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Coyotes Almost Have to Trade First Round Pick

May 14, 2019, 5:05 PM ET [29 Comments]
James Tanner
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The Coyotes have the 14th overall pick in this years draft. They also have most of the rest of their draft picks (missing a fifth, but they have two sixths).

Unfortunately for the Coyotes, even if they were lucky enough to hit on a franchise level player at that draft spot, it is unlikely that they will be able to reap the rewards in time to have it effect the current iteration of their team.

Raanta is 31 ,OEL is 27, Demers 30, Goligoski 48.

Stepan is 28, Grabner is 31, Richardson is 34.

Galchenyuk is 25, Schmaltz is 23, Dvorak is 23 and Keller is 20.

The Coyotes have some nice mid to early 20s pieces, and a few good prospects, but generally speaking, without fully rebuilding, the time to try and win with what they have is now.



Ideally you want to create a sustainable cycle of players where your team is pretty much always good. The Coyotes are working towards that, but for now, the Coyotes will settle for being competitive and making the playoffs.

And that means that if they can somehow use this year's draft pick to make next season's team better, they should do it.

If they coupled their first with a willingness to take back a bad contract, they could probably make out alright.

It's a risk, for sure, but you can't always be building for next year. The Coyotes shouldn't overrate where they are just because they almost made the playoffs, but they also can't ignore the fact that the best player they've ever had - Oliver Ekman-Larsson - is 28 and in the middle of his prime.

They've got two very good goalies, one of which could be an MVP if he could ever stay healthy.

It's time to get a little risky and shoot for some big fish. If that means trading away picks, they have to do it.
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