Coyotes' Culture Shines Through During 2022 Rookie Faceoff Tournament

Arizona Coyotes training camp officially kicks off tomorrow, but a few rookies on that very roster have already made an impression on the team's brass.
The main point of emphasis?
Leadership, along with some grit.
In all, 11 forwards, three defensemen, and two goalies that were on the club's roster at the 2022 NHL Rookie Faceoff Tournament earned invites to veteran's training camp. Though it remains an uphill battle for those invitees to crack the final roster, they at least did enough to separate themselves for the time being.

"Our first two games against Vegas and against the Ducks, they were wars," said Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong. "I was proud of our kids by how hard they played, how hard they pushed, and that's what we're looking for in our new identity."
Several names stood out throughout the weekend tournament, led by forwards Nathan Smith, Jack McBain, and Ben McCartney. All three earned NHL appearances last season - Smith and McBain played 10 games, while McCartney played two - and though two of them found the back of the net in San Jose last weekend, all three contributed beyond the scoresheet.

Smith, for example, was consistently leading the charge on offense, scoring the Coyotes' only two goals in a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday. His two goals led all Arizona players, despite not playing against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.
McCartney and McBain led the physical charge for the Coyotes, consistently sticking up for teammates while making life difficult for the opposition throughout the course of the first two games. Their absence was especially noticeable during Monday's 4-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
McCartney had been acting captain through the first two games, while McBain was an alternate captain.
"The last game, we took leadership out of the lineup, and we didn't have the same group," said head coach André Tourigny. "That is a positive thing for the guys we took out of the lineup because they showed their real value, and at the same time it's a challenge for the other guys who were in the lineup, and they were not up to par for that game."

Other notable prospects that were invited to veteran's camp include forwards Conor Geekie (1G, 1A in rookie tourney), Dylan Guenther (1A), Milos Kelemen, Liam Kirk, Julian Lutz, Ryan McGregor, Colin Theisen, and Reece Vitelli, defensemen Noah Laaouan, Jeremy Langlois, and Maksymilian Szuber, and goalies David Tendeck and Anson Thornton.
All of those prospects stood out to the Coyotes' leadership.
"You know I've been building those teams for close to over 20 years now," Armstrong said. "That is by far the hardest, most competitive team we've ever put together."
Armstrong and Tourigny have made a concerted effort to build a culture of trust, accountability, and grit up and down the NHL lineup, and all three players that played with the club last season demonstrated that throughout the tournament last weekend.
The next step, though, is to have that mentality eventually bleed through to all of Arizona's rookies, regardless of who's in the lineup.

"I really like the grit, Bill (Armstrong) named a bunch of guys, and I agree with him, they showed good things," Tourigny said. "When our culture will keep growing, and when our culture will be at the level that we want, if we add two players or subtract two players it won't change anything."
Coyotes fans got a glimpse of what's to come at the tournament, and the players who earned an invitation to veteran's camp will try to carry that momentum into the upcoming weeks.
As far as Armstrong is concerned, though, this is just the beginning. There's a lot of other talent waiting in the wings that was not eligible to participate due to NCAA rules (Logan Cooley and Josh Doan, to name a few), and with 18 picks in the first three rounds of the NHL draft over the next three seasons, there's even more to come.
"We continue to grow that prospect pool," he said. "It looks good now, but when we come back next year you're going to see a whole different team, and you're going to see the future of the Coyotes."