The Arizona Coyotes are rebuilding. That is a well known fact but today they put that sentence into action, making several moves that they hope will turn this sad dessert group back into the same kind of team who was in the Western Conference Finals just a few years ago. They started that process today by adding players for every position. First we'll look at the back end.
Joining the desert defense is Brad Richardson who was inked to a three-year contract. Richardson is 30 years old and is a 10 year leaguer who has put together 62 goals and 149 points in a career that has taken him through Colorado, Los Angeles, and most recently Vancouver where some thought he may re-sign. The Coyotes today also got back 31 year old defenseman Zbynek Michalek back who had been traded from the team to the St. Louis Blues before the trade deadline. He was with the Coyotes from 2005 to 2010, then left for the Pittsburgh Penguins until the 2012-13 season when he went back to Arizona. He was traded to St. Louis for defensive assurance but now returns to Arizona once again. He was 171 points in over 700 games.
In net, they added Anders Lindback. This means now that the Coyotes have two goaltenders who both played for the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning at some point in their career, the other being Mike Smith. He signed a one year deal worth $875,000 according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun. Lindback, 27, went 6-16-2 record with a .909 save percentage between the Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres this past year.
Finally, they added forward Steve Downie. Downie who is 28, is an agitator who managed to collect 238 penalty minutes last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He also put up 14 goals and 28 points with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year through 72 games with the team.