By Zackery Robert
The Arizona Coyotes have been drafting in Arizona since 1996 and have had some decent names come up along the way. With one exception to this list, as he was drafted by the jets but only played one season for them before moving to Arizona and then only playing for the Coyotes franchise. Let’s see just how well they’ve drafted throughout their history.
To start off we will go with the most obvious name that comes up when you think of the Arizona coyotes, Shane Doan. Shane was drafted seventh overall in the 1995 draft for what would be the Coyotes franchise. Playing over 1500 games and scoring a little over 400 goals and amassing 972 points in his 21 seasons, which 20 were with the Coyotes jersey on, Doan was the face of the franchise. Doan captained the Coyotes for 13 seasons and retired as the NHL’s longest tenured captain.
Coming up second in the Coyotes best picks would be that of Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The Swedish defensemen was selected sixth overall in the 2009 draft and was considered at top defenseman during parts of his time in the desert. With a handful of 40+ point seasons and one 55 point season Ekman-Larsson was a great pick up for the Coyotes especially when their defence was in need of a consistent too pairing player.
Third on this list would be what would be considered one of their two best picks of the last decade. Clayton Keller, with three 60+ point seasons and this year being his first 30+ goal season and his first season that will finish with over a point per game, Keller has turned into the star the Coyotes thought he would be when they drafted him seventh in 2016.
Now for some less than great picks that the Coyotes have made over the years. We start off with 2010 13th overall pick Brandon Gormley. Gormley played a total of 58 games in his NHL career and only 32 with the Coyotes and amassed 4 points in that time. Gormley had the ability to be a second pair defenseman but never even touched that potential. At 13th you would expect a little more result out of the pick.
Next up we will have to go all the way back to their inaugural draft to see the Coyotes select Dan Fichte 11th overall in the 1996 draft. Focht played a total of 82 NHL games between 2001-2004 before retiring fully in 2006. With the Coyotes he played only 18 games and scored zero points in that time. Considering some of the players drafted after Focht, Daniel Briere, Dainius Zubrus, Marco Sturm and Matt Cullen, this pick is quite disappointing.
Third and final pick of this article would be 2007 third overall pick Kyle Turris. Turris had a ton of hype behind him after being selected third overall in 2007 but after a few rocky years in Arizona (then phoenix), he was traded away to the Ottawa Senators. Trading away your third overall player only four years after drafting him and having one of those seasons full time in the AHL doesn’t bode well for your future. Turris only played 137 games for the Coyotes and scored 46 points. Coupled with the lacklustre return on his trade to Ottawa, David Rundblad and Anthony Stolarz, this pick turned out to be more than it was worth for the Coyotes franchise.
Now flash forward to 2023, the Coyotes sit in the bottom eight teams and are eliminated from the playoffs this year. For the Coyotes in their last 10 years of drafting in the first round, (not including 2019) they have selected 10 forwards and four defence, in which only two defence remain with the club, one being a 2022 draft pick in Maveric Lamoureux. With this information it is clear that the Coyotes lack defensive prospects and defence in general on their team so the Coyotes would be hard pressed not to go with defender Axel Sandin Pellikka, even if the Coyotes select higher than Pellikka’s projected 10th overall choice, it would be the best choice for their future. If they choose to go with someone else between six to eight they would be best going for a winger to go along with the trio of young prospects Guenther, Geekie, and Cooley, the latter two play centre, so their best bets could be Eduard Sale, Zach Benson, or Andrew Cristall.
2023 Draft Picks: 1st, 1st (OTT), 2nd, 3rd (EDM), 3rd (WSH), 3rd (NYI), 3rd, 4th, 5th, 5th (VGK), 6th, 6th (CBJ).
For more information on the 2023 NHL Draft class be sure to pick up your copy of the comprehensive DraftPro 2023 NHL Draft Guide.