NHL Draft: Trading Into 11th Through 15th Overall

By Thomas Harrington

With the top 10 done, it’s time to turn our attention to teams picking between 11th and 15th in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft and what potential deals, if any, the Ducks could make to move up in the first round.

I’ll follow the same criteria as before, so you won’t see Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry, Patrick Eaves, Ryan Miller, Andrew Cogliano, Rickard Rakell, Cam Fowler, Josh Manson, John Gibson, Adam Henrique, and Hampus Lindholm in any of the below deals. The players who I think Anaheim would most likely deal are Ondrej Kase, Jakob Silfverberg, Nick Ritchie, and Korbinian Holzer, as well as various prospects and picks.

Now that we are out of the top 10, I won’t be including Brandon Montour in any potential deals, and top prospects like Sam Steel, Max Jones, and Troy Terry won’t be included either unless the deal is for more than just a first-round pick. Also, given the wide-open nature of this draft, it’s entirely possible that a player who the Ducks view as the 15th best prospect could still be available when the Ducks make their selection. That being said, there are some very good prospects who will likely go in this range, like Joe Veleno, Ty Smith, Barrett Hayton, Joel Farabee, Isac Lundestrom, Bode Wilde, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

11th & 12th Picks – NY Islanders

The New York Islanders hold both the 11th and 12th picks in the draft. Depending on who they like, they could be enticed to trade away one of those two picks. The Islanders haven’t been very good in recent years, making the playoffs only three times since the 2007-2008 season. The real question for New York is John Tavares. He’ll be a free agent on July 1st, and right now, it looks like he’ll head to the open market. The Islanders will be doing all they can to re-sign him, and a big trade at the draft could be a way of doing that.

The Islanders need help at just about every position, but similar to the Edmonton deal, I think a potential deal involving the Islanders would center around Silfverberg. However, I don’t think the Ducks would have to give up both a first round pick and Silfverberg to grab one of these two picks unless the Islanders sent something else back as well. The Islanders also have two second-round picks, 41st and 43rd overall. I think the Ducks would be pretty happy with either one of those. So the deal would be Silfverberg and the 23rd overall pick for the 11th or 12th overall pick and the 41st or 43rd overall pick. That’s still a lot going New York’s way, so the Ducks would probably ask for another pick or prospect to try and balance things out a little more.

13th Pick – Dallas

The Dallas Stars entered this season with high expectations and largely met them through most of the season. However, they stumbled badly down the stretch, missed the playoffs, and hold the 13th overall pick. The Stars have missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons and only made the playoffs twice since the 2008-2009 season. Dallas has a good amount of forward depth, but only has one defenseman signed beyond the upcoming season. With Montour no longer a trade option, the Ducks could try and make a deal around some of their defensive prospects, like Jacob Larsson or Marcus Pettersson. Larsson alone might do it, but I doubt the Ducks would want to trade their top defensive prospect. Instead, the Ducks would probably prefer to make Pettersson the center of the deal, but the Ducks would have to give up more than just Pettersson. I think if the Ducks traded Pettersson and the 23rd overall pick, that could be enough to get the 13th overall pick from the Stars.

14th Pick – Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Flyers hold the 14th overall pick, as a result of trading Brayden Schenn to the St. Louis Blues last June. This is the first of two first rounders that the Flyers have, which may make it a little easier to get a deal done with them. Similar to Dallas, the Flyers are pretty set at forward but could use some help on defense so the same deal could work. The Ducks could offer Pettersson and the 23rd overall pick for the 14th overall pick.

15th Pick – Florida 

The Florida Panthers hold the 15th overall pick, and they are hungry for the playoffs. Since the 2000-2001 season, the Panthers have only made the playoffs twice and lost in the first round both times. The Panthers clearly want to get back to the playoffs, but a glance at their roster on capfriendly.com shows a pretty full team. Still, there might be a deal here. Florida’s defense is pretty well set, but they could use some help at forward. The Panthers would probably like Silfverberg, but he’s not worth trading to move up only eight spots in such a wide open draft. More likely, the Ducks would probably try and dangle Kase or Ritchie in front of the Panthers. Kase, coming off a 20 goal season, combined with a third-round pick might get it done. Ritchie, coming off a 10 goal season, would probably need a second-round pick, and possibly more, to make a deal work.

Next up, I’ll finish these off by taking a look at the teams drafting from 16th overall to 22nd overall.

Related:

Trading Into The Top Five

Trading Into 6th Through 10th

Want to start your sports media career? Then Join The Puck Network!

DucksNPucks is part of The Puck Network, which covers the entire NHL. There are openings to cover your favorite team(s) and earn school credits! If you are interested, then apply by filling out the form here: Join Our Team. What are you waiting for? Start your sports media career TODAY!

June 8th, 2018