Coyotes facing MAJOR penalties over draft violations.

Ouch.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Coyotes facing MAJOR penalties over draft violations.
John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune

They say if you ain't cheating you ain't trying, but in the case of the Arizona Coyotes their desire to get a competitive edge may very well end up costing them significantly. It was TSN National Hockey League insider Darren Dreger who first broke the story back in January when he revealed that the league would be investigating the Coyotes over some potential draft/draft combine violations. 

"Sources say the NHL is investigating the Arizona Coyotes over allegations of physical testing of draft eligible CHL players," wrote Dreger back in January.


We now know of course that Dreger was indeed correct and that the league has been investigating the Coyotes over the fact that they may have tested players when they were not within their rights to do so. Although this may seem like a relatively minor violation to those on the outside looking in, it now sounds like there is a ton of internal pressure within the NHL to have the book thrown at the Coyotes over this violation. Although we have not heard anything from the league itself regarding a potential ruling on this matter, Andy Strickland of Fox Sports provided an update to this story on Monday that makes things sound rather dire for the Arizona Coyotes. 

From Strickland:

With no NHL combine, discussion continues behind the scenes re: the Arizona Coyotes and their knowledge of certain draft eligible prospects. Possible we see loss of draft picks and/or fines for Arizona. Some pushing for the loss of at least their (Arizona)1st round draft pick.

The loss of a first round draft pick may sound like a rather steep penalty but things only get worse from here for the Coyotes. According to Strickland it sounds like the loss of their first would come at some point in the future, that is to say not at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, and on top of that the Coyotes would also stand to lose their second round draft selection at this year's draft, the aforementioned 2020 NHL Entry Draft. That means the Coyotes would be losing at least two high end draft picks here, a huge blow to a team that already gave up a ton of assets prior to the trade deadline for a playoff push with Taylor Hall that may now never happen. 

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