Yesterday the Coyotes selected 25 year old left-handed defenseman Kevin Connauton of waivers from the Blue Jackets.
He has size, a hard shot and can move the puck. It's a decent idea to get as many of these kinds of players as you can. When you look and see he was a 50% CF player on the Jackets and that he also has a few points, well then you basically can't go wrong.
Connauton played on the Blue Jackets, and yet in 27 games, he has a positive differential in both high-danger and regular scoring chances.
Picking him up was a good move by the Coyotes, even though they will most likely dress abominable defensemen ahead of him.
Unfortunately, what followed was a terrible move:
The Coyotes waived the right-handed shooting Stephan Elliott to make room for Connauton.
Considering he was always bottom pair when he played and usually stuck with Dahlbeck or Grossman (both of whom had better possession stats with Elliott than away from him) I think he deserves/ed another chance/more of a chance.
And waiving him was idiotic. Who is going to claim Grossmann, Dahlbeck or Michalek, and why wouldn't you waive them and hope someone like Vancouver is run as badly as you suspect the are?
I hope he doesn't get claimed. I also think the Coyotes would have been smart to reclaim Gormley when the Avalanche waived him last week.
So while I like getting Connauton, I don't like it at the cost of Elliott, or Gormley - and the Coyotes could have all three in a rebuilding year but instead give ice time to the statistically awful Grossmann, Dahlbeck and Michalek.
OEL - Murphy Gormley - Stone Connauton - Elliott
That would be miles ahead of what the Coyotes will dress tonight when they host the Red Wings. Domingue to start.
Thanks for reading.