Follow @james_tanner123 With only 27 days to go until the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, excitement is building. Sure, there's a second game seven tonight (and last night's intense battle between TB and NYR did not disappoint) and the Finals are always exciting, but if you're a fan of a team that hasn't played in nearly two months, and will be picking early in next month's draft, odds are you're secretly looking past the Final towards the draft.
And who could blame you, this years draft features so many good players that anyone who picks in the top ten or so is optimistic about getting a potential franchise player.
And for the Coyotes, who have the third overall pick (but the first one with any mystery) the draft can't come soon enough. It's an exciting time - Arizona hasn't picked in the top ten since 2009 when they selected Oliver Ekman-Larsson sixth overall. Looking back, it's hard to believe he fell that low, but he did.
The Coyotes have only ever picked as high as third-overall once in franchise history (as the Coyotes and ignoring the Jets franchise pre-1996). That pick was Kyle Turris and while it was a great pick, he was traded for peanuts and can currently be seen as the Senators top centre.
Perhaps one of the reasons the Coyotes have failed to win a cup in the nearly 20 year history of the team is that they haven't had very many top-ten picks. Despite moving to the desert in 1996, they didn't make their first top-ten pick until they used the 5th pick to take Blake Wheeler in 2004 - a player who they didn't sign, who never played a game for the team and who they did not even receive anything for when he signed with Boston.
The next top-ten pick the Coyotes made was in 2006 when they took Peter Mueller at 8th. Despite a 54 point rookie season that saw him poised for stardom, Mueller is widely seen as a draft bust. He played three seasons for the Coyotes they was traded for fifty-some games of Wojtek Wolski.
Kyle Turris was the third top-ten pick in franchise history. We know how that worked out.
The fourth was Mikkel Boedker, selected 8th overall in 2008. We like him and he's talented, but he hasn't exactly justified his draft position yet. There's still time, but for the second best top ten pick in franchise history, it ain't much.
The fifth and last (until this year) was OEL who was picked 6th in 2009, as I already mentioned.
To sum it up: the Coyotes moved to Arizona in 1996 and since then they've picked in the top-ten just five times. Out of those five times, they picked 3rd, 5th, 8th, 8th and 6th, and recieved two useful players.
So, if you're looking for a reason the Coyotes have never been competitive for a long enough time to really establish themselves, you have to look no further than their pathetic draft record. Five top-ten picks is pretty lousy if you've missed the Playoffs as often as the Coyotes have in twenty years. Add in that they've picked just two impact players in that time and it gets even worse.
So, that is what makes this years draft so special: It's not just the chance to make the highest pick the team has ever made (equal to Turris' 3rd overall) but it's the chance to make good on years of bad picks. Strome, Marner, Hanifin.......who really cares? They're all going to be stars and a great argument can be made for each.
It is good luck that the only two impact players the Coyotes have drafted in the top-ten are still young enough to make a difference and to have a third added now bodes well for the future. Add in recent should-a been top-ten pick Max Domi, the fact that last years draft looks to have been a gold-mine for the Coyotes (Perlini, Dvorak, MacInnis) and the additions of Duclair, Letunov, and two bonus firsts and you can see why every Coyotes fan has draft fever:
Because this team is about to get really, really good.
Thanks for reading.