GLENDALE, Ariz. — The NHL's trade deadline passed at noon Arizona time on Monday and the Arizona Coyotes made plenty of moves before the deadline hit.
In total, the Coyotes made 6 moves today, including four trades.
Arizona sent forward Johan Larsson to the Washington Capitals for a 2023 3rd-round draft pick, forward Riley Nash to the Tampa Bay Lightning for future considerations, a 2022 2nd-round draft pick to the Minnesota Wild for a prospect (center Jack McBain, who just wrapped up his season with Boston College and played for Canada in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics), and a 2022 4th-round draft pick to the Winnipeg Jets for the rights to another prospect (center Nathan Smith, who is currently playing for Minnesota State and played for the U.S. in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics) and forward Bryan Little.
"When you go through the rebuild, you want to keep moving forward," Arizona GM Bill Armstrong said. "I felt in a lot of cases we were able to get bigger and better and younger. We were able to really kind of add two top-notch prospects. It's exciting for the franchise."
However, that was not all. The Coyotes also extended goalie Karel Vejmelka's contract for 3 more years and claimed Finnish goalie Harri Sateri off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both of these moves come after the Coyotes traded goalie Scott Wedgewood to the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
But, what may be more notable is that the Coyotes kept two of their top trade chips, right wing Phil Kessel, who had asked to be traded, and defenseman Jakob Chychrun.
"We tried to obviously move Phil Kessel," Armstrong said. "Obviously, that was his wish and we tried to do that. One of the things that hampered it was just the cap number. (A) little bit disappointed there, but Phil gets to stay a Coyote and he's really dug in for us all year, so he's been great."
As for Chychrun, who had been involved in many trade rumors over recent weeks, Armstrong said the right trade package just never materialized.
"When you're coming down the stretch, you're dealing sometimes with six teams that might have the pieces and they don't really want to break apart their teams. So, we're open to listening and moving forward with that and it's probably a better result when the season ends and we'll see what happens."
Now that the deadline has passed Armstrong's focus is on the future of the franchise and the 2022 draft on July 7-8, where the Coyotes hold 7 picks in the first two rounds.
"That's our bank. To be honest with you, the Coyotes haven't had a lot of leverage over the years and that is our leverage. We have draft picks and we've worked hard to get them and now we have a chance to move this organization forward with probably one of the biggest drafts in franchise history and we've got, I believe, more darts than anybody else, so we're looking forward to that day."
Johan Larsson was in his 2nd season with the Coyotes and had played in 29 games, registering 6 goals and 9 assists.
Riley Nash was in his 1st season with the Coyotes and had played in 24 games, registering 4 assists.
With Boston College this season, Jack McBain played 24 games, scoring 19 goals and assisting on 14 others. He had six power-play goals and led the Eagles with four game-winning goals. In 117 collegiate games, McBain has registered 37 goals and 49 assists. In the 2022 Olympics, McBain had 1 goal and 1 assist. He was selected by the Wild in the 3rd round with the 63rd-overall pick back in 2018.
"I've watched (McBain) since he was 16 years old," Armstrong said. "So, I've known him for a long time. And the one thing that you love is his size. He can play center, played wing for the Canadian Olympic team, but he is big and he plays a hard game. That's something that we loved about him right from the get-go."
Nathan Smith is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the best player in college hockey. Past winners include Montreal's Cole Caufield (University of Wisconsin, 2021), Colorado's Cale Makar (UMass-Amherst, 2019), and Vegas' Jack Eichel (Boston University, 2015).
So far this season, Smith has played in 34 games for Minnesota State, registering 18 goals and 31 assists. He is the Mavericks' co-leader for assists and points (49) and is 2nd in goals. He was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's Forward of the Year. In 97 total collegiate games, Smith has scored 36 goals and assisted on 65 others. Minnesota State was named the No. 2 overall seed in the 2022 NCAA men's ice hockey championship. They are the No. 1 seed in their region, which includes Harvard, North Dakota and Notre Dame. In the 2022 Olympics, Smith registered 1 goal and 1 assist for the U.S.
"Nathan's a spark plug," Armstrong said. "This kid hates to lose. The thing you'll notice about him, we always have a saying, it's easier to tame the tiger than paint stripes on the kitty cat and that's him. He's a hot head at times, he can get a little carried away but he's a physical player. He comes to play every single shift and he's got skill. He can make plays and score. So we just love the way he played."
Little has played in 843 games for Winnipeg, including four seasons when they were still known as the Atlanta Thrashers. However, he has not played since Nov. 5, 2019. In his career, Little has registered 217 goals and 304 assists.