I'm wondering if Sabres GM Tim Murray is one of the three honchos to have phoned Don Maloney regarding a trade for the third overall oick in the McEichel draft.
Maloney is looking for young center ice men and Murray has a a surplus of them.
Were I Murray, I'd offer the following Darcy Regier inspired trade package to Arizona for the #3 pick:
* Buffalo's 21st overall pick in 2015 * Mikhail Grigorenko * Cody Hodgson * Nikita Zadorov
Regier drafted Grigorenko and Zadorov and knows them like the back of his hand. Both former high first round selections would add immediate value and lift the Arizona lineup. Grigo's size , shot, play making ability and strength would serve the Dogs well. Grigo's 2914-15 season was his best as a pro. His timeline to the NHL was hastened after the 2012 NHL lockout. He was rushed to the NHL before it was time appropriate. He has bounced between Buffalo the Quebec Remparts and the AHL Rochester Americans. Grigo is RFA ans I feel like he is in need of a change of scenery. Arizona would be a great place for the super talented 20 year old to land at. Why would Buffalo trade him if he is so good? Because they will be drafting Jack Eichel second overall and they will have too many centers with Zemgus Girgensons, Sam Reinhart, Tyler Ennis, and Johan Larsson. Where will Grigo play? He can't play wing. He is a natural center.
Zadorov would immediately be slotted in Arizona's top four D group. Zadorov would add the size, snarl, strength and skill that the Arizona D corps is sadly lacking in. What's more, Zadorov is a former London Knight and will have instant chemistry with his former London teammates Max Domi and Christian Dvorak who are Coyotes prospects. Sabres fans hate when I include Zadorov in trade proposals. The same fans called me every name in the book for daring to suggest that Tim Murray would trade away Tyler Myers. How did that work out?
Hodgson is a 20+ goal scorer who like Grigorenko, would benefit greatly from a trade out west. I have no explanation for why CoHo's production dropped to concerning levels last season. To the besr of my knowledge, he wasn't injured. He was banished to the fourth line by Ted Nolan and could never warn a reprieve or parole from his limited role. Regier trade Zack Kassian for Hodgson because he believed that the kid has the goods to be a solid contributor in the NHL. Regier is a Hodgson supporter. Dave Tippett knows Hodgson from Team Canada's World Championship squad. CoHo Would benefit from a trade to the desert.
Ler's assume Don Maloney and Darcy Regier love my trade offer. What then? Which player would Tim Murray select with Arizona's third overall pick? The answer is easy. Noah Hanifin. The burly Boston College D-man is in my opinion the top defender in this draft. He is big, strong, smart, and can skate like an NHLer. The scary thing is thst Hanifin will only get bigger, stronger, and faster in NHL. Hanifin's offensive upside is noteworthy because his skills translate to the NHL. I see Hanifin as a top 5 D in the next two seasons. I would send him back to BC for another season to work on his offensive game. Trading Zadorov is a huge risk considering his size, speed and physicality. After last season, I have questions about Zadorov's maturity. Yes, I know. He is a 20 year old kid getting paid handsomely to play in the NHL.I wouldn't miss Zadorov if I could replace him with a Drew Doughty clone in Hanifin. What's more is that Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin are good friends away from the rink. The Massachusetts natives are NCAA rivals on the ice and great friends outside of hockey.
Tim Murray should call Don Maloney, if he hasn't already.
***
Thanks, Coyotes TV
Arizona Coyotes GM Don Maloney and his assistant general manager Darcy Regier were in Buffalo last weekend to watch the 120 or so prospects at the NHL Combine. Maloney must have felt ill after watching Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid perform their physical and agility tests. The two generational studs lived up to their advanced billing by nailing their individual workouts. McDavid and Eichel will be the first and second picks in the draft, respectively.
Maloney sang the praises of the Pegulas and the entire Sabres organization for their top notch planning, facilitation and execution of the 2015 NHL Combine in Buffalo.
"Well, first of all, as you probably all know, the combine moved from Toronto where it was for 15 years down to Buffalo, and it was really well done. The Sabre organization, the central scouting led by Dan Marr, they really did a terrific job. It was efficient, well run, well staffed, people were at their interviews on time. We did our interviews in the suites of the building, and then the testing was done in a new facility they have there, and it really was professional. When you look at it and how efficient things were run, they eliminated probably four, five tests that were antiquated 10 years ago and brought in some new modern testing apparatus, so all in all, it couldn't have gone better.
So we ran through 75 interviews over the course of the week, took out three or four special players for dinner, made us pick up the tab. We tried to stick them because they're going to have all the money down the road, but all in all, it was good.
It's interesting, this draft, because if you think about it, the first two picks are that's a lay up. Everybody, even I can mess that up. But intrigue starts in the third pick, and that's our pick, and that's what makes it exciting for us.
If you look at history and you look at that third pick, you can start with a guy who's going to play like Jonathan Toews and Henrik Sedin and Matt Duchene, and just gives you a little idea what the quality of player is for that pick. We're not saying it's going to be next year, and quite frankly that pick, if we do take the pick, really there's more development time needed in my opinion. But it's exciting to think what that might be down the road".
Maloney and the Coyotes missed out on two glorious opportunities to select McDavid and Eichel when the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL Draft Lottery in Toronto on April 19. Edmonton will select McDavid first overall. The 30th place Buffalo Sabres won the second overall pick in the draft and will select Eichel with that pick.
Coyotes CEO Anthony LeBlanc, General Manager Don Maloney and Head Coach Dave Tippett answered questions from reporters on Tuesday
Arizona are the owners of the third overall pick and will have their pick of an exceptional player when they pick. Be it Dylan Strome, Mitch Marner, or Noah Hanifin, Maloney won’t be disappointed with the player that he grabs at #3 overall. The difference between McDavid and Eichel is that the player that Maloney selects in Sunrise most likely will not be playing in the NHL this season.
The Coyotes held their “State Of The Union… address on Tuesday and Maloney said that he a few NHL GMs have inquired with him regarding a trade for his third overall pick.
“I was approached by three teams, had a call right before now asking me what would it take to get that pick, and I’m like, first born, second born, maybe I could use a helicopter to take me to work,… Maloney said.
The Coyotes may be entertaining a trade that would move them down in the first round where they would select a top notch prospect. Maloney can also use the third overall pick as leverage in order to get his hands on a top six center and a top four D-man.
The Coyotes also have five other picks in the first three rounds, including Chicago’s first round pick which will be in the high twenties which they in the Antoine Vermette trade.
“Nobody is going to give us good players without giving up something, and that’s why we are certainly open for business,… Maloney said.
I wonder if Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford would be open to the idea of trading Evgeni Malkin and other assets to Arizona in exchange for Arizona’s third overall pick. The Penguins traded their first round pick (#16) to Edmonton in exchange for David Perron. The 28 year old center has been rumored to be unhappy with the direction that the Pens are headed in. The chatter started circulating around the NHL after Pens ownership decided to retain Rutherford and head coach Mike Johnston after a disappointing 2014-15 season.
Assuming the 2015-16 NHL salary cap is $71 million, the Coyotes will have approximately $17 million to spend just to reach the cap floor. Overall, the Dogs have $37 million to spend to reach the cap ceiling.
Maloney and Coyotes ownership wants to win the Stanley Cup.
Our ultimate goal is to win a Cup. That's why we're here. We know there's a timeline for it. You know, we probably sunk as low as we could ever want to go. We don't want to go back there again. We want to we have some things we need to do. Certainly there's people we need to make some deals, to sign, to fill some holes, there's some free agent spots that we're going to have to fill.
But when I look at this team and roster going forward, starting with our goaltender that had a really good season, finished his season here, led Canada to a world championship and played very well at the world championship, Mike Smith, and I'm really encouraged by how his season finished. We've got really a star we all know Oliver Ekman Larsson who's one of the top defensemen in the league. I think when you look at the return to health of Marty Hanzal and Mikkel Boedker, it's when they went down in January and February, it really affected our team.
Certainly the continued maturation of Tobias Rieder who had a real good year, Connor Murphy is going to grow, Klas Dahlbeck came in and really showed us that there's a real good chance that he could be a regular player for us, and then you bring into the young group that are turning pro, Max Domi and Anthony Duclair or Dauphin. I know we've never force fed the young players into our lineup, guys like Brendan Perlini and Christian Dvorak. It's exciting to me what's coming down the road, and we have to do some good things, but we certainly feel that we can be a much more competitive, get back our identity and respectability and continue to grow this franchise.'
Coyotes ownership has committed to increasing the operating budget which will allow Maloney and Regier add players who can’t be retained by cap-strapped teams like Chicago (Patrick Sharp, Johnny Oduya, Bryan Bickell), St. Louis (T.J. Oshie, Alex Steen), LA (Dustin Brown, Mike Richards). “If we can fill in the rest of the (roster) holes, I think we can all get back to where we want to be in a hurry….
Where exactly is it that Maloney wants to be?
Why build a playoff team when finishing 30th overall will give the Desert Dogs a better chance of winning one of the three draft lottery berths? Arizona native and hockey wiz kid Auston Matthews will be the first overall pick in 2016.
***