Arizona Coyotes NHL Draft Grade, Prospect Analysis/Review
Arizona Coyotes remained fairly quiet at the NHL Draft, other than packaging their second pick in the 1st round to move up and grab highly touted defender at 16th overall. The Yotes made five total picks this past weekend, but as expected, John Chayka and company targeted analytic friendly prospects.
After nabbing U.S. National Development Program standout center Clayton Keller with their first pick, Arizona took four straight defenseman. Both Jakob Chychrun and Cam Dineen have the potential to be impact players in different ways from the back end. Chychrun should eventually log big minutes, and Dineen can provide an offensive spark.
The only thing missing now is depth between the pipes. It seems Mike Smith‘s best years are behind him, and Louis Domingue could use another year or so in the minors. Arizona could target a short-term option such as Ondrej Pavelec.
While moving up in the first round, the Coyotes absorbed the final year of Pavel Datsyuk‘s $7.5 million dollar cap hit from Detroit.
It helps them get closer to the cap floor, but there’s still more money to spend in free agency.
Below, we have included our mock draft prospect profile for each player selected. Directly underneath is our final mock draft ranking/team, as well as NHL Central Scouting’s Final Ranking.
Arizona Coyotes NHL Draft Grade: B+
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Arizona Coyotes NHL Draft Prospect Analysis
Our Final Mock Rankings: 13th (Carolina)
NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings: 9th NA Skaters
Between Dylan Strome, Christian Dvorak, and Clayton Keller, Arizona should be able to find a quality 1-2 tandem up the middle, while any one of the three can easily slide to the wing. Keller is legitimate number one center material.
Our Final Mock Rankings: 10th (Colorado)
NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings: 4th NA Skaters
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No top prospect saw their stock drop as much as Jakob Chychrun in 2015-16.
It wasn’t necessarily an indication of his play, so much as how well the other highly ranked players excelled.
Scouts said he was one of three defenders in this class with no.1 potential (Olli Juolevi and Mikhail Sergachev the others).
Our Final Mock Rankings: 33rd (Florida)
NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings: 39th NA Skaters
Dineen shot up draft boards during the second half of the OHL regular season. It was a slow adjustment to major junior hockey in his rookie season, but he was able to create a ton of offense from the back end once he found his groove.
Our Final Mock Rankings: Not Ranked
NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings: Not Ranked
Our Final Mock Rankings: Not Ranked
NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings: 133rd NA Skaters
Next: Arizona Coyotes Free Agency Preview
Overall, new GM John Chayka had a solid first draft to begin his tenure. The flexibility to take on the Datsyuk contract essentially made snagging a top four defender possible.
With a high volume of top-end prospects on their way next Fall, Arizona faces a few difficult decisions this offseason. Firstly, they need to look to unload Martin Hanzal‘s contract, and could even explore the trade market for RFA Tobias Rieder. With the addition of another goaltender, the Arizona Coyotes could be playoff contenders in 2016-17.