The Coyotes signed the Best Player in Franchise History, underwear model, back-up Thor, and all-round superstar Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the biggest, most expensive contract in the history of the franchise earlier this year.
That was #5 five on the countdown, and while I work to confirm the existence of an OEL Swedish-only rap album, I bring you the fourth best reason to be excited about the Coyotes: Management you can trust.
Under the terrible leadership of Don Maloney, the Coyotes were obsessed with a mediocre core of players and keeping them together, seemingly into their fifties. Shane Doan, Keith Yandle, Mike Smith, Radem Dvorak etc. It was a group of guys who loved Phoenix, but not necessarily winning.
Maloney delayed the rebuild for far too long, and it wasn't until John Chayka came aboard that things really began to turn around.
Credit to Maloney, he did realize it was time for a rebuild, and took steps toward one, but it was about two years after I started telling him to do it in this very space. Eventually, he was fired and his plan to draft the son of everyone of his friends finally ended.
In May of 2016, the Coyotes hired John Chayka to be the youngest general manager in NHL history. Chayka is so young that he refers to Leafs GM Kyle Dubas as 'Pops.'
What I like best about Chayka so far is his willingness to take calculated risks. Anyone could have taken over the Coyotes and let them go into full tank mode. Chayka decided to look realistically at the team and concluded that that wasn't necessary.
When he took over the Coyotes, they had Oliver Ekman Larsson, the best player in franchise history, approaching his prime. To continue to tank, meant wasting his prime, trading him or losing him to free agency. Instead, Chayka chose to try and get the Coyotes to competition level must faster than most would probably deem possible/smart/a good idea.
The Coyotes were coming off drafting Dylan Strome, and had the 7th pick in the draft. Chayka chose Clayton Keller and then made the first trade of what would become many when he managed to get Detroit to give him the draft pick necessary to select Jacob Chychrun.
This was the first in what would become a trademark of Chayka's - trading for other teams' bad contracts. Since the Coyotes weren't ready to compete, they chose to sell their cap space and it's allowed them to acquire all sorts of assets they wouldn't otherwise have been able to get.
The irony is that they are known for being the cheapest/poorest team, but under Chayka's watch they've actually spent a ton of money.
Now armed with Chychrun, Keller, Strome and OEL, the Coyotes had the makings of a very nice core. Chayka spent the next year clearing out the remaining Maloney vets (Smith, Hanzal, Stone etc.) and acquiring picks and prospects.
The next set of moves was controversial, as Chayka acquired Stepan and Raanta for Anthony DeAngelo (previously picked up for a second round pick) and a first (seventh overall). Why make trades for right now? people asked, without stopping to consider that a 27 year old goalie could easily become a part of the teams "core," (which he has.)
The answer was that the Coyotes were loaded with prospects equal to or better than what was available with the pick, but they didn't have any veteran leadership/skill or a goalie.
Derek Stepan put up four straight years of between 53 and 57 points, and last year, his first as a Coyote, he got 56. So he provided exactly what was expected of him.
The real prize was Antti Raanta who, while injured for half the season, was arguably the best goalie in the NHL for the other half. The Coyotes gave him three years for $2 million cheaper than what John Gibson just signed for. It's hard to decide what was more brilliant: trading for him, or signing him to that contract.
Chayka's next move was to swap out the terrible Connor Murphy for the older, but still solid Nick Hjalmarsson, in the first of many lopsided trades he would make with a possibly incompetent Stan Bowman.
I should also note the trade of Jason Demers to the Coyotes in exchange for Jamie McGuin. If anyone properly rated Demers, people would consider this one of the worst trades in NHL history. It's amazing that Dale Talon still has a job after trading a top-pairing defenseman for a fourth liner.
2017-18 would be a disaster however, as the Coyotes lost almost all of their first 20 games and were eliminated from playoff contention three weeks into the season. This gave great fodder for the team's critics who crowed over the so called stupidity of the Coyotes making moves for the present.
The critics did not consider the injuries, however. On their way to being one of the NHL's worst teams (and another tough break in the draft lottery) the Coyotes started the season with their new goalie on the DL, as well as their prized young defenseman Jacob Chychrun (who was out until New Years).
In total the Coyotes missed over half a season from two of their three best D and their starting goalie. Injuries crushed them (not to mention Domi regressing to nine goals, almost half of which were empty netters).
But all was not lost because from February on, they were a playoff team. Their goalie was flat-out amazing, and the pick of Clayton Keller at 7th overall proved to be absolute thievery.
This summer, Chayka continued to build the Coyotes into a contender. He acquired Markus Kruger for a fourth liner, then flipped him to the Blackhawks for Vincent Hinostroza and Jordan Oesterle, two extremely underappreciated players that give the Coyotes incredible depth.
He drafted Barret Hayton fifth overall, and swapped the disappointing Max Domi for Alex Galchenyuk. (Chayka has established a pattern of fleecing the NHL's worst GMs i.e Tallon, Bowman and Bergevin).
Chayka has built one of the best bluelines in the NHL (OEL, Demers, Goligoski, Hjalmarson, Chychrun, Oesterle and Conauton), he has one of the best goalies, and his forward lineup is stacked with potential and depth.
The Coyotes have a ton of talent, a ton of depth, and if Raanta proves last year wasn't a fluke, they should be contenders in the Western Conference this season. They are going to be a very good team.
So reason #4 is John Chayka. He's clearly proven to be among the best general managers in the NHL and I can't wait for this team to establish that by giving him the one thing he's so far lacked: team success.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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