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Coyotes Trade Sam Gagner to Flyers |
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UPDATE:
The Sam Gagner era is over.
The Coyotes have just traded him to the Flyers for Nick Grossman and the contract of Chris Pronger, which I assume is just to help them hit the cap floor and do the Flyers a favor.
I don't think he'll be patrolling the blue-line for the Coyotes anytime soon.
While I was one of Gagner's biggest supporters, the Coyotes don't see him in a bottom-six role and the top-six is filling up quickly.
Grossman is a possession nightmare with little to no offensive skill. He's a defensive defenseman and bottom pair type of guy. He's never been a positive possession player since the 2008 season and he is only going to take ice-time away from a young player.
He makes $3.5 as a cap hit for this coming season.
He's probably got tons of character and will be a real locker-room guy. Woo hoo.
I hate this trade.
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What a crazy day.
After being rumored to be trading the #3 pick, the Coyotes ended up keeping it and selecting Dylan Strome.
Strome, a 6'3 centre with great play-making skill and intelligence to make up for his lack of speed, is considered a blue-chip NHL #1C and it turned out nothing could persuade the Coyotes not to pick him.
Good.
If you consider that in most years there are not players of McDavid and Eichel's quality available, Strome is essentially a #1 overall pick in a normal draft. People compare him to Joe Thornton for his ability to slow a game down and take it over at his own speed.
This is an absolutely fantastic day for the Coyotes, because not only did they add a #1 Centre, they also drafted a player at #30 - Nick Merkley - who was ranked way higher. Craig Button had him at 18, Adam French had him at 15 and the Coyotes themselves had him ranked 13th.
Pretty good to get him at 30, considering he had 90 points in 70 games last season in the WHL. His scouting report calls him an intelligent C/W who is undersized, but a great play making who thinks the game at an elite level. For a team short on high-end centres, this was a great pick.
Dougie Hamilton
While the Coyotes did not end up acquiring the ex-Bruins defenseman, I saw this morning on TSN that they had offered the 30th pick and a good prospect and were waiting for a return call when the trade-call to the Flames went through.
I think that Hamilton is a great player and his acquisition would have been crazy, but this just adds to the excitement of drafting Strome because Maloney apparently could have had Hamilton but refused to part with the #3 pick.
All in all, it was a great day for the Coyotes and I'll keep it updated if anything else goes down.
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