The Arizona Coyotes have avoided arbitration with forward Mikkel Boedker, re-signing him to a one-year deal worth $3.75 million. The Danish winger was one of 23 players set to hit arbitration as a restricted free agent, with hearings scheduled on July 20th.
Not sure what is out there, but ARIZ/Boedker settle at one-year, $3.75M. Avoid arbitration.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 7, 2015
Boedker, 25, has spent all seven seasons with the Coyotes, putting up 67 goals and 174 points in 383 points. Last season, he put up 14 goals and 28 points in 45 games. After setting career-highs in goals and points last season, Boedker was well on his way to passing those totals. As the Coyotes leading-scorer, Boedker had five goals in four games before missing significant time due to an injury that forced him to undergo an emergency procedure to have his spleen removed. The injury occurred in a game against the Winnipeg Jets. After taking a hard hit, Boedker looked uncomfortable on the bench, attempting to play through the pain. Later that game, he would be forced to leave and would go through surgery that night.
His possession numbers took a slight drop for a second consecutive season, although that may be directly related to the overall product on the ice, and low possession stats in general for the entire team. Boedker received favorable offensive-zone starts, which is a good place to have him in as he is one of the better goal-scoring forwards the team has. Despite missing ample time due to injury, Boedker still averaged 1.0 goals per 60 minutes, and 5.9 shots per 60 minutes. His ice-time was slightly up from last season as well. If he can remain healthy for the duration of a season and his numbers remain steady, there’s no reason to be skeptic about the possibility of a 20-goal season.
The Coyotes still have Brendan Shinnimin and Philip Samuelsson to decide on, as both are set to head to arbitration in the following weeks. For a full list of restricted free agents heading to arbitration, click here.
