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Coyotes’ Dysin Mayo is living his dream
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Peoria Times Executive Editor
Arizona Coyotes defenseman Dysin Mayo has a little hockey player in his midst.
Seventeen months ago, he and his wife, Brittney, became the parents of a baby boy.
“We bought mini sticks for Christmas,” Mayo said. “He loves them now. He grabs them and brings them to me. He loves coming to the games and watching. He sits in his seat, watching the entire time. It makes it easy for my wife to watch him.”
Mayo’s son will have several more years of watching the game. Recently, Mayo inked a three-year contract with the Arizona Coyotes. As per club policy, the terms were not disclosed.
“It’s definitely nice having a threeyear contract,” he said. “I never knew where I was going to be season to season.”
General manager Bill Armstrong said, “We are very pleased to sign Dysin to a new three-year contract. Dysin has worked extremely hard on and off the ice and has established himself as a reliable NHL defenseman. We look forward to having him on our blue line for years to come.”
At 25 years old, the defenseman is an NHL veteran.
“I still feel pretty young,” he said. “I’m still a rookie in the NHL, but I’m a veteran in the pro hockey ranks. It’s gone by quickly, and I’ve enjoyed it. It’s going to go by quickly, so I have to hold on to it.”
Mayo’s path to the NHL includes 258 games in the American Hockey League and 25 in the ECHL. He played his previous six seasons in the AHL, scoring 42 points (13 goals, 29 assists) with a plus-8 rating for Springfield and Tucson.
“I think with my personality and my work ethic, I can bring veteran leadership to the team and show younger guys coming up what it takes to make it,” Mayo said.
“I spent a lot of years in the minors. I know what these young guys are feeling down in the AHL. I can be a mentor for guys in that situation or situations that are similar to what I was in.”
Mayo has recorded 3-3-6 with 8 penalty minutes in 42 games with the Coyotes this season, as of March 14. He made his NHL debut and scored his first career NHL goal on Oct. 21 versus the Edmonton Oilers. Mayo became the eighth defenseman in franchise history to score in his NHL debut.
The 6-foot-2, 183-pound defenseman is first on the team in shorthanded time-on-ice/game (3:10) and third among Coyotes in time-on-ice/game (20:45). He leads the team with 83 blocked shots and is first among current Arizona defensemen with 64 hits. Mayo ranks second among NHL rookies in TOI/G and blocked shots, trailing only Detroit’s Moritz Seider.
The Victoria, British Columbia, native has also totaled 13-29-42 with 151 PIM in 258 career American Hockey League games.
Mayo, who was drafted by the Coyotes in the fifth round (133rd overall) in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, has spent his entire professional career in the organization and was an original member of the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL) in 2016-17.
“I was in Tucson for five seasons,” Mayo said. “Living down there was awesome. It’s one of the best cities in the AHL. My wife’s been down with me the whole time. We have a kid now, too, and a dog. It’s awesome living in the warmth all year-round. We like hiking. We haven’t done a lot of it lately with the little one, but when we were down in Tucson, we did a lot of hiking.”
The Coyotes have had a rough go this season, but Mayo says the team is starting to gel, considering the rebuild.
“We’ve been rolling as a team, playing the right way,” Mayo said. “We’re keeping it simple. We’ve had some fortunate bounces, and the pucks are going in. We’ve been clicking. We have a completely different team than last year.
“We didn’t change anything up since the beginning of the season. We just stuck to what coach wanted to do, and we knew things would turn around. They did.” PT
Arizona Coyotes defenseman Dysin Mayo says the team is starting to click. (Getty Images/Submitted)
