Antoine Vermette is headed back to the Coyotes. (USATSI)
Antoine Vermette is headed back to the Coyotes. (USATSI)

Antoine Vermette went out and got his first Stanley Cup and now he’s headed back to a team he clearly enjoyed playing for. The veteran center signed a free-agent deal with the Arizona Coyotes, the team he spent the previous four seasons with before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks near the trade deadline last season.

Vermette signed a two-year deal worth $3.75 million annually, according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, to return to the desert.

In his last stint with the club, Vermette posted 111 points in 215 games. He finished last season with Chicago, notching three assists in 19 regular-season games, but really made his trade worth it in the playoffs. Vermette scored four big goals for Chicago and finished the postseason with seven points playing in a third-line center role as the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

The 32-year-old was emotional upon leaving Arizona last season, so there was a lot of speculation that he'd potentially go right back as a free agent.

Now the Coyotes got the best possible return out of their trade with Chicago. Not only do they have a top defensive prospect in Klas Dahlbeck. They also got Chicago’s first-round pick, which they used on Nick Merkley at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. And now they have the guy they traded for both of those assets on a very affordable deal.

It's kind of like the perfect trade. Vermette got his name on the Cup and the Coyotes only lost him for a couple of months.

Arizona also brought back veteran defenseman Zbynek Michalek on a two-year deal after trading him near the deadline last season. That’s not a bad day for GM Don Maloney.

The Coyotes are rebuilding, but even rebuilding teams need veterans. Even more than that, though, they need veterans that actually want to be there and be part of what’s happening. It’s clear Vermette and Michalek want to be those kinds of players. That will do wonders for youngsters like Max Domi, Anthony Duclair and if he makes the team next year, No. 3 pick Dylan Strome.

Getting players to come to Arizona given the turmoil the organization is going through is going to be difficult. Maloney admitted that some free agents were scared away by that. So getting players that know the team, know the coach and are all too familiar with the situation is only a positive.

These aren’t the kinds of deals that will get the Coyotes to where they want to go from a standings standpoint, but they could pay off in the interim years before the team can truly start the upswing portion of the rebuilding process.