Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

Amid a front-office overhaul that positioned John Chayka as the youngest general manager in NHL history, analytics figured to headline the Coyotes’ offseason revisions.

Chayka had been overseeing that arm of the organization during the season he spent as the team’s assistant GM before his promotion, and he has a lengthy history in the field, co-founding a company that specializes in player and team tendencies.

That insight no doubt played a role in how the Coyotes chose to change their look — the Alex Goligoski and Jamie McGinn acquisitions are prime examples — but with training camp only a few weeks away, a different tactic behind some of Arizona's maneuvering is catching attention: the team’s decision to swap cap space for promising players.

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“John figured out we can use (cap space) as an asset, and we’ve used that as an asset,” said coach Dave Tippett, who doubles as executive vice president of hockey operations. “Just because you don’t spend the money doesn’t mean … you shouldn’t be able to use that. We’ve used that to our advantage a little bit, and we’ve been able to acquire some very good young prospects.”

This concept was first executed at the draft in June when the Coyotes took on Pavel Datsyuk’s cap hit to land the No. 16 pick from the Red Wings (which they used to select defenseman Jakob Chychrun) while parting with the 20th and 53rd picks and injured forward Joe Vitale.

Datsyuk’s cap hit is currently the highest on their books at $7.5 million for one season but since Datsyuk has left the NHL to go play in Russia, the Coyotes owe him zero in salary.

More recently, Arizona absorbed the remainder of center Dave Bolland’s contract (three years at $5.5 million per season) to add prospect Lawson Crouse from Florida Aug. 25.

In exchange, the Panthers received a conditional third-round pick in 2017 (the Coyotes hold two; the higher one goes in the trade) and a conditional second-round pick in 2018. If Crouse doesn’t play with the Coyotes this season, the pick becomes the other 2017 third-rounder and if he gets traded, the pick locks in as the 2018 second-rounder.

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The targets of both deals, a potential top-four defenseman and a two-way power forward, fulfill roles that tend to be difficult to add.

“I can’t go out and try to spend money on an aging veteran that’s just kind of a stopgap, that has limited upside, that blocks one of our younger players from developing into what we think they can be,” Chayka explained. “That route makes no sense to me, so this is one where we can use cap space to get better-valued assets.”

Bolland is expected to be placed on long-term injured reserve as he deals with lingering issues, including an ankle injury, and not only would that provide the Coyotes with cap relief, but they’d also be on the hook for only $1.1 million of his salary per season.

“My understanding is he’s certainly injured for the foreseeable future,” Chayka said.

While these cap hits combine for $13 million, they’re both set to be gone after the 2018-19 season.

And the timing of that is important because that’s likely when some of the team’s current prospects will be starting or in the midst of their second contracts, giving Arizona the room to re-sign the likes of Max Domi, Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak.

With those players still on entry-level deals, the Coyotes have the opportunity to take on these contracts in the interim.

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“That’s just kind of the cycle that we’re just in right now,” Chayka said. “We’ll look at anything that helps our team, but certainly the opportunities will probably be less and less.”

Although their cap hit sits at roughly $70.7 million, according to generalfanager.com, which is about $2.3 million short of the $73 million upper limit, the Coyotes’ actual spending is lower and the team still has some flexibility in its budget while being shy of the 50-contract limit.

“If something comes up and improves our group, then we have the ability to execute on that,” Chayka said.

Regardless, though, if the Coyotes make any more moves, they clearly made a memorable impression this offseason by adding two elite prospects via this creative strategy.

“We’re trying to evaluate core assets, acquire and develop and eventually have what we believe can be a core of a Stanley Cup team,” Chayka said. “Whether it’s Lawson or it’s Jakob, using cap space to acquire these young, believed-to-be core pieces … was the thought process behind it.”

Ice chips

The Coyotes have invited winger Zach Boychuk to training camp on a professional tryout.

Boychuk, 26, has appeared in 127 career NHL games with the Hurricanes, Predators and Penguins, posting 12 goals and 30 points. He was originally drafted 14th overall in 2008 by Carolina.

Goaltending coach Jon Elkin will return for the 2016-17 season after signing a one-year contract.

Elkin, who has been No.1 Mike Smith's longtime coach, joined the organization before last season to work with the team's NHL netminders.

Reach the reporter at sarah.mclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.