The Arizona Coyotes have talked to three teams about a potential trade for the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft, their general manager said on Tuesday evening. Might the Flyers be one of them?
Don Maloney says three teams already have called asking about team’s interest in trading the third pick in draft. “We’re open for business.”
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) June 9, 2015
We’re purely speculating of course, but talk of the Flyers potentially moving up in the draft is not new. It’s been discussed around the No. 4 pick by the Toronto media, and it all comes down to one simple thing: does Ron Hextall and the scouting staff, led by Chris Pryor, believe that the top five in this draft is worth moving up for?
We’re talking about Noah Hanifin, Dylan Strome and Mitch Marner versus the rest of the pack, basically. And as Kurt boiled it down to in a must-read post on this topic yesterday…
But let’s say … that they really do like at least one of Marner or Strome or Hanifin a lot more than they like the guys who will be on the board at seven, and whichever guy they really like is on the board come Toronto’s [or Arizona’s] pick. If that all falls into place, don’t you have to at least consider making the move?
It’s the believe of some that there are truly only two tiers of prospect in the early first round of this draft — Connor McDavid/Jack Eichel and then the rest of the top 10 or 11. Talk to others, though, and they’ll tell you that here are three tiers — McDavid/Eichel, the near-locks to go in the top five (Marner, Strome, Hanifin), and then the next six or seven guys in line.
If you want one of those three guys, you basically have to move up, and Arizona might not be a bad partner. But it complicates things if you really love a guy like Ivan Provorov, for example, but it’s a total toss up whether or not he’s actually on the board at No. 7.
The only way you trade up with Arizona is if you think the player you covet most will absolutely be gone by the time you would otherwise step to the microphone at No. 7, or if you think the Maple Leafs might stick at No. 4 and pick the guy you would want at No. 7.
If the Flyers feel it’s necessary, a deal seems possible with the Arizona Coyotes. But we might not know until draft night what the Flyers are thinking — if we ever find out.
