Vermette trade the first chip for rebuilding Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Arizona Coyotes general manager Don Maloney accomplished two major goals Saturday, earning a good return for coveted center Antoine Vermette, and saving enough time before the 2015 NHL Trade Deadline on Monday to further reshape a rebuilding franchise.

Vermette was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks late Saturday for a first-round pick and defenseman Klas Dahlbeck, who was playing in the American Hockey League.

“Antoine was one of our biggest chips and we needed to get a good return,” Maloney said. “We like the deal and it helps us line up some other opportunities. Now we have two days to say, ‘OK, let’s look at these other deals and see what we can get done.

“We have lots of irons in the fire.”

Maloney’s biggest chips are veterans who, like Vermette, will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season and are expected to be traded.

Defenseman Zbynek Michalek and forward Martin Erat, who scored his ninth goal of the season Saturday in a 4-1 loss against the Boston Bruins, are at the top of the list along with, to a lesser extent, forwards B.J. Crombeen and David Moss.

Defenseman Keith Yandle, who is signed through the end of next season, has also drawn a lot of interest from teams looking to add offensive punch. Maloney wouldn’t speculate on Yandle’s future Saturday night.

Michalek has missed the past four games with an upper-body injury, which hasn’t helped his trade value, but Maloney said he remains encouraged that the right deal is out there.

“It would have helped if he was playing but he’s on the road to recovery and there is a lot of interest in his services,” Maloney said. “The injury doesn’t help but I’m not sure it hurts that much.”

As far as the Vermette trade, Maloney said there were two other attractive and comparable offers on the table before the Coyotes decided to accept Chicago's. The difference, said Maloney, was the inclusion of Dahlbeck, 23, who at 6-foot-3, 207 pounds could help an Arizona team in need of size and strength on defense.

“It wasn’t that we were going to get left at the altar. It was a combination of the prospect being better and Chicago being ready to do the deal now,” Maloney said. "We like the way [Dahlbeck] moves, we like his defending style, he's a bigger, thicker body. We like the potential there but I'm hesitant to put a label on him. We think he's a good prospect."

The Coyotes now have two first-round picks, including a lottery pick, in a 2015 NHL Draft that is considered to be exceptionally deep, including top prospects Connor McDavid of the Erie Otters and Jack Eichel of Boston University.

“It’s no secret that the top two players (Eichel and McDavid) are special and there isn’t a team in the League that wouldn’t be overjoyed with either,” Maloney said. “But we like seven or eight among the top players and to get into the top couple of picks would be a real game-changer for us.”

Less than three years after reaching the Western Conference Final, Arizona is in a three-team bunch at the bottom of the NHL standings. The Coyotes, who have lost nine straight games (their longest losing streak since moving to Arizona for the 1996-97 season), have 47 points. The Edmonton Oilers have 46 and the Buffalo Sabres have 43. Each of the three has 19 games remaining.

Maloney said he is itching for the opportunity to rebuild.

“We’ve had a very difficult and disappointing season and this will sound strange, but I am more optimistic now then I have ever been about the franchise,” he said.