A closer look at the two players moved to Arizona in the Keith Yandle deal.
There are a lot of new faces in the Arizona Coyotes' organization this year. With Keith Yandleheading to New York in a blockbuster trade with the Rangers. The Coyotes brought back two players to the Desert in exchange for Yandle's services, so let's meet them.
John Moore
The Winnetka, Illinois native comes to the Coyotes after being drafted 21st overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2009. He was traded by Columbus to New York in 2013 as part of the Marian Gaborik trade. In his first full season last year with New York, Moore recorded four goals and 11 assists in 74 NHL games. This year, he has just five assists in 37 NHL games.
Joe Fortunato of SB Nation's Rangers blog Blueshirt Banter had this to say about Moore:
Moore is tough to figure out. He's still very young, turning 23, which is encouraging when you look at his flaws. He has incredible wheels, which is a big part of his defense since his positioning and ability to read the play is lacking; but his speed helps him recover quickly.
In his pre-NHL career he was a power play guy who added offense. As he transitioned to the pro game he never really got an opportunity to continue that because the skills didn't translate. Doesn't mean they won't, but they haven't yet.
His speed, however, makes him dangerous, since he can blow by defenders in the zone. He was fighting with Matt Hunwick for the Rangers 6th defensive position this year, but he did play all through the Cup run last year.
One concern about Moore's game is that while he does bring more physicality and size, recent history suggests he's still learning to not go over the edge. He's been flagged twice by the NHL in the past calendar year for headshots against opposing players. Those plays resulted in a total of seven games missed due to suspension. That will need to change in order for Moore to be a productive member of the Coyotes.
Additionally, Moore will be a pending restricted free agent after this season. He's currently making $851,000 a year, so he will likely command slightly more for the Coyotes on his next deal. Given the need for Arizona to reach the salary floor, that likely will not be too difficult.
Anthony Duclair
Duclair's name should be familiar to anyone who watched Team Canada win the 2015 World Junior Championship. After being drafted in 80th overall in 2013, Duclair played 18 games with the Rangers this year before returning to the Quebec Ramparts of the QMJHL. He has nine goals and 16 assists in 19 games with the Quebec Ramparts.
Here's Fortunato again talking about Duclair:
You all probably know enough about him by now. Alongside Pavel Buchnevich, Duclair was the Rangers top prospect. Last year's explosion in the QMJHL aside, he played in a fair amount of games this year and didn't miss a beat at the NHL level.
He's speedy, has a fantastic set of hands and is brilliant at creating offensive space from nothing. I think he easily could have stayed with the Rangers this year and been fine.
His return to the Q has been underwhelming by his standards ("just" 22 points in 17 games) but I have to imagine some of that is him not really wanting to be there. The character issues that surrounded him are not true, Patrick Roy is just an egomaniac.
At just 19 years old, Duclair has plenty of time to mature into a top six forward for the Coyotes, and he already has some familiarity with Max Domi from their time together at the World Juniors, which is a plus. Duclair unfortunately ended up in same boat as Domi did, where his parent club had to choose between letting him stay up in the NHL or sending him back down to major-junior. The Rangers chose the latter.
So overall, Arizona adds to players with legitimate upside but growing to do. This, along with the acquisition of Klas Dahlbeck from the Chicago Blackhawks, suggests that Arizona has fully embraced a rebuild of their entire organization.