Boedker’s Coyotes tenure ends in trade deadline deal with Avs

PITTSBURGH — Mikkel Boedker came down to the lobby at the Fairmont Hotel in Pittsburgh about 30 minutes before his ex-Coyotes teammates were set to board a bus for their game against the Penguins on Monday night at Consol Energy Center. He shook hands and shared hugs with a handful of players who passed by, including Antoine Vermette, Shane Doan, Max Domi and Connor Murphy.

After weeks of speculation, Boedker’s eight-season tenure in Arizona was over. About two hours before the NHL’s trade deadline arrived, the Coyotes sent the impending free-agent right wing to Colorado for 36-year-old forward Alex Tanguay and a pair of unsigned prospects, center Conner Bleackley and defenseman Kyle Wood.

“It definitely cleared the mind,” Boedker said. “Now I know where I’m going. Obviously, I’m a bit sad, too. It’s the organization that groomed me from when I got drafted. A lot of friendships built. That’s going to be the hardest part.”

General manager Don Maloney said the Coyotes offered Boedker several options “with term and dollars” to try and keep him, but when it became clear Boedker was determined to test the market, or at least not re-sign with Arizona, it was time to look for trades.

“We got the best deal that was available to us,” Maloney said. “You always hope that there’s a better return but this market was as unusual as any I’ve ever experienced. People were very, very cautious about what they were willing to pay for rental players.”

Boedker was the team’s first-round draft pick in 2008 (eighth overall). He had 13 goals and 39 points in 62 games this season, but had been in a major slump since Jan. 1 with just one goal and nine points in his last 25 points. Boedker admitted the prolonged negotiations had an impact.

“That’s one of the things that was weighing in on the mind,” he said.

Two sources told Arizona Sports that talks broke off between Boedker’s camp and the team when he turned down the Coyotes’ contract offer of five years at an average annual value of $5.5 million, but other sources said Monday the offer was for six years at an average annual value just above $5 million. Maloney said he had one more late-night conversation with Boedker’s agent to be sure there was no chance of striking a deal before pressing forward with trade talks.

“If I thought there was a remote chance we could have signed him before July 1, that might have given me pause,” Maloney said. “It’s business and I understand it. He’s a good player and he’s earned his right to be a free agent.”

Boedker agreed to a one-year, $3.75 million deal this summer when the two sides couldn’t reach agreement on a longer deal — the third time Boedker had come up short in contract negotiations with the Coyotes. When he had the chance to negotiate a new deal beginning Jan. 1, his agent, Jarrett Bousquet was asked why his client would re-sign when he could test the market in six more months.

“That’s a great question,” Bousquet said. “That is the million dollar question.”

Despite that stance, Boedker said he held out hope he would re-sign with Arizona.

“I was open, definitely. I never shut the door,” he said. “For the first little while I was determined to stay and see this thing through. The further it went, the clearer it got that it was going to come to this.

“There’s always two sides to a story and a lot of different things play in. At a certain point, you couldn’t find common ground so all I can focus on is what I can do in the future and what I can do for the Avalanche. Hopefully, it turns out to be a really good thing.”

Both Boedker and his agent said there were more factors than money at play. Boedker said the chance to play for a team with an accelerated timeline for winning is attractive. Bousquet said he had other questions.

“One of the questions we’ve always had is surrounding this team’s situation in the desert,” Bousquet said. “We understood their position and their financial challenges. Nobody did anything wrong here. It was cordial all the way.”

While Tanguay could help the Coyotes in their fading playoff hopes, the two prospects are the keys to the deal and could fill the team’s most pressing needs. Bleackley, 20, and Wood, 19, were Colorado’s top two picks in the 2014 NHL Draft. The Avs selected Bleackley in the first round (23rd overall) and Wood in the third round (84th overall). Both are unsigned at the moment.

Maloney said Bleackley has a knee injury, so the Coyotes will continue to evaluate him before deciding if they should sign him before the June 1 deadline. If they opt not to sign him, they will get a compensatory pick in the second round.

Bleackley (6-1,196) has 13 goals and 41 points in 47 games with Red Deer (WHL) this season. He is third on the team in points and fourth in assists.

Wood has eight goals and 35 points in 40 games with North Bay (OHL). He leads all OHL defensemen in power-play points per game, and is 12th among all defensemen in the CHL power-play points per game.

“A year ago, he was a guy that was untouchable for Colorado,” Maloney said of Wood. “We’re happy to get a big, right-handed shooting defenseman who is finishing his junior career. We can sign him, get him in the minors and when you look at our reserve list there’s another small step forward in building our defense.”

Tanguay has four goals and 22 points this season, and has 279 goals and 850 points in 1,070 career NHL games with the Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens. The Avs drafted him in the first round (12th overall) in 1998. He will be an unrestricted free agent after the year and is unlikely to return, so it’s possible the Coyotes will ultimately land Wood and a second-round pick for Boedker.

When news of the trade surfaced, Boedker said he shared a long hug with good friend Oliver Ekman-Larsson and a tear with Shane Doan, whom he called a mentor.

“Boeds is the type of personality that is endearing to everybody in the room,” Doan said. “He’s been here since he was 18. He’s been around a long time so its really, really tough.”

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