Arizona Coyotes Should Still Draft A Defenseman At 7th Overall
Arizona Coyotes General Manager John Chayka secured the services of defenseman Alex Goligoski, but that doesn’t mean the Coyotes’ work on the blue-line is done.
In a somewhat surprising move, the Arizona Coyotes secured the services of former Dallas Stars defender Alex Goligoski three full days before their exclusive window to negotiate with the player expired.
The move for Goligoski had been a low risk, high reward deal to acquire his negotiating rights from Dallas.
Chayka’s gamble paid off and Head Coach Dave Tippett is looking at the opportunity to ice two solid two-way pairings in front of goaltenders Mike Smith and Louis Domingue.
With Goligoski in the fold and presumably slotting in on the team’s second defensive pairing, however, will Chayka be more likely to steer away from drafting defense on June 24th?
Unless there’s some wonderful steal of a deal floating out there that results in a surprise forward selection, let’s hope not.
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The Arizona Coyotes do not have much NHL viable defensive depth in their prospect group, yet they are pretty stacked on the offensive end.
The franchise is on the cusp of having two centers who are NHL ready, or near NHL ready, and just traded a third promising centerman prospect to San Jose for a 2016 4th round pick and a 2017 3rd round pick.
Promising wingers Brendan Perlini and Conor Garland will be playing 2016-17 in the AHL in Tucson at the minimum, and there are a few more prospects behind even them. A highly valued defensive prospect doesn’t exist in the pipeline, however.
There’s Dakota Mermis and Kyle Wood who may develop into NHL caliber players eventually, but neither appear to be near cracking an Arizona Coyotes defensive group that is very top heavy and quite disappointing afterwards.
Insert a name like Jakob Chychrun, Mikhail Sergachyov, or even better, Olli Juolevi, and that pipeline looks a whole lot better.
Juolevi is the name that seems to sit at the top of the defensive prospects list most often, and for good reason.
Elite Prospects gushed about the London Knights’ defender saying the kid is “a very sturdily built D-man that leans into his hits, competes hard, and possesses elite-level vision and hockey sense. Looks stronger game-by-game and adapts very quickly to his surroundings and situations.”
Juolevi is a prospect that could conceivably provide the Arizona Coyotes with the same kind of vision and two-way strength as Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The franchise needs that defensive talent to shore up the NHL depth chart in the near future, as well as push the prospects below the NHL to reach a new level.
Chayka and company cannot pass Juolevi up if he’s available. The same could probably be said for Mikhail Sergachyov, whose offensive instincts have been touted by many scouts and analysts.
Jakob Chychrun appears to have fallen behind his peers in the final months of scouting, and would seem the least likely to be drafted at 7th overall.
John Chayka has a bunch of options on his plate ahead of June 24th.
He can swing for the fences and Auston Matthews. He can try for extra bases and move up to draft another forward such as Matthew Tkachuk. Chayka can attempt to leverage the 7th and/or 20th overall pick into some form of deal that secures the services of a top-caliber player, such as Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.
Alternatively, he can make the safe and prudent move.
Next: Coyotes Sign Goligoski To Five-Year Deal
Stand pat. Draft Juolevi or whichever defender his team of scouts and analytics people have identified as the best fit for the Arizona Coyotes.
That player may not help the team in 2016-17, but they are likely to pay dividends in the very near future.