At the beginning of the season, the Arizona Coyotes had several hills to climb and obstacles to hurdle. There was excitement for the team’s first game in New Jersey; Logan Cooley was making his NHL debut. Sean Durzi, Matt Dumba, and others were playing their first game in the Kachina jersey. Hockey in the desert was at an all-time high, and there was anticipation throughout the organization. Fast forward six months, and it would be an understatement to say only a few things have changed.
The team was relocated to Salt Lake City under new owner Ryan Smith, and all the fans’ and players’ lives were flipped upside down. For the fans, their favorite sports team was stripped away from them due to former owner Alex Meruelo’s incompetence in managing the team in the five years he did. The players now have a new challenge ahead of them in Salt Lake City, where things could get interesting this offseason. The man in charge of this offseason is none other than general manager Bill Armstrong.
Related: What Should Utah’s NHL Franchise Be Called?
Throughout his tenure as GM in the desert, Armstrong has been arguably one of the better GMs in the NHL. He’s smart with his decisions and allows anything to be on the table, whether a trade, signing a free agent, or a waiver wire pickup, which has been extremely successful for the previously named Coyotes. Nonetheless, Armstrong, who has often been busy during the offseason, will be even more busy come summer 2024.
Plenty of events will be Armstrong’s time to shine, but he’s put himself in position for a very successful offseason.
NHL Draft
The NHL Draft has been Armstrong’s sweet spot thus far in his GM career. With the 2024 NHL Draft taking place in Las Vegas, he has plenty of draft picks at his disposal to make plenty of moves. For starters, this draft has him making 13 selections across both days one and two. Granted, it’s possible he bundles these draft assets for either win-now players, like he did last offseason with Durzi, or trading up in the draft.
He most notably traded up with the San Jose Sharks in 2022 to take center Conor Geekie. Speaking of Geekie, with the Swift Current Broncos being eliminated from the Western Hockey League (WHL) playoffs, he’ll play with the Tucson Roadrunners for their playoff run. This year, they only have one first-round pick, which would be the first time since 2021, as they’ve held multiple first-round selections in the previous two seasons.
Day two of the draft has Armstrong making three in the second round, three in the third round, and two in the fourth round. Needless to say, they don’t have a shortage of draft assets, and while this draft isn’t nearly as loaded as the 2023 class was, it holds tons of talent throughout. They also have a chance to shore up several positions in the draft. While they did indeed select Russian defenseman Dmitri Simashev last season, the blue line could use some more depth, and the first or second round would be a great place to do that.
While defense might be the biggest current need, both short-term and long-term, expect Armstrong to take the best player available, something he’s always tended to lean toward.
Free Agency
Free agency, which kicks off on July 1, should see Armstrong extremely busy. Utah has upwards of $40 million in cap space to spend to reach the cap floor and will have plenty of positions to fill to make the current roster competitive. However, they’ll need to first sign their restricted free agents (RFAs), which see multiple key players left unsigned. A few to name are Durzi, J.J. Moser, Barrett Hayton, and Jusso Välimäki.
That also doesn’t include unrestricted free agents (UFAs), which include Liam O’Brien, Josh Brown, and Travis Dermott. Last offseason, Armstrong was quite aggressive early when he signed veterans such as Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba, and Alex Kerfoot. While he’ll likely be taking a different approach this offseason as various variables have changed, expect those types of players to be brought up in rumors. They won’t be going after the huge market names but he’ll be in the mix on some middle-end free agents.
This offseason is unlike any other, and it’ll be interesting to see how Armstrong uses the cap space he has available.
Armstrong to Be Plenty Busy This Offseason
In the grand scheme of things, considering the entirety of the rebuild, this could be the biggest offseason long-term. The team could see several key prospects make the jump to the NHL, such as Geekie, Maveric Lamoureux, and even Josh Doan solidifying himself in the everyday lineup. It all starts with the NHL Draft Lottery, which could determine Armstrong’s odds at the projected first-overall pick, Macklin Celebrini. Only time will tell, but it’ll be an offseason to watch closely from beginning to end.
