As I have pointed out before, the expansion draft is going to be kind to the Coyotes.
They have almost no one they need to protect and as such can potentially help out another team and reap a huge windfall.
Other than Anthony Duclair, the Coyotes don't have a single forward that they need to protect. Sure, if it comes down to it, they could protect Tobias Reider and I guess Brad Richardson. But if they had better players, they obviously wouldn't care too much about losing those guys.
Reider is an alright player. He's better than a replacement player, but not significantly. Richardson is the kind of player people who refuse to learn about stats think is good. Duclair had a terrible season, but I'd still like to see him given a chance to rebound.
Max Domi is not eligible to be selected.
Who else do you even consider protecting? No one. That is why they can trade for some players other teams can't protect.
For example, the Wild have to protect four players because of no-movement clauses. Theoretically, the Coyotes could take Jason Pomminville and his nearly six million cap hit (two more years) if it also meant getting someone else good off the Wild.
Maybe the Wild want their draft pick back that they paid for Martin Hanzal. The Coyotes could send the pick and take Pomminville and maybe that gets them Dumba. Maybe they add a prospect and get Niederreiter.
It's not really about specifics at this point, just about showing what potential is there.
There a bunch of teams in trouble - Nashville, the Ducks, the Wild just to name a few.
The Coyotes have almost no one to protect beyond Duclair, OEL and Goligoski (NM clause).
The next few weeks should be a pretty interesting time in the world of the Arizona Coyotes.
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