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When the Coyotes assigned Tyler Gaudet to Springfield of the American Hockey League last season, his assignment was clear.

“He’s a very responsible defensive player, but he’s almost too safe, defensively,” Coyotes director of player development Steve Sullivan said. “He takes away some scoring opportunities for himself and his linemates because he doesn’t want to make any mistakes. There’s a fine line there, obviously, but he needs to get a little more offensive minded. More balance will come once that happens.”

Gaudet worked diligently on the offensive part of his game, but an upper-body injury in training camp, and a neck injury in Springfield limited him to 44 games, four goals and 13 points with the Falcons, and a goal and two assists in 14 games with the Coyotes.

“I think I made strides with my confidence as a player, but I did have a tough year with injuries which kind of threw me for a loop,” Gaudet said. “They were standard hockey injuries, but they held me back to a certain degree. They slow you down.”

Gaudet is healthy again, but the task for him has grown even taller. In addition to honing his offensive game, Gaudet now faces a logjam of talented center prospects in the Coyotes’ system.

Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak are the offensively gifted prospects the Coyotes are hoping will inject a heightened level of skill and creativity into their lineup, but Arizona also drafted offensive-minded Clayton Keller, and the team has two-way centers Ryan MacInnis and Laurent Dauphin in the pipeline.

Even if the team moves on from Martin Hanzal and Antoine Vermette after this season, there still are not enough spots for all the prospects.

“It doesn’t concern me,” said Gaudet, who signed a one-year, two-way contract on July 15. “You’re always going to have to battle for a position here or with any club. There’s always going to be top-level prospects. It’s just part of the job, but I believe in my abilities as a centerman.”

The Coyotes experimented with the 6’3″, 205-pound Gaudet on the wing last season, but he said nobody has talked to him about switching positions so his understanding is that they still view him as a center.

“I’ve been a center my whole life but I could always adapt and get better like you can at any spot, but they haven’t been discussing it too much,” he said. “At this point, they are asking me to hone my role as regular, bottom-six, two-way center. I need to establish that role and be successful in it. You have to get your foot in the door before you expand on other things.”

With three NHL centers (Hanzal, Vermette, Brad Richardson) under contract and two prospects (Strome, Dvorak) on the cusp of making the roster, Gaudet is likely destined for another season in the AHL (Tucson) with some call-ups to the Coyotes. With only a one-year deal in his pocket and an expansion draft coming in which he could be left unprotected, Gaudet understands this is an important season for him to establish the other half of his game.

“At times, I was little upset about it because when you finally get that opportunity to play in the NHL you tend to be nervous where you don’t want to mess up and that is one thing that will make you look bad and show them you’re not ready,” he said. “My main focus is to play my game, not think too much and not try to be too safe. When you’re trying capitalize on opportunities and being aggressive, more things will happen for you than against you and you need to have the confidence to take those risks.

“Even Sulli and (coach Dave) Tip(pett) told me they’d rather see me make mistakes than hold back. They’re trying to encourage me to progress my game rather than stagnate. Every player probably goes through this at some point, but they want me to have the confidence to be the player they know I can be.”

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Coyotes’ Gaudet facing numbers game in battle for roster spot