How The Coyotes Combine Cheating Scandal Will Affect Them Going Forward

The Arizona Coyotes were involved in a lose-lose situation when NHL officials learned about what happened. The Coyotes have now been punished for their actions and hopefully other teams learn from this. What happened? What were the punishments? Keep reading to find out!

What Happened?

The Arizona Coyotes were testing young players before the NHL combine. They tried to analyze prospects before other teams could by putting them through physical tests (like weight training, endurance, etc). By trying to do this, they gained an unfair insight into how prospects would progress physically.

What Punishments Were Bestowed? 

By trying to do the physical testing without anyone knowing, the Coyotes eventually got caught and now will have to suffer consequences. The result is that they must concede their 2020 second round pick and their 2021 first round pick. This is a pretty big punishment for them because they won’t have their second round pick in a pretty deep draft. Arizona away their 2020 first in acquisistion of Taylor Hall. The 2021 draft will also be pretty balance. The Coyotes would have missed out on two amazing players that they could’ve added to their roster.  

Who They Could’ve Added With Those Picks

I guess we’ll never know who the Coyotes would have got with those picks, but let’s take a guess. In the second round of this year's draft, they could’ve got maybe a guy like Hendrix Lapierre or Jean Luc Foudy. Both have tremendous amounts of skill. Lapierre has been fighting the injury bug this season. He probably would’ve been a top 10 pick this year if he didn’t get injured. Foudy is a very skilled playmaker who could’ve brought some much needed scoring to the Yotes if they had the chance to draft him. In the first round of next year's draft, they could’ve gotten a guy like Mason McTavish from Peterborough. Mason is a very good goal scoring center who can release the puck very fast. He could’ve been a very nice player to add to a Coyotes team that doesn’t score that often. 

Taylor Hall & Other Free Agents

If I’m Taylor Hall, I’m not resigning with the Coyotes. With all the crazy things happening with the Chayka situation and now this, it really hurts the team in a spot to succeed. They struggle to find the back of the net , they have bad contracts and now they don’t have two key picks, there’s no way I’m resigning with the 'Yotes. I’d prefer a place like Colorado; they have an amazing chance at winning a cup and a lot of cap space. As for other free agents, I wouldn’t really want to sign there because there may be the potential of a bad work environment and I wouldn’t wanna be in that situation. 

What They Have Draft Stock Wise After The Punishment

Here is a list of what Arizona has draft stock wise after being punished:

Year	Picks
2020	Their 4th-7th round picks
2021	Conditional 2nd/3rd, 2 fourths (ARZ, PIT), and their own 5-7th rounders
2022	All 7 picks are theirs

Note: The 2021 third rounder will increase to a second round pick in 2021 if Taylor Hall resigns. 

All in all, the Coyotes shouldn’t have done this and now they’ve gotten punished for their ill-advised actions. No team should try and do this again because there’s probably gonna be bigger punishments to the next team that tries to illegally test players. 

By: Luka Tkalcevic (IG: luka_tkalcevic, futurehockeystars)

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