Arizona Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was like the rest of us. He was taken aback by the speed and skill of Team North America during the World Cup of Hockey. He also had the best vantage point -- as a Team Sweden defenseman trying to slow their charge during a furious opening to the start of his preliminary round game against the kids.
“The first two minutes, they were flying all over. I felt like a 45-year-old out there,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I didn’t touch the puck twice in the first 10 minutes.”
And Ekman-Larsson is pretty good at this game.
“I would like to think so,” he said, laughing.
While Team North America captured our hearts, they also raised the question as to whether an NHL team could be constructed that way, whether this was the hockey we’d be seeing a few years from now in the NHL.
The answer was usually the same: Mix in a salary-cap joke and then point out that it was impossible to duplicate this collection of elite skaters and generational talent. After that, we all moved on because that’s what we do.
That is, until one general manager raised his hand.
Out in the desert, Arizona’s 27-year-old GM John Chayka watched Team North America, and it re-enforced where he’s taking the Coyotes.
Playing young, skilled players leads to an exciting brand of hockey, and the Coyotes suddenly have a great collection of them.
But in young players, he’s also identified a market inefficiency. There’s value to be had in uncertainty. Young players come with high risk. In hockey, general managers and coaches go to great lengths to remove risk from the equation.
It’s why, for example, Jay Bouwmeester is on Team Canada and not P.K. Subban. Mike Babcock knows exactly what he’s getting out of Bouwmeester every shift. He’s willing to trade the upside for that consistency.
This happens time and time again in hockey.
To have a player of both high-end skill and low risk, a huge premium is paid. These are the Sidney Crosbys, Patrice Bergerons, Jonathan Toews and Anze Kopitars of the hockey world. If you’re lucky, you get one. If you have a team full of them, you’re Canada.
“We all want the reward with no risk. What’s the salary cap of Team Canada, $140 million? They’re double the salary cap,” Chayka said. “Every coach wants consistency, they want to know what they’re going to get. They’re control freaks by nature. They’re detail guys. Finding value in uncertainty, it’s a journey for these guys. For us, it’s something we’re committed to doing.”
The more risk you’re willing to take on, the more skill you can collect.
Right now, the most efficient way to do that is go young -- really young.
Former Arizona GM Don Maloney got the ball rolling in collecting young talent and draft picks, and Chayka has kept it going. At the draft in June, Chayka added two blue-chippers in Clayton Keller and Jakob Chychrun. He used his cap space to add 2015 first-rounder Lawson Crouse in a deal with Florida. He proved his willingness to take on risk in return for reward in a trade with Tampa that landed another former first-rounder in defenseman Anthony DeAngelo.
During their rebuild, the Coyotes didn’t get a lot of bounces. They missed out on Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel. But in terms of sheer volume, this organization is loaded.
ESPN Insider prospect guru Corey Pronman ranked the Coyotes No. 2 in his organizational prospect rankings, behind Toronto.
Traditionally, teams would ease the kids into the lineup. You let them develop in the minors for a while, rounding out some of the risk in their game. You stagger the call-ups so your team isn’t too young.
In Arizona, the hope is that in two years they have hockey’s best under-24 team, with a few veterans in supporting roles.
“That doesn’t sound good for me,” joked the 25-year-old Ekman-Larsson.
We assured him that he’d still have one of the veteran slots. With that, he warmed up to the plan.
“I think it’s great, if you have the players who can play that style of hockey,” Ekman-Larsson said. “Hockey is becoming more skill and quickness. It’s the right thing to do. But you still need role players. You can’t just have small and quick players.”
That becomes the big question in Arizona. The Coyotes are committed to going young, fast and skilled. Chayka also realizes there has to be a mix. As fun as the young guns were in the World Cup, it was the old, experienced Team Europe that advanced to the finals.
So what does that mix look like in Arizona?
“That’s the magic question,” Chayka said. “People say we have young players but to me, Connor Murphy is a 40-year-old in a 20-year-old body. Chychrun is a culture enhancer. He’s clocked in and has a presence at 18 years old. Your young guys have to have maturity.”
It’s also important to collect young players who have an understanding of the game. Putting a bunch of fast skaters on the ice won’t necessarily translate into wins. What makes Connor McDavid great isn’t just his other-worldly skating ability; it’s his ability to make plays at that high speed.
“Playing fast isn’t necessarily skating fast,” said Coyotes forward Max Domi, age 21. “It’s playing fast, thinking fast and playing at a high level. It’s making strong plays at a really fast pace. If we can manage to do that, it’ll make a huge difference for us. We’ve got guys here already who can do that. It’s a matter of honing those skills.”
Domi and Anthony Duclair emerged last season in the first wave. Dylan Strome is expected to get every opportunity to lead that second wave.
Ekman-Larsson said he loves the two-way game of Christian Dvorak and, already, Chychrun is suggesting he might be ready sooner rather than later. He’s made a fast impression in Coyotes camp.
The Coyotes have also joined the group of teams in pursuit of Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba. If you’re going to emulate Team North America, might as well try and get one of the defensemen off the team.
We won’t ever see another team quite like Team North America. But in the desert, they’re hoping to build a modified version of it. They believe, on some level, it’s possible to play a similar brand of hockey and have success.
“I think it is,” Chayka said. “It’s a strategy built out of necessity. That’s why it was hugely beneficial to have [Coyotes coach] Dave Tippett behind the bench for Team North America. If your [third forward] dives in a little too low, it’s not the end of the world because he can catch the guy before he gets to the red line. There’s a pulse and juice of your team that comes with younger players. It re-enforced what our plan is here. I think it’s on trend. We’re trying to do something a bit different and the hockey gods have always favored innovation.”