Yesterday the Coyotes made 13 more cuts to further pare down the roster in preparation for the upcoming season.
The Coyotes cut the following: -Krys Barch, Forward Released - Alex Bolduc, Forward - Darian Dziurzynski, Forward - Tyler Gaudet, Forward - Matt Kassian, Forward, Released - Phil Lane, Forward - Jordan Martinook, Forward -Jamie McBain, Defenseman, Released - Mike McKenna, Goalie - Dylan Reese, Defenseman - Henrik Samuelsson, Forward - Brendan Shinnimin, Forward - Mark Visentin, Goalie
As you can see, the Coyotes cut both enforcer hopefuls in kassian and Barch, which is a good move and bodes well for BJ Crombeen, although I still think they should dress a more skilled player in his place.
Tyler Gaudet was also cut, he will report to Portland and most likely be recalled at some point this season. Gaudet increased his OHL scoring last year from 3 to 26 in about double the games played and has found himself on the cusp of an NHL job, despite never being drafted. He's 21 and at 6'3 200 is a sizable winger who is apparently a late-bloomer. Granted not a lot of the Coyotes training camp has been televised, but from what I have seen, read and heard, he didn't have a bad camp. Gaudet remains an intriguing prospect and potential (cliche alert) diamond in the rough.
Jamie McBain has skated a fairly regular shift in the NHL the last several years and is still only 26 years old. Nevertheless, he has been released outright. It's nice the Coyotes gave him a shot, but you have to figure there are easier teams to make as a defenseman. No doubt some team will suffer a host of injury calamities and he'll get another shot - it's not like 30 point defenseman can't be useful.
The surprise of the day, if you can call it that, is Henrik Samuelsson being assigned to the Portland Pirates. Although the Coyotes obviously are not rolling in offensive options, he had 3 points in the first preseason game and is said to have significantly upgraded his skating since last training camp, it still wasn't enough for the 20 year old former first round pick to stick with the club. Granted, Samuelsson hasn't even played an AHL game before, so the NHL would have been a big jump and he was not really thought to have a great chance to make the team anyways.
Regardless of whether or not Samuelsson starts the season in the NHL, he remains one of the Coyotes top three prospects and it was only recently that Don Malone referred to him as one of the most skilled players in the entire organization.
I would have been excited to see him make the team, but if he's not ready, he's not ready. The AHL will be good for him and there is a very solid chance that he gets called up sometime this year and makes his NHL debut. If Samuelsson isn't 100% ready to be a regular for the Coyotes, he's close.
Remaining in Coyotes Camp are 32 players - among them Lessio, Rieder, Gormley and Max Domi.
The next pre-seaon game is Monday vs. the Canucks in Vancouver. This is idiotic, by the way. Why should a team from Arizona have to fly to Vancouver for a preseason game? What is gained by having the Coyotes play anyone but San Jose, LA and Anaheim in the preseaon?
This will be the second time flying north to Western Canada in a week and it just seems incredibly unnecessary. Oh well.
Anyways, thanks for reading.