Coyotes to buyout Michael Grabner

Today Elliotte Friedman tweeted that the Arizona Coyotes have placed forward Michael Grabner on waivers for the purposes of buying out the final year of his contract.

The move will provide the Coyotes with some cap relief, although they will likely need to make a few more moves.

Grabner was brought in to provide secondary scoring and provided to be an effective penalty killer. He was key to the Coyotes having one of the top penalty kills in his first year and lead the team with six shorthanded goals.

Unfortunately, Grabner’s time in the desert was not without his problems. In his first season, he sustained a really bad eye injury which limited him to 41 games.

The injury appeared to have some lingering effects. Grabner seemed off this past season, and he frequently found himself a healthy scratch. He was limited to 46 games and finished with the shortened regular season with 8 goals and 3 assists.

Grabner would come alive in the playoffs though. He was at the top of his game and had three goals, including the game-winning goal in the Coyotes first game. That goal, of course, came short-handed.