[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

IF we trade down.. for someone like Brown or even a D-man we're high on, I have a feeling we could do business with Arizona. Especially if Tkachuk is available where we pick. Tkachuk was born in Scottsdale, like Matthews. He would fit very well with Domi Duclair, OEL and Strome. We need a goalie. They have Mike Smith (I know, we'd all prefer Fleury or Reimer) AND Treliving obviously was with the Coyotes.

The problem is that Smith has a terrible contract and his cap hit goes up to something like 6.5 next season. He also hasnt been playing his best hockey in the last little while. IF they are willing to hold some of that salary and give up a secondary pick..I can see us doing business with them. It could make a lot of sense if we rate a player who we like more than Tkachuk being available at 7. They probably want to move Smith, seeing how close they are to the cap and the financial situation the Coyotes are in.

It could be a win win - they get their hometown kid, we move down and get a player we rate higher than him, pick up a half decent goalie, and take Brown/Nylander/Sergachev/who ever we like at 7.

The only doubt I have is concerning Smith. His recent play and his contract arent very enticing.

Something like Smith (retained salary), 1st round pick swap, meh prospect and a 2nd or 3rd (from ARZ). Arizona gets their consolation hometown kid in Tkachuk, we take our guy, or even trade down further. Some may think its an overpayment on the Coyotes part to move up one pick..but considering their hometown kid is lighting up the memorial cup and getting lots of press - if we can trick them into thinking we are ready to take him - they could be tempted to overpay a bit.

Although I'm high on Nylander, I see the players after 5-6 interchangable depending on a teams scouts and their organizational needs (some teams factor that in to BPA). It could work out really well for us. There are a lot of players I like in the 16-35 range and maybe we use the acquired picks and other assets after we snag someone at 7-10 and also move up and get another pick in the mid-late first to take someone who fell but our scouts are high on.

The big ifs for me are Smith and who our scouts like. Maybe they have their eyes on 2-3 players between 7-30, rather than just one top 6 guy.

That's not going to happen. They will not trade up or down so lets talk about the 6th overall pick.