The scene takes place at the end of December. The Arizona Coyotes have just defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-3. Four days earlier, they had beaten the Los Angeles Kings in a shootout.

As usual after games, Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong walks into André Tourigny’s office, who relaxes with his assistants.

“You guys are ruining this for me!” »

Armstrong is obviously grinning ear to ear. It’s a compliment in disguise, and the tone is teasing, but there’s a kernel of truth nonetheless.

You don’t trade your number one goaltender, top two defensemen and three of your top scorers for draft picks hoping to win championships in the short term.

“We talk about it openly,” says the Coyotes head coach frankly. Ideally, he would want to get the best draft pick possible.

“At the same time, Bill is extremely competitive. He never wants to lose. He’s miserable after a loss and he’s very proud when we win. It is very difficult to accomplish both. Bill looks at the standings, he knows people saw us last… there’s a big difference between picking first and sixth or seventh. »

The Coyotes sit 27th overall, one point ahead of the Canadiens. If the draft were today, they’d pick sixth overall, with a 7.5% chance of winning the lottery, 6.5% of picking second, 34.1% of staying in the same spot, 41, 4% to drop to seventh and 9.1% to draft eighth.

“We get annoyed with that,” Tourigny said. But it doesn’t make it a disease. He always says to me, if that’s fate… At the same time, you look at the [New Jersey] Devils last year, they went from fifth to second. »

With the recent departure of their top defenseman, Jakob Chychrun, traded to the Ottawa Senators for a first-round pick in 2023 and two second-round picks, in 2024 and 2026, Arizona won’t be chasing the championship next year. next either.

“Rebuilding teams sometimes want to progress too quickly,” Tourigny points out. Some rebuilding teams have been claiming for two or three years that they are on the way to making the playoffs and they are still not there. You have to let things fall into place naturally. »

Bill Armstrong has already indicated in an interview that you have to wait at least seven or eight years for a successful reconstruction.

“We did the exercise and actually it’s more like eight to thirteen from the time you start it,” Tourigny says. Chicago and Pittsburgh did it faster. But before getting [Sidney] Crosby, the Penguins drafted No. 1 Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003 and No. 2 Evgeni Malkin in 2004. They won the Cup six years after finishing No. 26 in 2002.”

The examples of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche are even more stunning. “Tampa Bay took 11 years, and the Avalanche took 12 years. Colorado drafted [Matt] Duchene third in 2009, [Gabriel] Landeskog second in 2011, after [Nathan] MacKinnon and [Cale] Makar, and they won the Cup in 2022.”

These teams still made it to the playoffs several times before winning the Stanley Cup. Their crossing of the desert was not like that of the Buffalo Sabers, all the same.

“When a club becomes competitive, it takes a few playoff appearances and painful losses before you can hope to lift the Cup,” Tourigny said. I was looking at Landeskog and MacKinnon’s face when they lost in the second round in 2021, they were knocked out. They had just realized how difficult it was.

“Tampa, they had to lose four times to Columbus before they won their two Stanley Cups. That’s why Toronto is likely to be dangerous this year. If they manage to win in the first round, it can be TEAM. »

The Coyotes saw veterans Andrew Ladd, Phil Kessel, Loui Eriksson, Anton Stralman, Antoine Roussel and Jay Beagle leave the team before the start of the season. They no longer produced as they once did, but had a significant influence over young people.

“Most had played over 1,000 career games, we had six or seven Stanley Cups in our locker room,” Tourigny recalls. I had my doubts in training camp. I wondered if our youngest had learned enough from them and if the knowledge would be passed on from one generation to the next. Clayton Keller, Lawson Crouse, Nick Schmaltz and Christian Fischer took over without issue. »

The Coyotes already have ten points more than the previous season with seven games left to play. Clayton Keller, 24, exploded with 82 points, including 36 goals, in 77 games. He had just 35 in 56 games under Tourigny’s predecessor, Rick Tocchet, two years ago.

“I went to eat with him when I arrived in Arizona in 2021 and I had no idea he was that ambitious. He has high expectations of him, much higher than one might imagine. I thought he had a long way to go to achieve his goals. But he just needed to feel trusted. »

Barrett Hayton is the other big story in the Coyotes camp.

This fifth overall pick in 2018 didn’t seem to be progressing since the start of his professional career. He was showing three meager assists in 27 games as of mid-December, after a season of just 24 points in 60 games last year. Since his first goal of the season against Buffalo on Dec. 17, Hayton, 22, has 37 points in 49 games, but 16 points… in his last 14 games.

“It’s funny because I asked him, when I arrived in Arizona, where he planned to live. He said to me: at Keller, says Tourigny. I knew Barrett then because he had played for me at the World Junior Championship, but Keller didn’t.

“Today I know it. Clayton is a quiet guy, but a fierce competitor. They look a lot alike. They never stop working. Keller was a good influence for him. »

Hayton was not producing offensively last year, but Tourigny gave him delicate assignments despite his young age.

“He was so good defensively that I played him against the best every game, Kopitar, McDavid, Kane. He had a very good camp this year, but he put a lot of pressure on himself and he was not producing offensively in the first months. He was unable to score.

“But even though he was having a hard time, he never gave up. It’s easy to work when things are going well, but when you don’t have a Christmas goal yet and you keep working hard, it’s special. There wasn’t a day when he seemed affected, he always had the tiger look. »

After his first goal, everything unlocked. “I knew what kind of human being he was. He was already in the National League when the Coyotes agreed to loan him to us for the 2020 World Junior Championship.

“The Canadian team camp started on December 10 in Oakville, Ontario, and we left for Europe four days later. We offered to join us on the 14th. But he insisted on going to camp. He was giving up four days in the NHL to attend our camp. We realized it was real. »

Hayton has been dominant in this tournament. But he almost missed the final.

“He dislocated his shoulder in the semi-finals. Our doctors told us it would be better not to continue. He decided to play. He was offered to play on the wing to avoid taking face-offs. He wanted to stay center. He played and he scored the equalizer, then we won. Then he missed a month or two with the Coyotes. »

Keller and Hayton could welcome another talented striker shortly. Logan Cooley, the third overall pick in 2022 ahead of Shane Wright, will likely join the Coyotes after his NCAA season.

His team, the University of Minnesota, will face Boston University and Lane Hutson in the semifinals next week.

“There will be discussions between Bill and Logan Cooley’s advisor after his season. He hasn’t closed the door on finishing the year with us, and we’re not closing the door either…”

Although his team is not at the top of the standings, André Tourigny seems to take great pleasure in seeing his youngsters progress. He probably isn’t done having fun…