There have been rumors that the Arizona Coyotes are willing to move down from the No. 3 slot in this draft but when all is said and done I expected them to keep the pick.
Apparently that may not be the case as Coyotes GM Don Maloney has received several inquiries about the pick including some legitimate offers he's giving consideration to.
ARI GM Don Maloney says he has two firm offers to trade outright the No. 3 overall pick in draft that give him "pause to consider."
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 24, 2015Maloney also said he has an offer to swap the No. 3 overall pick for a pick several slots down but still in Top 10.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 24, 2015That 2nd tweet from Bob McKenzie is interesting. When I saw it I immediately landed on Columbus as the team in the top-10 trying to move up.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman did the same.
Don Maloney also said today he's getting offers making him consider moving down from number 3. My guess: one of those teams is Columbus.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 24, 2015The Blue Jackets have not hid from the fact that they need help on the back end. GM Jarmo Kekalainen may be looking to go big-game hunting this weekend in order to address the back end and he has a plethora of attractive assets he could use to try and do so.
Players that could be available include Artem Anisimov, Cam Atkinson and Kerby Rychel, among others, and the Blue Jackets also have 10 picks - headlined by 8th overall and three 2nd round choices - that they could package with a player or two in order to move up.
Trading for the Coyotes' pick and landing a high-end defense prospect who could play in the NHL right away (i.e. Noah Hanifin) is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Blue Jackets. Their blue line issues have been well documented but if you add Hanifin and a healthy Ryan Murray to the mix all of the sudden their future on defense is looking pretty good.
This should be a fun weekend.
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