The Arizona Coyotes fantasy stock is on the rise but there are a few players in particular to watch out for come next season.
It's never too early to think about fantasy hockey.
The season is about three months away but with all the recent offseason moves, the landscape of NHL fantasy has completely shifted.
Out of all the players on the Arizona Coyotes, which have the most fantasy potential?
It all starts with forward Clayton Keller who is coming off a career year tallying 37 goals, 49 assists and 86 points. The 24-year-old is ranked 50th on NHL.com’s top 250 fantasy player rankings for next season.
“I think you can start to look at Keller as an elite fantasy talent,” Senior Fantasy Editor at NHL.com, Pete Jensen said. “I mean, a point per game, or better with 200 Plus shots and 20 plus power play points doesn't grow on trees especially when he was just a tad under 40 goals last year. So Clayton Keller is the real deal and I feel like that offense is gonna go as far as he takes them. They have good depth, but they also have a budding superstar in Clayton Keller.”
The Coyotes made headlines before the draft acquiring 24-year-old defenseman Sean Durzi from the Los Angeles Kings. Durzi will have a lot more opportunity in Arizona which should boost his fantasy value.
“I think that he could take a big step and have a full fledged breakout season as long as the Coyotes don't make a ton of trades during the season and if they stick with their current roster,” Jensen said. “I think there's a lot of room for fantasy growth and him to reach his ceiling in Arizona.”
Through the past couple of seasons, the Coyotes have accumulated some talented young forwards. This includes Matias Maccelli who made it to the NHL All–Rookie team this past season after he had 11 goals, 38 assists and 49 points in 64 games. It will be a critical year for the 22-year-old to see if he can replicate the same level of success making him a viable fantasy option.
“I felt like he probably deserved a little bit more Calder love than he got,” Jensen said of Maccelli. “For part of the year he was like the second most valuable rookie skater including forwards and defenseman on a per game basis and he was really like in the middle six, second power play, making the most of his minutes and he's a hidden gem for this upcoming season who could take another step forward for sure.”
Another young forward for Arizona that showed a tremendous amount of growth was former fifth overall pick Barrett Hayton. The 23-year-old had 19 goals, 24 assists and 43 points in 82 games last season and is highly regarded as he is ranked 140th on NHL.com’s fantasy rankings. Hayton thrived playing alongside Keller and Nick Schmaltz this past year and with a full season under his belt, he should be even better during the 2023-24 campaign.
“Even though he was a former first round pick, a top five pick, everybody kind of forgot about him for a couple years and then last year he reminded everybody that not only is he scratching the surface, he's looking like a top line player for the years to come,” Jensen said.
At the goaltender position, the Coyotes are expected to ride with Karel Vejmelka once again as the starter. The 27-year-old could be considered a workhorse as he started a total of 49 games for the Coyotes last season which is an extremely valuable trait for a fantasy goalie. If he reaches his full potential, Vejmelka can really make some noise as a reliable starting goalie in fantasy.
“I've been really impressed by what I've seen from Vejmelka early on in his NHL career… He has a pretty high ceiling in the years to come and he's only just entering his prime in the NHL right now,” Jensen said.
The Coyotes fantasy stock is on the rise. They have a total of six players on NHL.com’s top 250 fantasy rankings including Keller, Maccelli, Hayton, Durzi, Schmaltz and Jason Zucker. These Coyotes players could slide under the radar and be in high demand once the fantasy season begins.
“I don't know that there's a more overlooked fantasy group of players that actually is better than public perception than what the Coyotes have, so they could use that to their advantage and get competitive very quickly and hang around in a playoff race and also give people some nice returns in their fantasy picks late rounds,” Jensen said.