Arizona Coyotes get Demands from Young Star if he's to Remain with Team

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TJ Tucker
May 19, 2023 (8:08 PM)

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Well, it's not a trade demand. Not yet, anyway. However, Clayton Keller, the best player the Arizona Coyotes have right now, has met with management, and he wants something if he's to remain with the team that seems to be a chaos right now.

What he Wants?

According to Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman, Keller told the Coyotes bluntly that he wants to know the direction the team is headed in all aspects if they want to keep him around.

"Clayton Keller had a meeting yesterday with the Coyotes... Now I want to make this very clear, there is no trade request here, but I think what Keller did say is that he wants direction, and reasonably quickly, on the future of the franchise on and off the ice."

Tall Order

"Reasonably quickly" could be tough. Right now, the Coyotes are playing in a 5000 seat arena after being booted from one in Glendale for an unpaid tax bill. The team also lost a public vote on building a new arena in Tempe. There aren't many pro teams who are more directionless than the Coyotes right now.

To top it all off, the team has missed the playoffs in every season since 2013, except 2020 when they won a play-in round and then lost in the first, and it really shows no signs of improving over the next two to three years unless a miracle comes out of the draft.

Keller, who just completed year three of an eight year deal, could be waiting a while for direction. In the meantime, there are plenty of teams that would love to take on his cap hit of $7.15 million. Keller had 86 points this season.