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Call of the desert wild. Two centers for a Yotes team that's weak at center |
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Sportsnet's Elliott Friedman, via his 30 Thoughts, has the third and fourth overall picks of the 2015 NHL Draft possibly in play this year. Arizona sits in the third spot while the Toronto Maple Leafs are right behind Coyotes at No. 4.
Friedman quotes Leafs co-GM (should they put "interim" in the title as well?) Kyle Dubas as saying (via the Toronto Star) "it's something we would definitely look at." Dubas then qualifies it by saying, “If someone else was adamant about a player, we’re pretty comfortable with the players in that (4-6) cluster," meaning they're probably not interested in going any lower than No. 6.
As it stands, the Leafs have two first-rounders (their own plus No. 24 from Nashville) but no second-round picks and Dubas said, "We need to be acquiring as many draft pick assets as we can, as many prospects as we can. If there was something that made sense, we’d be open to listening and having some thorough discussions on the fourth pick.”
The 'Yotes are in full-fledged rebuild mode even going as far as to trade Keith Yandle, who had term on his contract, to the NY Rangers at the trade deadline. They have one exceptional piece to build upon in defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and two real strong prospects in center/forward Max Domi and winger Anthony Duclair, but they're very weak down the middle.
Arizona finished 29th in the league last season and had one of Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel staring them in the face until the Edmonton Oilers won the Draft Lottery. It pushed them down to No. 3 at the draft prompting 'Yotes president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc to say "It felt like someone punched me in the stomach," just minutes after the Gold logo came up Edmonton.
With the chips landing where they did, it put the Coyotes in a tough spot at the draft. They could go after the consensus 3rd-overall pick in defenseman Noah Hanifin or they could go after center Dylan Strome who lead the OHL in scoring with 129 points (45+84.) Or if GM Don Maloney feels he can get an equal player by trading down a few notches he could do that as well, which is why Friedman has the Columbus Blue Jackets in the mix with the 8th-overall pick.
Last year Arizona skated with two-way center Martin Hanzal atop the depth-chart, although he's much better suited to a top-six role, and Marc Acobello who's more suited to a third-line/bottom-six role. Regardless of what they do at the draft, they'll still leave the Sunrise, FL weak down the middle. According to Friedman, "[GM Maloney] made it pretty clear the Coyotes need to find centres. Where do you get them? The best place is the draft."
Which is all well and good two or three years down the road. Unless they trade for one who could jump into the lineup right now. A team that could help them out for the near future would be the Buffalo Sabres.
Buffalo is almost assuredly taking Eichel with the second-overall pick at the draft and he immediately becomes the top center in the organization. Behind him is a strong, young group of centers who will fall in line. The list includes top-six center, Zemgus Girgensons and prospect Sam Reinhart. Reinhart was the seconnd-overall pick in last year's draft and is projected out as a strong top-six/possible top-line center candidate. Also in the roster-mix for next season, and probably rounding out the top-four down the middle, is Johan Larsson who displayed solid top-nine skills last year.
Behind those four are former first round picks Cody Hodgson (2008, 10th-overall, VAN) and Mikhail Grigorenko (2012, 12th.) With events unfolding the way they have for the Sabres, one or even both may not be in the equation moving forward as neither have shown the capacity to be placed higher on the depth chart nor does their skill-set make them a fit for bottom-six roles. Arizona needs centers, Buffalo has two that might be of interest.
There are a myriad of strands weaving through a potential trade with the 'Yotes and the Sabres featuring Hodgson and Grigorenko beginning with Arizona senior vice president and assistant general manager, Darcy Regier.
Regier, of course, was the general manager of the Buffalo Sabres for 17 years before being shown the door on November 13, 2013. He had many flaws, most of them occurring from July 1, 2007 to the middle of the 2011-12 season, but kudos should be thrown his way for the tear-down of his roster and the incredible haul he got for the players he traded away.
He was also in house during a 2012 philosophical shift when the Buffalo Sabres began to structure their rebuild around centers. It began when Regier traded winger Zack Kassian, (2009, 13th) for Hodgson and continued when team then proceeded to take five centers in the 2012 draft including first-rounders Grigorenko and Girgensons (14th-overall.) Those moves plus an additional focus upon centers helped move the team from weakness down the middle to a position of strength when you add in Eichel and Reinhart.
Hodgson and Grigorenko, who were seen as top-six centers (maybe even top-line) by Regier seemed to have fallen out of favor with the present regime although with the way the past two years have gone, featuring consecutive last place Sabres teams, there could be a debate as to whether it was the player or the circumstances. Regardless, one can't discount the continued growth of Girgensons and Larsson in the organization while making excuses for Hodgson and Grigorenko's fall down the depth chart during the same time-frame.
Also of note is that present GM Tim Murray has no ties to either player. As a career scout, and after a year and a half as Sabres GM, Murray has a pretty good idea as to where these two are and what their upside might be.
Although he hasn't blatantly shown the desire to purge the team of his predecessor's players, Murray wasn't hesitant to move Regier's key players and prospects to get pieces he felt strongly about. Murray kicked things off when he sent Sabres defensive prospect Brayden McNabb (2009, 66th) to Los Angeles as part of a package that brought back two forward prospects (Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers.) That trade may be viewed as a harbinger of things to come.
A year later on February 11, 2015 Murray traded Tyler Myers along with one of their top prospects in winger Joel Armia to Winnipeg as a part of the Evnader Kane deal. Both Myers and Armia were considered to be future core players under Regier at one point, just like Hodgson and Grigorenko, so a precedence is certainly there.
What to do with Hodgson and the four years/$18 million dollars remaining on his contract is a huge question for the Sabres this off season and rumors of a potential buyout have been floating for a while. And, for as much progress as Grigorenko has made through gross mismanagement, mostly by Regier, he, like Hodgson, is of no use in a bottom-six role with the type of skill-set he has.
With Arizona rebuilding and needing to get to the cap, a case could be made for Hodgson being shipped out to the desert to help them reach the cap floor as well as buy some time while their youngins develop. He may even find his 20-goal stride again. From Buffalo's side, even if the Sabres need to eat a portion of his salary, getting some kind of return is better than paying him not to play in Buffalo via buyout.
As for Grigorenko, he's only 21 and the talent he was drafted for hasn't gone away. It might be a classic case of needing a fresh start. A move to Arizona with the AGM who drafted him with an opportunity to play top-six minutes might help kick things in gear for him. It's an opportunity he probably won't have in Buffalo.
Before y'all get all crazy and whatnot, this is not to suggest that Arizona would trade the No. 3-overall pick for either or both of them. But what they do have to offer in return is one of the multiple picks in each of the first three rounds. Although most would agree that another draft pick is probably the last thing Buffalo needs, at this point in time it's better than a stick in the eye.
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