Coyotes Owners Need to Go All Out To Keep Team In Phoenix

This year there are two very big names being thrown out as trade bait, Dany Heatley and Vincent Lecavalier.  These two players have shown consistency in their game since they broke into the league and can easily carry a franchise.

The Coyotes also have the prospects needed to try and make a deal for one of these two. Sure both teams need defense, which is an area of prospects that we lack, but maybe the new owner can have a meeting with our supposed number one defenseman, Ed Jovanovski, and encourage him to waive his no-trade clause to be included as part of the deal. 

For Heatley, the deal may need to get done before the draft, but if we include the right combination of prospects, maybe Ottawa will settle for a 2010 first round pick. For Heatley, I'm thinking a good deal could be Peter Mueller or Martin Hanzal, Enver Lisin, and a first round pick (2009 or 2010) for Heatley and second-round pick. 

A deal I think may be good to acquire Vinny could go something like Jovo(assuming he waives his no-trade clause), Dawes, Enver Lisin, and a first-round pick for Vinny and Ty Wishart.  Maybe tweak some names here and there, throw in some picks and what not, but when you trade players like that away, chances are you are trying to re-build and that’s what I factored into these deals.

Regardless of the recommendations I made, one thing is obviously clear; The Coyotes need to make money to stay in Phoenix. They aren’t going to make money in Phoenix unless they win and make the playoffs, or at worst make a very strong push.  In order to do that, they need to put more pucks in the net, which was their biggest problem last year, which is why they need a true franchise player. 

I am not knocking Doan as a franchise player, but he just is not a player to have score the majority of your points. He is a great captain, a good player, and a terrific leader for the younger players, but he needs help.

The Olli Jokinen experiment didn’t work out too well, but maybe we didn’t give it enough time. I think if the Coyotes' new ownership wants to win, they need to bite the bullet and open the wallets to bring in a true goal-scorer who can help make the Coyotes a playoff team for the first time in eight years.

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