Coyotes address organizational need for defensemen on Day 2 of NHL Draft

Coyotes general manager John Chayka said the team needed to improve its organizational depth on defense at the NHL Draft. Chayka was true to his word. After taking defenseman Jakob Chychrun with the No. 16 pick of the first round, Chayka followed up on the second day by acquiring four more defensemen — three via the draft and one through a trade.

Every team will tell you they were happy with their draft, and every team will tell you they got the guys they wanted. In truth, draft grades on teenagers or players in their early 20s are a foolish enterprise, because there is so much development still to come; physically, mentally and emotionally.

We won’t know if this was a good, bad or middling draft for the Coyotes for years to come.

What Chayka, director of amateur scouting Tim Bernhardt and the scouting and hockey operations staff accomplished this weekend at First Niagara Center in Buffalo was to improve their odds. If one or two of the players they selected doesn’t pan out, the Coyotes still have numbers on their side, improving their chances of finding more help for the NHL blue line.

“We addressed an organizational need,” Chayka said. “Now we’ve got a real strong pipeline of defensemen. We come away feeling pretty good about where our depth is in our organization and moving forward in the future.

“Now, it’s a development game. We feel we have a strong development plan, development staff in place and I have a lot of confidence that they’ll do their job as well as our scouts just did their job.”

The Coyotes opened Day 2 by acquiring defenseman Anthony DeAngelo (5-11, 173) from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Arizona’s 2016 second-round draft pick (37th overall). DeAngelo, a valuable right-handed shot, was Tampa’s first round pick in 2014 (19th overall). He played with Syracuse of the AHL last season where he had six goals and 43 points, but red flags always go up when a team is willing to trade a first-round pick so quickly.

DeAngelo was a healthy scratch a whopping eight times last season due to performance and attitude issues. Two years ago in juniors at Sarnia (OHL), he was suspended twice for verbal abuse of a teammate and an official.

DeAngelo describes himself as emotional on the ice. He said maturity has helped him control those emotions, even if the Lightning were not convinced.

“It’s a couple mistakes I made,” he said. “It’s far in the past. It was a learning experience.”

Chayka was aware of DeAngelo’s past issues, but he said he took a calculated risk.

“He’s a high-end, skilled right-shot defensemen who could probably play on the power play in the NHL right now,” Chayka said. “He’s got some maturing to do both on and off the ice, but when you get a chance to get a talent like that for the 37th overall pick, for me the risk profile was right.”

With the rest of their picks, the Coyotes added left-handed defensemen Cam Dineen (5-11, 185) at No. 68 (third round), left-handed defenseman and Arizona State commitment Patrick Kudla (6-3, 175) at No. 158 (sixth round) and right-handed defenseman Dean Stewart (6-2, 170) at No. 188 (seventh round), who tweeted this old picture.

Been a while @ArizonaCoyotes pic.twitter.com/4UDbmy7Chf

— Dean Stewart (@d4stewart) June 25, 2016

Kudla will start playing at ASU in the 2017-18 season, after a year in Dubuque (Iowa) of the USHL. He will have a full four-years of eligibility, if he lasts that long.

“His upside is off the charts,” ASU hockey coach Greg Powers said. “(He) has only been playing D for two years, so as he continues to develop, he’ll have a real chance to be an NHL player. Incredibly high character, too.”

Earlier in the day, the Coyotes traded their fourth-round pick (120) to Philadelphia to complete the Nicklas Grossman trade from a year ago, but Arizona wasn’t able to complete the trade it wanted most — for a right-handed NHL defenseman.

Like many teams, the Coyotes were pursuing St. Louis’ Kevin Shattenirk, but multiple reports said the Blues weren’t getting nearly what they wanted in return, so that deal remains on hold. Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba is another option, and the Coyotes may take other routes as well in the week leading up to free agency, which begins July 1. The interview period has already begun to talk to free agents.

“Trades are still on the table for sure,” said Chayka, who has already made some calls on free agents as well. “There’s still some liquidity in the market; still some teams that need to make some moves to get their cap situation sorted out or just change up the mix. We’re heavily involved in that right now.”

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