GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Radim Vrbata touched down in the Valley on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since signing a two-year, $10 million free-agent deal with the Vancouver Canucks this offseason. Vrbata has returned to cities in which he once played, but this was different. This was the one place he really thought of as home.
"Every time you go back to cities where you played for the first time it's weird, but this time it is really weird as the plane approached and I could see everything from the air," said Vrbata, whose Canucks play the Coyotes on Thursday at Gila River Arena. "I was here six seasons. We raised our kids here and I am wondering how it's going to feel walking into the rink and playing a game."
The circumstances of Vrbata's exit have been well documented and there's no point in rehashing them.
In retrospect, Vrbata's departure was probably the first real signal the Coyotes were heading toward a rebuild -- a direction that gained steam at this year's trade deadline when the team dealt away Keith Yandle, Antoine Vermette and Vrbata's fellow countryman, Zbynek Michalek.
"It seems like I made the right decision with the timing of it," Vrbata said. "I don't know if I could have made a difference here. I hope I would have but you could see this coming anyway, if not this season then next year or two years from now.
"With how the team played this year, maybe it sped everything up a little bit."
Vrbata admits it's hard to watch teammates like Shane Doan and Martin Hanzal, and former coach Dave Tippett endure this season, as well the fallout from it. But he moved on.
His oldest son, Krystof, has developed a taste for hockey now that he is living in Canada. He is taking skating lessons and occasionally skates with Vrbata after Canucks practices.
On the ice, Vrbata has 22 goals and 45 points in 60 games with the Canucks. After playing most of the season alongside the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, that line has been broken up as Vancouver trieds to find better balance while chasing a playoff spot in the tightly packed Western Conference. Vrbata was with center Nick Bonino and left wing Derek Dorsett at Thursday's morning skate.
"With Phoenix, we were always in the playoff race so this is nothing new for me," said Vrbata, whose family came with him to Phoenix for a couple days. "From that experience, I know how important every point and game is, no matter if it's October or March."
"The difference is we're in the playoffs right now, we're not chasing a spot, so we can kind of control our own destiny, but it's always great to be in a playoff race."
Of all the trade-deadline acquisitions the Coyotes made over the weekend, the one that excites fans the most is forward Anthony Duclair, who came over from the New York Rangers in the Keith Yandle deal.
"You get him and Max Domi and you've got two really exciting prospects to watch from here onward," NBC's studio analyst Jeremy Roenick said.
Duclair said he was shocked when the trade went down on Sunday, but there is plenty of familiarity with the Coyotes' future personnel, if not Arizona itself. He has been friends with Domi, his World Junior Championship linemate, for years because the two grew up playing against each other. He also knows goalie Louis Domingue, and forwards Laurent Dauphin and Pavel LaPlante.
Anthony Duclair
"Max and I just clicked from the first time we were together at the [2012] U18 Ivan Hlinka [Memorial] Tournament when we won a gold medal," Duclair said. "Ever since then, we've stayed in contact even though he's in Ontario and I'm in Quebec."
Duclair's Quebec Remparts have already clinched a spot in the QMJHL playoffs so there is no chance he'll join the Coyotes before training camp, but he does plan a visit this summer.
"My summer starts June 1 so it will be two short months before it's time to start the season again," he said. "I'm trying to gain some weight and obviously I want to make the team out of training camp so I'm hoping to come in and make a good first impression."
Duclair isn't having quite the season he had last year with the Remparts when he tallied 50 goals and 99 points. He has nine goals and 25 points in 20 games after spending 18 games with the Rangers earlier this season. The decline in stats may be a product of a change in focus, however.
"Playing with the Rangers really benefitted me and my defensive game has really, really improved," he said. "I'm trying to work more on that because I know how important being an all-around player is."
All the same, Duclair was acquired for a reason and he wants to showcase that part of his game, too.
"I bring some energy and I like to use my speed in all aspects of my game; give it my all," he said. "My vision and puck handing skills benefit me as well. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity."
Roenick watched with great interest as the team shed veterans Yandle,Vermette and Michalek at the trade deadline, effectively announcing its intention to rebuild.
"I like what they're doing a lot," he said. "When you fail to make the playoffs and you're battling just to make it to .500 with a great coach, you have to change the environment and you have to change the personnel.
"This team needs to build from the ground up with really strong, young players. They've got some really good picks and a phenomenal chance to get two of the best players (Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel) in a draft in a long time that could change the whole organization."
Roenick understands fans are weary of lean years and promises of better times, but he doesn't see a current alternative.
"You need a marquee player to watch; a guy who's exciting to watch that will make people take that drive out to Glendale," he said. "You have to do all the other stuff, the events, and building the youth hockey and marketing but to get people really excited about hockey you have to play exciting hockey with exciting players. That will put people in the seats."
In the competition for the 30th spot in the NHL standings and the guarantee of drafting either McDavid or Eichel, the Coyotes have 47 points, Edmonton has 46 and Buffalo has 43. All three teams have 18 games left.
Arizona faces 14 teams that are in or tied for current playoff positions. Edmonton faces 10. Buffalo faces eight.
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