Arizona Coyotes welcome new draftees to the desert

Sarah Hall/SCC

Coyotes Prospects working on drills at Development Camp at Gila River Arena, June 28, 2018.

Sarah Hall, Reporter
June 28, 2018

The Arizona Coyotes welcomed nine new players to the organization from the NHL Entry Draft on June 22 and 23 in Dallas, Texas.

The Coyotes have had several strong drafts over the past few years, and this year is no different.

Barrett Hayton, a center from the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds was drafted fifth overall, what some think is an off the board pick. He was the Coyotes only first round pick this year.

He is a strong skating center with great puck vision. The 6’1”, 190-pound prospect turned 18 on June 9.

Many had Hayton going in the middle of the first round, but the Coyotes had him as their must have.

On the second day of the draft, the Coyotes came away with eight more players in the second-seventh rounds of the draft.

At 55 overall the Coyotes drafted Kevin Bahl, a large defenseman from the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League. He is currently 6’6” and around 229 pounds, and he’s just going to get bigger.

Don’t let his size fool you, Bahl is nimble and fleet of foot.

 

 

At 65 overall the Coyotes drafted Czech forward Jan Jenik from Bili Tygri Liberec. Jenik compare his game to another Czech player that Coyotes fans know and love, Radim Vrbata.

Jenik made this year’s draft, just in time, as his birthday is the on the draft cutoff date. He will turn 18 on September 15.

Jenik was drafted in the CHL Import Draft 6 overall by the Flint Firebirds. If he wishes, he can play in North America in the CHL or AHL next season or go back to his home team.

He is a smooth skater who has great puck handling skills and picks his shots with his head up.

At 73 overall the Coyotes selected Ty Emberson, a right-handed defenseman from the US National Development Program and U18 team.

He not a typical offensive defenseman, only scoring 4 goals and 23 assists for 27 points in 61 games in his draft year with the U18 team. During development camp so far, he has looked reasonable in his own end.

Emberson is committed to play at the University of Wisconsin this upcoming school year.

At 114 overall the Coyotes selected Ivan Prosvetov from the USHL Youngstown Phantoms. He played 36 games with the team putting up a 2.90 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.

During camp, he has shown good lateral movement and positioning when players are coming down at him, during the scrimmage on Friday he will get to show off his skills in a game setting.

Prosvetov was selected in the CHL Import Draft by the Saginaw Spirit, 15 overall.

At 142 overall the Coyotes selected Michael Callahan, a defenseman also from the USHL Youngstown Phantoms.

Callahan is another defenseman who is not offensive, but is steady on the blue line. In 22 games with the Phantoms he had 9 assists. He is committed to Providence College this upcoming season.

At 145 overall the Coyotes selected Dennis Busby another defenseman. Busby played only one game last season for the Flint Firebirds.

Busby had broken his collarbone before the season had started, came back and played two games before breaking it again. He started skating again in March. He still looks a little bit rusty around the edges but he has a good shot.

At 158 overall the Coyotes selected goaltender David Tendeck of the Vancouver Giants. He played 48 games, with a goals against average of 3.02 and a save percentage of .912 in the Western Hockey League.

Tendeck is sharp when he moves laterally, and looks comfortable and smooth within his crease.

The Coyotes final pick at 189 was Liam Kirk from the EIHL’s Sheffield Steelhawks.

Liam Kirk is the first British raised and trained player to be drafted into the NHL.

Kirk had an impressive 2017-2018 campaign. Besides playing for the Steelhawks he also played for Great Britain in three separate tournaments.

He was the captain of the World Junior Championship U18 team and they brought home the Gold, getting promoted from the Division 2A to Division 1B.

He followed that up with a fantastic World Junior Championships U20 with 7 goals, 7 assists for 14 points and a Bronze medal in Division 2A.

Liam Kirk was draft in the CHL Import Draft 9 overall to the Peterborough Petes. Like Jenik, he can play in North America in the CHL or AHL next season or go back to his home team.

Brendan Perlini, the Coyotes first round pick in 2014 was also born in Great Britain, but was trained mostly in Canada.