LOS ANGELES -- Believe it or not, Phoenix Coyotes GM Don Maloney has had a tough time attracting unrestricted free agents to play in Phoenix the past few years.
Sure, we have no idea where this team will be playing next season, which has been the case for a couple of years. And yeah, it has one of the tighter budgets in the league, with the lowest payroll of the remaining playoff teams. A financial windfall for potential free agents isn't typically an option.
Maloney is also a big fan of keeping things as flexible as possible in a salary-cap system, so extended long-term contracts aren't something he likes to give out.
But other than that ...
To construct this Coyotes team, one of the final four still playing, Maloney has had to be a little more creative than most general managers. He's relied heavily on trades -- and trading well.
To read more about how Phoenix GM Don Maloney has built the Phoenix Coyotes into a contender, you must be an ESPN Insider.
- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
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