One Fan's Perspective

Today, the Phoenix Coyotes trade center Kevyn Adams for 26-year-old winger Radim Vrbata from the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks get a solid veteran player with plenty of playoff and Stanley Cup Final experience, plus he’s an excellent face-off man.

The Coyotes get a young player in Vrbata that was second on his team in overall scoring, and has outperformed Adams in almost all of the statistical values with his career stats of 75 goals and 95 assists. Last season, he was tied for first on power play goals with five.

Vrbata comes with a $1.225 million price tag to Adams $650,000, but with the cap room that the Coyotes have, they can absorb the cost. Vrbata looks like a player that will only get better and he will see plenty of ice time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t want to see Adams go, but in this case, the Coyotes fill a much needed spot with Vrbata.

Therefore, both sides benefit from the trade today.

Tags: Chicago Blackhawks, Hockey, Kevyn Adams, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes, Radim Vrbata by pbcoyotes
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According the Sports Network, Kevyn Adams and Nick Boynton cleared waivers and remain property of the Phoenix Coyotes.

I’ve already made my points clear about the value of both players to the Phoenix Coyotes, but it is even more clear that the other NHL teams did not want them either, especially in Boynton’s case where his high price tag of $2.5+ million was most likely a factor.

If I were in Adam’s or Boynton’s situation, I’m coming to camp pretty angry that the new GM doesn’t have any idea how hungry or valuable I am to the hockey club.

With Adams, he brings the experience of competing in the Stanley Cup finals twice and Boynton adds more than depth to the blue line (notice what Boynton does with Chicago Blackhawks David Koci after Koci lined up Bill Thomas for that hit).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNa5L-rP2pE]

Reading on the RSS feed: Nick Boynton

It is clear that these two assets were not that valuable to the future considerations of General Manager Don Maloney. However, they are still with the Coyotes, and their situation shows that no job is truly guaranteed.

Tags: Hockey, Kevyn Adams, NHL, Nick Boynton, Phoenix Coyotes by pbcoyotes
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“If they get through, which I think there’s a very good chance they could, then they’re back, they’re Coyotes and we’ll work with them. I certainly think in both of their cases, they can play better than they did last year. Nick Boynton was an All-Star a couple years ago and we need to get him back to that level of play and Kevyn Adams is a very good role player and we need him to be a very good role player.”

Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney

It is very clear that Maloney’s intent is to clear salary cap room and be able to fill role players with a less expensive version.

In terms of Kevyn Adams, the Coyotes acquired his services at the trade deadline from the Carolina Hurricanes. He played through a terrible wrist injury that he had since winning the Stanley Cup and his play suffered as a result during the following season.

Feed readers: Kevyn Adams Interview

So, there is a reason for Adams less than expected performance, but with him now healthy, a team will gain that much more from him. He won the Stanley Cup, fought like hell through a difficult injury, and finally decided to have the surgery to help his new team, the Coyotes, in the future.

I guess that’s the problem with hiring a new GM – sometimes he doesn’t know the full story.

I still think this is a mistake and the Coyotes will be very fortunate if the players clear waivers and are still part of the organization.

Tags: Hockey, Kevyn Adams, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes by pbcoyotes
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