough...or short enough as it might be. At only 25 years of age he hasn’t even reached his full stride as a player.
Tell me if I’m out to lunch on this one guys.
As always thanks for reading.
Follow me on Twitter @AdamFrenchReal
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