High pick waits to see what unfolds
Strome doesn’t know what draft will bring
First he thought he was going to Arizona. Then it was Columbus. Then Toronto and Winnipeg and even Philadelphia joined the mix. And as the day progressed and Dylan Strome kept checking his phone, new teams kept popping up every few minutes.
The 18- year- old prospect has not yet been drafted into the NHL, but he already felt like he had been traded multiple times over. And he already had the sweat stains to prove it.
“It’s nerve- racking,” Strome said. “It’s just going to make for some good television. It’s going to be fun. I’m going to be sweating, I’m going to be sweating like crazy tomorrow, that’s for sure. I’m going to be nervous.”
While we know that Edmonton and Buffalo are going to make Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel the first two picks, respectively, in Friday night’s NHL Draft, what Arizona does at No. 3 has always been a bit of a mystery. Even more so lately.
“I have Twitter too, so I read things,” said Strome. “I don’t even know if they’re going to stay in Arizona or they’re going to trade the pick or what’s going to happen. I guess they don’t have too much time to decide. It’s out of my control. It’s not like I can trade the pick for them or I can keep the pick, so we’ll just go to the draft and see what happens.”
The Coyotes initially intended on selecting the Erie Otters centre, who led the Ontario Hockey League in scoring. But in the last week they made it widely known that their selection was available. You can debate how serious Arizona’s intentions are.
After all, every year teams dangle their top pick to see what’s out there. Few actually act on it.
Two years ago, New Jersey traded the No. 9 overall pick to Vancouver in exchange for goaltender Cory Schneider. A year earlier, Pittsburgh acquired Carolina’s No. 8 overall pick as part of the trade for Jordan Staal. And in 2008, Toronto sent the New York Islanders a second- and a third- round pick to move up two spots from seventh overall to fifth overall.
But you have to go back to 2003, when Florida traded their No. 1 and No. 73 picks to Pittsburgh for the No. 3 and No. 55 picks, when a trade in the top- 3 was made.
This is a little different. No one is talking about Edmonton or even Buffalo parting with their first picks. But because the waters are so muddy from the No. 3 pick onward, a team like Arizona can potentially move down up to 10 spots and get a player of similar talent.
Most lists have Strome as the third- best player. Others have Boston College defenceman Noah Hanifin or London Knights winger Mitch Marner. Some believe Russian defenceman Ivan Provorov will leapfrog them all.
“The third pick is kind of the next- best thing, I think,” Strome said. “Obviously, whether it’s a defenceman or a centre or a winger, everybody’s hoping for that spot. I guess it’s cool to be in those talks. Anything can happen on draft day.”
The third pick is kind of the next- best thing … I guess it’s cool to be in those talks. Anything can happen on draft day.
It is not just Arizona that is generating drama and propelling the rumour mill. The Toronto Maple Leafs are reportedly fielding multiple offers on Phil Kessel, while the Ottawa Senators and Vancouver Canucks are expected to trade one of their three goalies by Friday morning ( or not).
Then there is the Calgary Flames.
“I got a couple offers on Jiri’s shoes,” GM Brad Treliving joked, referencing Jiri Hudler’s barefoot acceptance speech at the NHL Awards a day earlier.
Maybe this whole Coyotes thing is a bit of a joke as well. If so, it would not be the first time a general manager has exaggerated trade interest for a pick or a player that they do not really intend on moving.
General manager Don Maloney told reporters on Thursday that he had received several offers for the third- overall pick. Some of those, he said, were teams simply kicking tires. Others were reportedly “legitimate offers.”
One of those legitimate proposals involved a team that was willing to give up two mid- first round picks as well as a young roster player in exchange for the No. 3 overall pick. The Winnipeg Jets are the only team that appear to fit those specifics, but that does not mean anything more than you can add them to a list that is growing rather than shrinking.
For Strome or Hanifin or any other player expected to go in the first round, it might be wise to pack an extra shirt for the draft. The first round could get heated.
“If they trade the pick, I won’t know what to think after that,” Strome said. “I guess I’ll just go to the draft and see what happens.”