Kevin Connauton’s NHL journey will see him head back West -- on Wednesday, the Coyotes claimed him off waivers from Columbus, per TSN.
Connauton was deemed expendable by the Jackets in the wake of the Seth Jones acquisition and the activation of Cody Goloubef (broken jaw) off IR.
That left CBJ with a surplus of blueliners -- previously, Andrew Bodnarchuk had been claimed by Colorado -- and the decision was made to expose Connauton on the wire.
And that’s when Arizona swooped in.
A decent offensive defenseman -- he had eight points in 27 games this year -- Connauton is still relatively young and has over 100 games of NHL experience. The 25-year-old is also in the last of a three-year, $2.05M deal with a $683,333 cap hit, and will be a nice insurance policy on Arizona’s back end.
Veterans Nicklas Grossmann and Zbynek Michalek have dealt with injuries this season, combining to miss 16 games.
For Connauton, the move back West should be familiar. He began his NHL career with the Vancouver organization, before spending a few years in Dallas.