Desert Heat at the Draft

Coyotes make some moves at the Draft

The Coyotes entered the draft with a meesly 7th round pick, looking like a starving Coyote running along the highway.  However, they made some huge draft day trades.

The first trade saw them trade their Golden Boy, Trever Zegras.  And what better team to trade him to than the Golden Knights.  "He was widely regarded as untouchable by everyone in our organization.  We had been denying GM's since we acquired him.  Anyone that kicked the tires on him was met with a closed door.  Well, Vegas came along at the draft and kicked that door down.  They made an incredible offer that we felt would help us as an organization.  We got a similar, yet older player in Connor Garland that we can keep or trade for more assets.  We got forward prospects Dylan Holloway and Aleksi Heponiemi and the 3rd OV pick, which we used to draft Mason McTavish".

The second trade saw the departure of Pierre-Luc Dubois.  "We had offered him around the league, and there were offers made, but nothing close to what we ended up receiving.  First was a future #1 goalie in Askarov.  Hopefully he'll backstop us to being a contender one day.  Add in Afanasyev, who is someone we are high on and Linus Karlsson, who broke EP's record in the SHL.  A depth player in Danforth and the 17th OV pick, we were able to get more assets to help make us better in the long run".

The 17th OV pick was then traded for a 2nd rounder (pick 44), a third rounder (pick 69) and young defenceman Samuel Bolduc.  "We didn't see anyone we really liked at that spot, and decided to move back in the draft, while picking up an extra pick and a young dman with upside".

Day 2 of the draft saw more of the same as Arizona traded young foward Max Comtois.  "We were offered pick 42 for him and felt that it was a good deal.  We had a few players we liked at that spot in the draft so we decided to roll the dice on a prospect".

And the last trade saw fan favorite Max Domi packaged with the third rounder (pick 69) in exchange for two 2nds (pick 49 and pick 50).  "Domi was a warrior for us last season, but we felt we could get better value out of the two picks we traded for.  All of the players we traded away will be missed.  We wish them luck with their new teams.  With that being said, we have high hopes for the future of this franshise and we might be making a couple of more trades after the draft, once next years picks are unfrozen".  

Who might be traded for those future picks?  Rumors are Connor Garland and Victor Soderstrom may be on the block in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned to find out.