Follow @james_tanner123 Martin Hanzal is a pending UFA on the worst team in the NHL (or, second worst, by the standings) and he has an ideal mix of size (he's a monster), scoring ability (over 2pts 60 two years ago, the last time the Coyotes had more than one line) and excellent defense (he's been consistently over 50% CF his entire career).
If healthy - and that's a huge IF - Hanzal could give any team a 3rd line centre in the style of Kadri in Toronto or Bonino in Pittsburgh, essentially a first-line player that creates matchup problems for whoever you face.
But I don't think the Coyotes should trade him.
He's so frequently injured that I can't see the return on him being particularly high, so the reward for trading him is low anyways.
He's also not going to command a salary equal to his ability due to all the injuries, so re-signing him, and having him be healthy, stands to be an excellent investment. Certainly it comes out as the best option on the risk/reward scale.
But furthermore, the Coyotes are in danger of getting themselves into an Edmonton-type situation where they don't have any good veterans to surround all their young talent.
Mike Smith is better than anyone the Oilers put behind their team from '08 to '015, but he can't be counted on to keep being good because of his age. Goligoski is in a huge decline. Vbrata and Doan are ancient.
Besides Hanzal, the only quality veteran player they have is Ekman-Larsson. You can succeed in the NHL if you have a bunch of rookies, as long as you have older players who are in their primes to balance them out - Kadri, JVR, Gardiner, Andersen, Komorov, for example.
The Coyotes are sorely lacking in this department and trading Hanzal for a B prospect or a second rounder isn't going to fix that.
However, if they have add a few more vets to go with OEL and Hanzal, next year when they have Keller, Strome, Dvorak, Perlini, Chychrun, DeAngleo, Domi and Duclair in the lineup, they might actually be a good team.
If they trade Hanzal - which, I admit, is an obvious move to make - then the chances of re-signing him are low. It just makes one more hard-to-find quality player in his prime that they need to add.
It's not that complicated - no matter how talented your youth, it must be augmented with players in their primes in order to avoid losing for five straight years and wasting their ECL deals.
I think if he weren't the new Lupul, he'd have more trade value and moving him might make more sense. As it though, I think the Coyotes have to go against common-sense and keep this UFA.
That being said, what they should do is try to sign him now. If he's not going to re-sign with them, then I make the trade. But keeping him should be option 1.
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I guess I should also mention that the Coyotes lost to the Jets who surprised everyone and started Bob Essensa in goal last night. I guess Paul Maurice will hang on for a bit yet. No truth to the rumours that he will be replaced by Gordon Bombay.
"EMILIO!"