Details Of The Arizona Coyotes Trade Of Sam Gagner
The Arizona Coyotes have announced that they have traded Sam Gagner and a conditional draft pick for 2016 or 2017 to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman Nicklas Grossmann and Chris Pronger’s contract.
According to Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney, Philadelphia will retain $500,000 of Grossmann’s $3.5 million contract. The Flyers will also be picking up Gagner’s $3.2 million contract.
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Today’s trade of Gagner comes after rumors began to swirl that the Coyotes were looking to buyout Gagner’s contract. So, it was fairly obvious that he would be on the move one way or another.
Maloney explained that he felt Gagner just wasn’t a good fit in Arizona. In an interview with Dave Vest on the teams official website, Maloney said that he didn’t feel that Gagner could play center at the NHL level for them. It’s hard not to agree with Maloney’s assessment of Gagner. It really did seem like he was just never able to fit in comfortably and play to his potential consistently in Arizona.
Grossman is a big veteran defenseman that should help bolster Arizona’s young blue line. He actually played for Coyotes Head Coach Dave Tippett from 2006-2009 in Dallas. Grossmann is the type of player that Tippett has been looking for. He can provide stability on defense and solid leadership.
Veteran leadership is something that is extremely valuable to the Coyotes right now as they are about to become a very young team. Specifically, Tippett is hoping Grossmann can help mentor young Klas Dahlbeck. Tippett sees a lot of similarities between the two players and feels like that could really help Dahlbeck as he grows and matures at the NHL level.
Here’s what Tippett had to say about Grossmann to Craig Morgan of Fox Sports Arizona,
"“He’s a solid teammate, a very honest player. And from a coaching standpoint, he’s not a guy you’re worried about being prepared. Nick defends with position and smarts and he’s big enough to eliminate people. We need to have a good mix on our blue line, and a left-handed penalty-kill guy is something we’ve been missing.”"
Now, for Pronger’s contract. He will not be playing any games for the Coyotes, he’s actually an employee of the NHL right now. His contract was included in the trade because the Flyers needed some salary cap relief and the Coyotes had some extra room to take it on. This is something that had to be included in the deal if the Coyotes were going to get the player (Grossmann) they wanted.
Pronger is owed $575,000 the next two years and carries a cap hit of $4.9 million. Before the trade, the Coyotes needed to spend about $18.6 million to reach the cap floor. This is a way to crawl closer to the minimum of $52.8 million.
With this trade, the Coyotes now have $9 million locked up against the cap, but that $9 million is spread out across three players that don’t even play for Arizona anymore, Keith Yandle, Mike Ribeiro and now Chris Pronger.
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The Coyotes did need a veteran presence on the blue line, but to take on another contract for a player that isn’t going to play here, makes me worry about the impending free agency period.
Maloney has had conversations with pending free agents, but hasn’t said how those talks have gone. Given what Glendale has done to cast a shadow of doubt over the team yet again, it’s going to make signing free agents difficult.
It’s hard not to think that the Coyotes took on Pronger’s contract as a sort of shortcut to the cap floor. Maybe they think that they will not be able to sign enough free agents to get themselves to the cap floor?
If the Coyotes have trouble signing free agents, they will either dig deeper into their prospect pool than they had originally wanted to for the upcoming season, or they will make a series of trades to acquire the players needed.
Either way they choose, expect this to be the first of a many moves made by Maloney and the Coyotes as they try to reach the cap floor and fill out their 2015-16 roster.