Arizona Coyotes prospect reportedly lied to the franchise for months

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Josh Tupper
September 8, 2023 (2:22 PM)

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The Arizona Coyotes are the only NHL team without a stable future. With multiple questions surrounding the future of the team the Coyotes are starting to feel the effects of their own massive shortcoming. The team is having issues retaining their own free agents, and signing outside players; now the team is struggling to even retain their prospects.

According to NHL insider Craig Morgan, prospect John Farinacci led the team on for months. Farinacci reportedly claimed he had full intentions of staying with Coyotes after being drafted by the team in the third round of the 2019 NHL draft. However, once the trade deadline passed Marinacci quickly changed his mind. Instead he became a free agent and winged with the Bruins.

When Harvard's season ended in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in late March, the Coyotes felt confident that they would be able to sign their 2019 third-round pick (No. 76) quickly. Two weeks later, it became clear that Farinacci would wait until the Coyotes' rights to him expired so he could become a free-agent on Aug. 15.

It was an abrupt and surprising about-face from what he had previously indicated, and it was definitely not the Coyotes' decision to part ways. They believed that Farinacci could bring a mature, NHL-style game. There was also opportunity for him to play quickly before some of the younger prospects found their way into the lineup.

This is another blow to an organization unable to act like a professional hockey team. After losing their arena bid in Tempe forcing them to stay in a university arena, now the Coyotes are losing their up and coming prospects, likely causing them to stay towards the basement of the league standings.

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