This past Monday at the trade deadline, the Arizona Coyotes, lead by GM John Chayka made one minor trade.
The Coyotes trade was a conditional 7th rounder pick, in exchange for Columbus Blue Jackets forward Markus Hannikainen. There’s a chance that Coyotes fans don’t get to see him play as he has already been sent down to the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League.
Aside from that trade, the Trade Deadline saw a lot of teams pay 1st round picks for what they wanted. The Tampa Bay Lightning gave up three first-round picks for Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman. The Carolina Hurricanes traded a 1st for Brady Skjei. Kind of shocked, Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon approved that, but ok.
The exception to my examples, Edmonton gave up two 2nd rounders for Andreas Athanasiou, I’m sorry that’s way too much. The New York Islanders paid a 1st, 2nd, and a 3rd for J.G. Paqeau who is just a solid 2nd line Center at best, way too much for him.
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The Arizona Coyotes on the other hand, well, they already have their 1st round pick from this year and possibly next year’s draft, tied up in a knot thanks to the Taylor Hall trade with the New Jersey Devils. With that being said, would it have been worth it for the Coyotes to give up more picks in upcoming drafts?
Well, are the Coyotes one or two moves away from becoming at least the top 15 puck possession team in the league instead of the top 25th in the NHL? I don’t think so. Do I think it would have been a wise idea to move Hall and Soderberg? No, even if they don’t re-sign and the Coyotes miss the playoffs. I think it’s way too important to keep the veterans who already know how to play in this league, to show (Clayton Keller I’m looking in your direction) the young kids on this roster how.
When was the last time the Coyotes developed a solid, consistent scorer? I’ll wait because the last guy I can recall the Coyotes drafting and developing a scorer, you might have to go all the way back to Shane Doan. Because this organization traded away Turris, Domi, and Strome. In this league, you can’t just draft kids and have them learn how to play in this league on their own. You have to also have veterans in the room to show them how to be an NHLer in the league too.