Not really, but they were rewarded for Colorado’s win
The Arizona Coyotes may not have won the 2022 Stanley Cup, in fact, they were nowhere near it after their first year in full rebuild mode.
However, that does not mean the team was willfully ignoring the games between the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The team will have been watching very closely as a valuable reward for the Coyotes was at stake depending on which team lifted Lord Stanley’s cup.
Prior to the 2021/22 season, the Coyotes made a trade with the Avalanche that saw the now-crowned Stanley Cup Champions land their desired starting goaltender – Darcy Kuemper.
In return for Kuemper, who had been a standout performer in the desert before the trade, the Coyotes received a conditional first-round pick, which we have long-since known would be 31st or 32nd overall this year.
Had the Avs missed the playoffs and landed themselves a lottery pick, their 2023 first-rounder would have transferred to the Coyotes instead.
So it’s nice to have the pick in this year’s first-round, albeit the very last one in the round. However, that is not the true prize of the Avalanche lifting the cup.
It is in 2024 that the Coyotes have added yet another pick.
In this case, the Arizona Coyotes have been rewarded with the Avalanche’s third-round selection in 2024, which was another condition placed on the Kuemper trade – with the condition being that the Avs won the cup with Kuemper starting a majority of the games in the final.
Had the Lightning overcome Nathan Mackinnon et al., the Coyotes would have been left empty-handed and would have just five picks through the first three rounds that year – now they have six and can be delighted in another job well done.
With the Stanley Cup Finals now over, the real off-season begins for the Coyotes as they look to build a competitive team again, with 19 picks in the first three rounds across the next three drafts setting them up for a strong future.