The Coyotes missed out on Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner (that one hurts) and Rasmus Dahlin.
The constant losing has not resulted in the kind of blue-chip franchise player that other teams have been lucky enough to hit on.
The Coyotes have some really nice pieces: Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Jacob Chychrun, Alex Galchenyuk, Christian Fischer, Christian Dvorak, Vinnie Hinostroza, Barrett Hayton and Nick Merkley.
But they do not have a franchise player.
And we all know there is only one way to get one of those.
Win the lottery.
What's the best way to win the lottery?
Be in last place.
And, given the Coyotes injury situation this is a no-brainer.
Were the Coyotes to add Jack Hughes to their roster, they'd be able to make a Toronto Maple Leafs-like instant turnaround.
So that is what they've got to do.
They should move out any pieces they can, retaining any salary they can, and get as many draft picks for next year as possible. Stepan, Oesterle, Grabner, Goligoski, Hjalmarsson, Cousins, Richardson, Panik......get what they can, lose as much as possible and hope like hell they win the lottery.
The team has no chance at making the playoffs. They have five guys on the IR, including season ending injuries to their #1 goalie, #2 defensem and #2 centre.
The only way this team is ever going to excell is if they get that franchise player. Their attentions need to be on making that happen.