Trade offers can't sway Coyotes from drafting Dylan Strome
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- When the week dawned, the Coyotes were what president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc called "the prettiest girl at the dance." By the time Day 1 of the draft ended, nobody had impressed that girl enough to woo her off the wall.
Despite a cacophony of pre-draft chatter, the Coyotes held on to their much-sought No. 3 pick and on Friday selected Eerie Otters center Dylan Strome. Once again, the Coyotes are taking their shot at finding the franchise center that has eluded this team since at least the days of Jeremy Roenick.
"We had two very serious offers to trade that pick outright and the longer we looked, passing up what we think is such a key building block for this franchise in a big, skilled playmaking center that everybody that ever wins anything has to have" didn't make sense, GM Don Maloney said. "We needed something very, very special to move us off Dylan Strome."
Maloney said one deal involved multiple players that could have helped the Coyotes, but none of the deals involving the No. 3 pick included an offer of a top center. That's why the Coyotes stood pat.
With Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel the automatic first and second picks, it was hard for Coyotes fans to escape the feeling that they were settling for a consolation prize when Arizona lost April's draft lottery. But Strome boasts many assets that make the team feel he will be one heck of a consolation prize.
He led the OHL in points last season with 129 (45 goals), edging London's Mitchell Marner by three points and his teammate, McDavid, by nine points (McDavid played 21 fewer games).
Some analysts wondered how much Strome benefitted from having opponents focused on stopping McDavid, thereby opening up ice for him, but Maloney noted that Strome played his best hockey of the season when McDavid missed five weeks with a broken right hand, calling Strome's play "electrifying."
"There's always going to be those who compare me to my teammate and people are going to say I only went as high because he's on my team but I try to prove people wrong," Strome said. "I feel like I'm a pretty good player in my own right."
Coyotes prospect Max Domi (London) played against Strome several times in the OHL and came away impressed.
"Every game, I think he scored," Domi said, laughing. "He's the real deal and he does everything out there. He's a big body; he can score.
Dylan Strome approaches the stage after he was drafted with the third pick by the Coyotes during Friday's first round of the NHL draft in Sunrise, Fla.
COYOTES DAY 2 PICKS
Round 2: Nos. 32, 60
Round 3: Nos. 63, 81
Round 5: No. 123
Round 7: No. 183
"He's one of the hardest working guys and a good student of the game; he knows everything about it. He deserves all the credit for what he accomplished."
Strome (6-3, 187 pounds) will report to Coyotes training camp this season, but it is nearly certain that he will spend another year in the OHL developing his game. Although Central Scouting called his skating "strong" some have questioned his top-end speed.
The Coyotes already have him working with their skating coach, Dawn Braid, who has also trained his brother, Ryan, of the New York Islanders.
"There's nothing fatal in his stride. There's just some technical issues," Maloney said. "There's some work that has to be done, but there's nothing that's going to prevent him from improving his skating; from what we believe is going to be a frontline NHL player."
In keeping with their day, the Coyotes also held onto the 30th pick in the draft which they acquired from Chicago in the trade for Antoine Vermette. Arizona selected right wing Nicholas Merkley (5-10, 191), who had 20 goals and 90 points for the Western Hockey League champion Kelowna Rockets.
"He's the prototypical, smaller-in-stature player," Maloney said of Merkley, who was NHL Central Scouting's No. 23 rated prospect, and No. 13 on the Coyotes' draft board. "He's quick, he's very smart, he's creative and he's tough. He's got a physical edge to him. I'm really thrilled that he found his way to us. There's a drive to this player that's second to none."
In adding those two players, the Coyotes augmented a stockpile of widely praised prospects that also includes Domi, forward Brendan Perlini, center Christian Dvorak and forward Anthony Duclair.
Couple that with a young nucleus of talent in defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Connor Murphy and Klas Dahlbeck, along with forwards Mikkel Boedker and Tobias Rieder, and the Coyotes' future has great potential.
The problem for Maloney is that he, coach Dave Tippett and LeBlanc have also promised the team will compete for a playoff spot next season. Assuming unrestricted free agents Martin Erat and David Moss do not return next season, the Coyotes have just two players on the current roster over the age of 30: captain Shane Doan (38) and goalie Mike Smith (33).
On a day of major trades that saw forwards Ryan O'Reilly (Colorado to Buffalo), Milan Lucic (Boston to Los Angles) and defenseman Dougie Hamilton (Boston to Calgary) change hands, the Coyotes were unable to consummate a deal to improve next season's roster.
This year's free-agent class is considered weak and the Coyotes will have a harder time than most teams luring those players, given their current legal mess with the City of Glendale. Maloney certainly doesn’t want to trade any of his top prospects so the Coyotes are running out of options for improving the 2015-16 team.
In spite of those realities, Maloney said he won't allow pressure to force his hand on Day 2 of the draft.
"I don't care because I'm not going to do short-term deals just to give us this pretend look to be better," he said. "We're going to make this roster better. We have time. We don't start the season until next October.
"I refuse to make short-term decisions. I don't think it's right. I think the fans suffered through last year enough. We're slowly getting there. I'd like to accelerate the process but we're also not going to pass up potential top, front-line people for shorter-term goals."
Maloney said the team had a couple trade possibilities at No. 30, and will engage in more Saturday in the hopes of improving the current roster.
"It's a balance of building for the future and putting a competitive team on the ice," he said. "That's a work in progress."
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