In the time it took me to write this post I assume John Chayka has turned over the entire Tucson Roadrunners roster and I’m working off a completely outdated depth chart. The joke here is that Chayka likes to make trades, and isn’t too concerned about how substantial they are. That probably means that if the Leafs are interested in remodeling the Marlies, they’ll have the opportunity, and anyone remotely resembling a rental on the Coyotes is also in play.

Probably the first thing on their list is a couple more team doctors to deal with what has been an ever expanding injured reserve this season. We’re finally seeing some players return to the lineup, but key players like Raanta, Demers, Chychrun, Grabner, Schmaltz, and Dvorak all having extended stays on the IR, along with a couple of injuries to Galchenyuk has probably left the Coyotes wondering what they truly have with this lineup.

The thing is, that even with everyone healthy, there is still room for improvement in the forward group, and chasing down top six forwards still needs to be a priority, with a mindset towards thriftiness. In an ideal world, the pieces they’d look for from the Leafs would probably be the Kadri, Kapanen, Johnsson group that most teams probably use as a starting point for a big acquisition, but I’m not sure the Leafs are shopping for anything that would warrant giving up those pieces.

Instead Arizona is probably a team looking at the Timashov, Brooks, etc. level of Leafs, or possibly draft picks, but again, I’m not sure if there is anything on the Coyotes that’s available that Toronto is giving up a pick for.

The Coyotes really are only interesting when you consider the fact that they are improving and need to add for next season, and if they want to acquire for next year now, perhaps are willing to move a core roster player.

There are some familiar faces on this list in Richard Panik and Calvin Pickard, and honestly not a lot beyond that. If the Coyotes are wanting to shed salary maybe Panik can be had cheap. Pickard is probably needed for goaltending duties throughout the rest of the season, and they won’t be able to move on at this point, and that brings us to the other name worth mentioning, Jordan Oesterle.

Oesterle has been a pretty solid sheltered scoring defensive option since he’s left Edmonton, and would probably make sense for some team, but it’s hard to imagine the Leafs acquiring a depth left shooting defenseman at this point.

Uhhhhhhhhhh… Jason Demers still seems like a good pickup, but I can’t imagine why the Coyotes are giving up a talented player on a great contract. Is Lawson Crouse a heavy hockey option? For a small section of Leafs fandom I’m pretty sure having both Lawson Crouse and Mitch Marner would only enhance the 2015 draft experience.

If Dubas wants to continue collecting Soo Greyhounds, Michael Bunting is option, in what would be the minor-est of trades, or if the Leafs are needing to shed some talent for cap compliance, Barrett Hayton only furthers the get the Greyhounds philosophy, although I’d imagine that’s something to revisit in June.

With bonus money to be paid on July 1st, it doesn’t seem like the Coyotes would possibly consider him before then, and with a no trade clause kicking in that same day, it’s possible that nullifies any possibility of a trade right there.

There’s also the issue of the Coyotes having a fairly decent defensive group if they can all be healthy at the same time, and there doesn’t look to be a spot on the right unless Hjalmarsson moves to the left side. Additionally, that’s becoming a more expensive blueline and Coyotes aren’t going to spend $4.5/yr on their 6th guy unless they can unload a disaster contract, and I’m not sure if they consider Derek Stepan a disaster and if they do, I’m not sure if they consider to be a more usable disaster than Zaitsev.

In closing, I can’t see this happening, but perhaps after the eight or nine deckchair shuffling deals that Chayka will make, this could be worth revisiting.

I’m sure there is plenty of likelihood that we’ll see some new faces on the Marlies courtesy of the Roadrunners, and perhaps even an 11th hour deadline acquisition of a depth player, but it seems very unlikely that the Coyotes will be involved in a noteworthy deal with the Leafs.

I honestly feel bad for writing about this to be honest, but if we’re committing to doing this series, not all the posts can be winners, folk’s.