Coyotes draft: Best and worst picks of the Arizona era
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Whether you're the Chicago Blackhawks or the Arizona Coyotes, the NHL Draft is the lifeblood of your organization.
The Stanley Cup champs may have a little more money to spend under the salary cap, and they may be one of the more attractive landing spots for free agents because of their accomplishments, but Chicago's success has been built on the drafting of key players Duncan Keith (2002), Jonathan Toews (2006), Patrick Kane (2007), Brent Seabrook (2003), Corey Crawford (2003), Niklas Hjalmarsson (2005), Marcus Kruger (2010), Brandon Saad (2011), Andrew Shaw (2011) and Teuvo Teravainen (2012), among others.
The Coyotes' draft history isn't nearly as sparkling. From the time the franchise arrived in Arizona in 1996 until Don Maloney took over as general manager in 2007, the Coyotes have made a dizzying array of draft-day mistakes.
As we began compiling the top five and worst five draft picks in Coyotes franchise history, one thing became clear: There is strong competition for the top five spots on the worst-picks list. We limited our worst list to first-round selections since it's much easier to deem a first-round pick a mistake than it is a later-round pick.
We have not included the Winnipeg Jets years, so players such as Teemu Selanne, Dale Hawerchuk, Shane Doan, Keith Tkachuk and Teppo Numminen do not qualify for the best list. We are also reserving judgment on top prospects Max Domi and Brendan Perlini. Until they've played an NHL game, nobody knows whether they were good picks.
One final note: We based our choices on several criteria, including NHL games played and statistical (or other) impact at the NHL level. Neither the players nor the Coyotes were punished for factors outside of playing ability that neither side could have predicted when the players were drafted.
Here are our lists. You can also vote in our poll.
5. D Dan Focht, 1996 1st-round pick (11th overall): Focht (6-6, 240 pounds) was supposed to be a punishing defenseman who could help the Coyotes in their own end. He finally made it up to the big club in 2001-02, playing eight games that season and 10 the next before the Coyotes traded him to Pittsburgh in a package for center Jan Hrdina. Focht played just 64 more NHL games. He managed two goals, eight points and 146 penalty minutes in his career. After a final season with Rochester of the AHL, he hung up his skates at the age of 28.
4. G Patrick DesRochers, 1998 1st-round pick (14th overall): In five seasons in the Coyotes' organization, DesRochers played in nine NHL games, posting a 1-5-1 record with a 3.73 GAA. In January of 2003, the Coyotes acquired goaltender Jean-Marc Pelletier and a future conditional draft pick from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for DesRochers. DesRochers played just two more NHL games with Carolina that season before bouncing around the AHL, ECHL and Europe.
3. D Kirill Safronov, 1999 1st-round pick (19th overall): The second of the Coyotes' two first-round picks this year was only marginally better than the first. Safronov played just one game for the Coyotes (he was a minus two) and 35 in his NHL career, managing two goals and two assists. In 2004, after it became clear he only had AHL talent, he returned to his native Russia. He played last season in the KHL with Khabarovsk Amur.
2. C Jakub Koreis 2002 1st-round pick (19th overall): Koreis was the latest in a long line of failed attempts to find a top center in the draft. He spent a season in the OHL, three seasons in the AHL then returned to his native Czech Republic, where he still plays. He never played an NHL game.
1. C Scott Kelman, 1999 1st-round pick (15th overall): Stop us if you've heard this before, but the Coyotes don't have a good history with drafting centers. The 1999 draft was a notoriously weak year. Few players beyond the Sedin twins made much impact out of the first two rounds, although we could point out that Henrik Zetterberg went at No. 210 and former Coyote Radim Vrbata went at 212. Kelman never played a single NHL game. Worse yet, be bounced around lower leagues like the WHL, ECHL and CHL, managing only 98 games at the AHL level. That's a swing and a miss on a ball in the dirt.
Honorable mention: Fredrik Sjostrom (2001, 11th overall); C Krys Kolanos (2000, 19th overall); Brandon Gormley (2010, 13th overall); Ben Eager (2002, 23rd overall); Nick Ross (2007, 30th overall).
5. RW Mikkel Boedker, 2008 1st-round pick (8th overall): Boedker (28 points in 45 games) was clearly blossoming into an impact player last season when he ruptured his spleen in a game in Winnipeg and underwent emergency surgery, ending his season. He is a restricted free agent this year, and the Coyotes are still negotiating a new deal for him. With speed, skill and youth (he's 25), Boedker embodies the direction the league is taking.
4. RW Blake Wheeler, 2004 1st-round pick (5th overall): Wheeler was a hit in terms of talent, but the Coyotes never reaped the benefits. GM Don Maloney inherited a mess when he tried to sign Wheeler to a contract under the previous ownership regime. Wheeler wanted no part of an organization whose management and coaching staffs had been in disarray (and whose ownership was on the brink of collapse). He became a free agent, signed an entry-level deal with Boston and has blossomed into a good offensive player in Winnipeg. Wheeler (28) led Winnipeg in goals last season with 26 and was one point of off the team lead for points with 61. In each of his last three full seasons, he has topped 60 points.
3. C Daniel Briere, 1996 1st-round pick (24th overall): We all know the reasons Briere didn't stay in Phoenix. Then-GM Mike Barnett wanted more size up the middle, so Briere was shipped to Buffalo in 2003 for Chris Gratton. Then the lockout canceled the 2004-05 season, the rules changed (some GMs saw this coming) to open up the game for smaller players, and Briere posted a 95-point season in Buffalo in 2006-07. He also became one of the most clutch playoff performers in the game's history. Until last year's postseason, he was averaging a point per game and still sits 53rd on that all-time list at .935 points per playoff game.
2. D Oliver Ekman-Larsson, 2009 1st-round pick (6th overall): Ekman-Larsson is the type of player GMs work a lifetime trying to find: A fluid skating, puck-moving offensive catalyst who has the tools to be an excellent defensive defenseman as well. He led all NHL defensemen with 23 goals and 10 power-play goals this season. If the Coyotes can surround Ekman-Larsson with more offensive talent at the forward positions, his assists and points will rise and he will be among the leading vote getters for the Norris Trophy on an annual basis.
1. D Keith Yandle, 2005 fourth-round pick (105th overall): Yandle led the Coyotes in points in the two seasons before he was traded to the New York Rangers. Teammate Shane Doan calls him a gambler, the type of player who can make jaw-dropping offensive plays to spark the offense and the power play. Yandle's production, coupled with the fact that the Coyotes found him in the fourth round, makes him both the team's best late-round pick and its best overall pick, although the guy just behind him might pass him soon.
Honorable mention: Martin Hanzal (2005, 17th overall); Kyle Turris (2007, third overall); Trevor Letowski (1996, 174th overall); Daniel Winnik (2004, 265th overall).
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