Coyotes May Trade Away Third Pick

The Coyotes have the No. 3 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, one general manager Don Maloney would be willing to trade, for the right price. Maloney, speaking at Gila River Arena, said he was approached by a few general managers at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo last week about what he would want for the selection. The first round of the draft is June 26 in Sunrise, Fla. The Coyotes went 24-50-8 this season and were in position to have the second pick at the draft until the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL Draft Lottery on April 18, which gave them the No. 1 pick and bumped the Buffalo Sabres to No. 2 and Phoenix to No. 3. Erie Otters forward Connor McDavid and Boston University forward Jack Eichel are expected to be the first two players selected. NHL.com's mock drafts predict Boston College defenseman Noah Hanifin will be third. The Coyotes have stockpiled several quality young players, including forward Anthony Duclair, who was acquired at the NHL Trade Deadline from the New York Rangers as part of the trade for defenseman Keith Yandle.


Don Maloney: "I'm like, 'First-born, second-born, maybe I could use a helicopter to take me to work,' That would certainly get us to start thinking about it. I was approached by three teams. I had a call right before [this press conference] asking me what would it take to get that pick. … All in all, those deals start being discussed now, and if there's a deal there, it'll be on the draft floor. The idea that we're going to trade that pick outright for a player to help us next year, I think that's remote, though you never know. It's probably more likely we trade down if we don't take the pick. We'll see. The first two picks, that's a layup. Even I couldn't mess that up. Intrigue starts in the third pick, and that's our pick. 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 like Jonathan Toews, Henrik Sedin and Matt Duchene … it just gives you a little idea about the quality of player for that pick. We're not saying it's going to be next year, [but] quite frankly that pick, if we do take the pick, there's more development time needed, in my opinion. But it's exciting to think what that might be down the road. [Coach Dave Tippett] and I the last couple of months have spent a lot of time looking at our organization, our roster, our prospects, our staff, and trying to figure out how we can make this work. We know obviously last season did not go the way we certainly expected, but we've worked in conjunction with ownership to get a budget that we can work with, that we think we can come out and certainly get back and be a competitive team, compete for a playoff spot as we grow the franchise. Our ultimate goal is to win a Cup. That's why we're here. We know there's a timeline for it. We probably sunk as low as we could ever want to go. We don't want to go back there again. We have some things we need to do."