Keith Ballard is a Priority

by Pbcoyotes

Phoenix Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney calls Keith Ballard a priority player. If he was a priority player, I would like to think he would be signed by now.

According to the article in the Arizona Republic, the snags of the contract are the length and the financial terms. Based on the fact that Ballard was the one of the few shining spots in a dismal Phoenix Coyotes season last year, he'll be worth every penny that they choose to spend on him.

Even though Maloney has not categorized the discussions as antagonistic, I really don't see a reason why it is taking so long to sign one of the future impact defenseman of the Western Conference (if he isn't one already).

With the Coyotes vision of the youth movement, he's at their perfect age of 24 and has had two solid years of NHL performance. He is ranked among the top 70 defensemen in the NHL in every category and will be the future anchor of the blue line.

Therefore, it's perplexing to me just why he has not been signed yet. Every time I see reasons to think the Coyotes are going in the right direction, there have been an equal number of situations where I have to take pause and say, "Um...what's that, exactly?"

The signing of Ballard was a no-brainer at the beginning of the off-season and if Maloney isn't careful, he'll get the contract he wants, but when it's time for Ballard to be the Unrestricted Free Agent, he'll depart to teams that actually covet his services.