NHL Silver Linings: The doldrums are coming to an end for the Coyotes

It’s that time of the NHL season where a few fanbases start buying playoff tickets while the rest turn their attention to MLB spring training. Elimination is no fun. But it shouldn’t color your whole fandom with tears. Just most of it. 70 percent of it.

This is the 30 percent: SB Nation NHL Silver Linings, where we send hockey’s eliminated teams into the offseason with five good things to remember from this season.

It was never going to be the Arizona Coyotes’ year. Many hoped they’d start to take a step forward, that there’d be evidence of progress forward for the franchise.

With 58 points in 68 games and a 25-35-8 record, on paper at least it’s been a rough year once again for the Coyotes. Not only that, but their second-to-last-place standing in the NHL has even been dwarfed by the arena problems plaguing the team once again.

But, we’re here for the positives. Like the Avalanche yesterday, it was a bit of a tough sell for the NHL’s second-worst team this year. They do exist, though!

Since they’ll likely take home the second-worst spot in the league, the Coyotes will be once again drafting extremely high in the upcoming NHL draft. Vegas will throw a bit of a wrench into the mix, but Arizona has a 12 percent chance to win the top pick and they can’t go lower than fifth.

Which means there’s a pretty big crop of really good talent to pick from! It’s no 2016 draft class, but it’s a real good opportunity to add needed talent.

We had the Coyotes drafting Swedish defenseman Timothy Liljegren at the No. 3 spot in our mock draft back in January, and it’s a pick we stand by. Arizona has a good crop of forward talent, so adding Liljegren to the back end to play alongside Jakob Chychrun and Oliver Ekman-Larsson is a bit of a dream.

There’s a future out there for you, Coyotes fans. They were the 10th-youngest NHL team this season and they hold a real glut of talent in their hands under the age of 26.

Seriously, just look at these names: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Tobias Rieder, Max Domi, Anthony Duclair, Christian Dvorak, Lawson Crouse, Dylan Strome, Jakob Chychrun, Jordan Martinook. All of them are 25 or under and they’re all poised to anchor this team for years to come.

They’ve shown flashes of what they can bring to the table this season, and Coyotes fans could not be more excited about the future of their team.

The NHL’s youngest general manager at 27 years old, Chayka was always going to have an uphill battle in his first year. Despite his youth, he’s done extremely well for the Coyotes.

Notable additions over the past year have been his NHL draft-day deal that sent Joe Vitale and a pair of picks to the Red Wings in exchange for the pick he used to select Chychrun. Chayka dealt picks to acquire solid young talent in Anthony DeAngelo and Crouse, and added a fair amount of draft picks in return.

He also fleeced the Wild on the Martin Hanzal deal, which netted the Coyotes more than what the Blues got for Kevin Shattenkirk. The kid’s alright, Arizona.

On most other teams, a decent goaltender would likely be more of a problem than a positive. Considering Mike Smith’s career trajectory, however, this season has been a fine showing for the 34-year-old netminder.

A .914 save percentage isn’t record breaking, but with the league average at .910 for the year, Smith’s had a better year than a lot of other goaltenders in the NHL. He’s not the Coyotes goaltender of the future, for sure, but he’s put up numbers better than the averages of 20 NHL teams this season.

The 35-year-old’s third stint with the Coyotes hasn’t been as productive as his first two appearances in an Arizona jersey, but this season has been an improvement over his horrible 2015-16 season in Vancouver. Vrbata currently leads the Coyotes in goals (16), points (49), and assists (33) as Arizona’s top-line right winger.

Don’t be surprised if Vrbata comes back for another year or two when his deal expires at the end of the year to assist in the development of Arizona’s young talent pool.