The Arizona Coyotes have signed veteran right winger Michael Grabner to a three-year deal worth $10 million per season, giving the team some nice speed and experience.
Grabner has been a journeyman of late, but that’s only because he’s particularly useful. Coasting through the NHL on affordable deals and bringing excellent skating and penalty-killing acumen, the Austrian national often finds himself traded at the deadline to a team trying to bolster themselves for a playoff run.
Arizona isn’t quite there, but the Coyotes want to stop spinning their wheels near the bottom of the West, so getting Grabner for a few years will help the cause. The Coyotes officially announced star defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s long-term extension today, so there’s a lot of positive news coming out of Arizona. The team has a nice young core of developing forwards and Grabner can work alongside former New York Rangers teammate Derek Stepan to help along budding names such as Clayton Keller, Dylan Strome and to a lesser extent, Alex Galchenyuk (who does have a few years more experience than the others).
The Coyotes were a little misleading this past season, as an early injury to new goalie Antti Raanta sent the team into a death spiral. By the time he returned to the lineup, Arizona was already out of it - and it was only November.
With a healthy Raanta and Grabner, Arizona is at least incrementally better, while growth from the youngsters will be counted on to boost the team, too. Galchenyuk, acquired from Montreal for Max Domi, is another big X-factor.
There isn’t too much risk in the Grabner deal, as he is only 30. True, speed can eventually dissipate, but if Patrick Marleau proved anything this season, it’s that conditioning can keep the jets going for a player well into his mid-to-late 30s.
In a bit of whimsy, it should be noted that on the most insider-heavy day of the season, Grabner broke his own signing on Twitter.