Arizona Coyotes GM Don Maloney on the trade deadline: ‘We want to introduce youth and speed’
Feb 18, 2015, 8:51 PM | Updated: 8:51 pm
The Arizona Coyotes are in the midst of a frustrating season to say the least. With the team struggling, the trade deadline might bring new players and new hope to Arizona. At least, that’s what Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.
“We know we’re having a difficult season,” Maloney said. “We need to bring some young assets in. We want to introduce more youth and speed into our line-up, which is what we plan on doing going forward.”
The Coyotes have the third-worst record in the NHL and are 19 points back of a playoff spot, so they are clearly in a shopping mode. Many trade rumors are circling, with a majority pointing to the Coyotes parting with Antoine Vermette. Others rumored to be in the mix of a trade are Zbynek Michalek and Keith Yandle.
“We have a clear price in mind for, not only Antoine (Vermette), but any of our people here,” Maloney said. “We have good assets, we have good people that other teams would like to acquire, we would just like a little bit more than what’s being offered right now.”
The last game was the ultimate example for how the Coyotes season has gone. Even though it seems the defense has been the biggest problem, Arizona recorded just five shots on goal through the first two periods against the Colorado Avalanche, including a goose egg in the second period.
Any changes to the roster will be coming soon, as the trade deadline is March 2.
“I feel confident we’re going to help ourselves,” Maloney said. “Can we induce a couple great deals? Who knows, maybe. But, the deals we do will help us moving forward and looking at our team this year, we all know we have to be quicker, we need to have a lot more energy into our group, we need to defend better, so all those areas are going to be addressed, hopefully a little bit right now.”
Maloney added a little bit of hope for fans, even if the team may continue to struggle the rest of this season.
“We think we can do some things to make us certainly a lot more entertaining next year.”
