Chayka Confident Coyotes Will Draft Impact Player with 7th Pick

TORONTO --The Arizona Coyotes were assigned the seventh overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft via the annual draft lottery on Saturday night.
This year's lottery produced shocking results, to say the least. New Jersey, which had just an 8.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick, did just that, leapfrogging four teams with better odds of winning. Philadelphia miraculously won the No. 2 overall pick, jumping 11 teams. And Dallas won the third overall pick, jumping five teams.
The unlikely trifecta created a negative ripple effect for Arizona, which entered the draft lottery tied with Vegas for the third best chance (10.3 percent) of winning the first overall pick. Instead, the worst-case scenario became reality for the Coyotes and they sank to seventh.
"I'm disappointed because you want to win," Coyotes General Manager John Chayka said. "That's why you come here. But at the same time you understand that of all the years to drop like we did, this one's probably a little less meaningful. After the first few picks there's kind of a large grouping of (comparable) players, so we expect we're going to get a really good player in that range and add him to a great group of young players that we have."

Chayka said he's more than OK with the Coyotes picking seventh, as they did last year when they selected forward Clayton Keller with the seventh overall pick in Buffalo. This year's draft is in Chicago on June 23-24.
"We got Clayton Keller at No. 7 (last year)," Chayka said. "I'll take another Clayton Keller. That's not a problem for me whatsoever ... Whether it's forwards or defense, there's a little more flexibility in that No. 7 range, I'd say, where you can look either way. It's a good grouping of players. Some of these guys are going to come out and play right away if not soon ... We expect to get an impact player."
Barring a trade, the Coyotes will make two first-round picks at the 2017 NHL Draft. They will pick seventh and they also will pick in Minnesota's spot thanks to the trade that sent forwards Martin Hanzal and Ryan White to the Wild just before the NHL trade deadline in February.
"This is another year to add two high-end, quality players that will help us for a long, long time," Chayka said.
Chayka represented the Coyotes on the draft lottery floor for the first time since taking over as general manager.
"I had wished for better results on my first try at it, but hopefully it's my last time here," Chayka said. "I think it's a good event and the NHL does it well, but I would have liked to have come away with a win."

Here's the order for the first 15 picks of the 2017 NHL Draft. Nos. 16-31 will be set following the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
1. New Jersey Devils
2. Philadelphia Flyers
3. Dallas Stars
4. Colorado Avalanche
5. Vancouver Canucks
6. Vegas Golden Knights
7. Arizona Coyotes
8. Buffalo Sabres
9. Detroit Red Wings
10. Florida Panthers
11. Los Angeles Kings
12. Carolina Hurricanes
13. Winnipeg Jets
14. Tampa Bay Lightning
15. New York Islanders