The Arizona Coyotes made some roster transactions on Sunday afternoon, first announcing that they have released forward Alex Chiasson from his professional tryout offer (PTO). Shortly afterward, they chose to claim defenseman Juuso Valimaki off of waivers from the Calgary Flames.
Chiasson, who has logged 631 career games at the NHL level, agreed to a PTO with the ‘Yotes back on Sept. 14. He has converted on several PTOs in recent seasons, but was unable to this time around and as a result will head back into the free agent pool. Given that he failed to land a deal with the bottom feeding Coyotes may mean we have seen the last from him as an NHLer. If that is indeed the case, he finishes his career with 114 goals and 224 points over stints with the Dallas Stars, Ottawa Senators, Flames, Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers and most recently the Vancouver Canucks.
As also mentioned, the Coyotes chose to claim Valimaki off waivers from the Flames. It isn’t a major surprise that the 24-year-old got picked up, as it wasn’t too long ago that he was considered a top prospect. Injuries and inconsistent play resulted in a rocky tenure with the Flames, but the 16th overall pick from the 2017 draft will be put in a much better position to try and turn things around now. He spent the majority of the 2021-22 campaign in the American Hockey League, registering 18 points in 35 outings.
It is well known to everyone in the hockey community that the Coyotes are going to struggle immensely this upcoming season. They are in the very early stages of what appears to be a lengthy rebuild, making transactions like the one they made today with Valimaki very logical moves. The hope now is that he and some other young players on their roster can elevate their play and help this team turn into a competitor years down the road.
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