Things for the Arizona Coyotes are a bit murky. The team has battled the city of Glendale and the future of the franchise is unclear. You’d think that would be a detractor for potential free agents, but the club has managed to convince Zbynek Michalek, Steve Downie, Brad Richardson, Antoine Vermette and Anders Lindback to join the club. While none of those players are marquee free agents, it’s a start.
General manager Don Maloney has an interesting way of approaching things, telling Arizona Central that he’s been straight up honest with interested free agents.
“You’re honest with them.”
“You basically say, ‘I have no idea what’s going on, but it’s a great place to play and we have great fans and a great stadium.’ Things seem to have a way of working themselves out, so we try to downplay it as much as we can.”
That seems like the right way to approach things. Free agents have many things to consider, and going into a situation like the one currently unfolding in Arizona definitely would certainly bring up some uneasiness. Being honest, even if Don Maloney doesn’t know what’s going, probably helps.
Will Arizona end up attracting any big names in the future? That’s tough to tell, but this offseason has shown at least some players want to play there, even if it turns out they may not end up playing in the city by the end of their contract.
