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How Much Internal Improvement Is too Much to Hope For?

July 14, 2019, 12:28 PM ET [59 Comments]
James Tanner
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I very much like the Coyotes addition of Phil Kessel.

Since Alex Galchenyuk would require Phil Kessel money on a contract that would almost certainly be terrible should he have a season anywhere close to Kessel's production level, I think it was a smart move.

This way you get the better player, cost-controlled, for longer.

Of course, given the Coyotes recent luck (see Strome, Domi) he will leave the team and score on every second shot he takes, thus making the trade look way worse in perception than reality.



But Kessel is only enough if the Coyotes take incredible leaps internally.

In order to be a playoff team, they're going to need to match their goaltending from last season (where Darcy Kuemper had a top 50 all-time save percentage for goalies player 55 games or more.)

They will need their defense to be excellent - specifically, they'll need more out of Ekman-Larsson and Jakub Chychrun. Much more, if we're honest.

They will need a bounce back year from Keller that exceeds all expectations, they'll need another 90 points from Kessel and, crucially, Barrett Hayton will have to make the team and put up Calder numbers. Schmaltz will have to prove to be a first liner.

It's a lot to ask.

Which is why I suggested trying to get Patrick Kane off the sure-to-be-a-lottery-team Blackhawks.

It's why I will write many other fantasy level blogs about acquiring a superstar forward in the days to come.

Because realistically, I don't think the Coyotes can improve enough on their offense with just a full year from Schmaltz and a Galchenyuk for Kessel swap.

They need more because this kind of internal improvement needed to make this happen is nearly impossible.
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