The NHL entry draft is one of my favorite times of year. The drafting itself is alright, and it's always exciting to see who your team will get, but the real excitement comes from the trades.
It's the one time of year that people actually look forward to seeing Gary Bettman. If you see him hit the stage, you know a trade has gone down. He still gets booed, but by this time you know it's almost just a tradition rather than anything personal.
So what can the Coyotes look forward to at the draft?
It's hard to say. This is a franchise on the brink of contention, but one that is working with a reduced budget and is a non-destination for free agents and guys with no-trade clauses. So, in my opinion the Coyotes need to be both aggressive and creative in player acquisitions if they are to compete.
The 'Yotes pick 12h overall in the draft, and for a team who missed the playoffs and lacks any elite level prospects, this is unacceptable.
While I advocated trading for Jason Spezza on Friday, and still do, one of the best way for the Coyotes to improve would be to draft someone who is NHL ready (or close to it) and take advantage of the cheap price tag and negligible cap hit of playing a rookie.
The Coyotes are stacked, as I am wont to tell you every few days or so, with NHL ready defenseman. The team cannot hope to dress Summers, Stone, Gormely, and Murphy all at once, and given the importance and relative dearth of quality defenseman in the NHL at any given time, they have capital and need to spend it wisely.
Moving up in the draft is not something I would expect, but it is something I hope for and recommend. It would be nice if the Coyotes could move up and select first overall, but anything in the top five would net them a nice prospect who may have a chance at stepping right into the NHL.
Even if none of this year's prospects are of the Sidney Crosby variety, there is always a chance of hitting a home-run in the draft, and the higher you pick, the better your odds.
Should the Coyotes get a top-line offensive player who can play in the NHL within a year or two, it could fast-track their path to competitiveness.
I have long suggested that trading Yandle would be a mistake. Mostly because he is one of the most fun players to watch play, and because the combo of him and OEL on the power-play is one of the best and least talked about things in the NHL. That being said, maybe he could be used to tempt the Panthers, who are open to moving the top pick, into sending it to Arizona.
Don't get me wrong: I don't think they should trade Keith Yandle, but I also don't think they can afford to call anyone untouchable except for Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Florida is rumored to be in negotiations to get Phaneuf out of Toronto for the top pick, and while Yandle isn't as good as Phaneuf, Phoenix does have some nice pieces that could spruce up the package.
Two picks in the top 12 would be an amazing coupe for the Coyotes. With their defense and goaltending, two high level forward prospects to go with Domi and Samuelson would just be outstanding.
It's a dream, I know, but it's fun to think about.
My hope is that the Coyotes realize that given their handicaps, the only thing they can do to compete is to be an outside the box thinking team. Moving up in the draft would be a great way to start doing that.
Oh, and finding new homes for Ribeiro, Erat, Doan, Klinkhammer, Bissonnette, Kennedy, Chipchura, Vrbata and Moss.
Wait, Jimmy, are you saying they should get rid of 9 out of their 13 forwards?
Yes I am. They - with the possible exception of Nashville - have the worst group of forwards in the NHL. I can live with a few of those guys returning, but outside of Vermette, Boedker, Hanzal and Korpikoski, the Coyotes need to clean house and bring in some youth.
Creativity. Bold Moves. Youth, and Accountability to the duds who couldn't score enough to get a team with one of the best groups of defenseman in hockey into the Playoffs. That's all I want.
Is that asking too much?