Coyotes Move Below 30 Players

The Phoenix Coyotes assigned 16 players to the minors on Monday, some having to go on waivers and clear first, bringing the team's roster total down to 28 players, plus Kurt Sauer, who is currently on the injured reserve with a head injury.  Currently on the list, there are 18 forwards, eight defense (not including Sauer) and the goaltending tandem.

Of the 18 forwards, Kyle Wellwood, on as a pro tryout, remains with the team, working hard to earn a spot in the line-up.  Also, Viktor Tikhonov returned from Russia for a shot at a roster spot, while Mikkel Boedker and Kyle Turris try for spots from the AHL squad in San Antonio.  With only 13 theoretical forward spots available, the Coyotes could just as easily cut these four and still have a cut to make, but they are obviously making a good push to try and knock someone from the Summer roster out.

With eight defensemen on the list at the moment, I would have to think that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is now a lock for the team, maybe finding some top four minutes when the season gets started.  That would all depend on his consistency.  David Schlemko and Maxim Goncharov should be fighting for the 7th spot.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Wojtek Wolski	Keith Yandle	Ilya Bryzgalov
Ray Whitney	Ed Jovanovski	Jason LaBarbera
Shane Doan	Derek Morris
Lee Stempniak	Adrian Aucoin
Radim Vrbata	Sami Lepisto
Eric Belanger	Kurt Sauer
Martin Hanzal	David Schlemko
Scottie Upshall	Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Vern Fiddler	Maxim Goncharov
Taylor Pyatt
Petr Prucha
Andrew Ebbett
Lauri Korpikoski
Paul Bissonnette
Viktor Tikhonov
Kyle Wellwood
Mikkel Boedker
Kyle Turris

Since Wellwood is without a contract as a tryout and Sauer on the injured reserve, the Coyotes have 27 players on contract and three buyouts on the books here for an annual cap projection of $55.3 million, which is nice & safe between the cap floor and ceiling.  Cuts will easily bring down the cap number, but that really shouldn't be a concern for the cap savvy Coyotes.