Some interesting info about Hayton in this article about how Hughes ended up in Vancouver. Also we apparently were taking one of Hughes Tkachuk or Hayton with our pick.
'That was a home run': The inside story of how Quinn Hughes...
Some snippets:
It ultimately came down to positional need — the Canadiens had their eyes on a centre and were, in fact, more likely to take Barrett Hayton (they seriously considered him according to a league source) than they were either of Zadina or Tkachuk. Montreal’s picks from the 2018 and 2019 drafts say all you need to know about the organization’s preference in picking for need.
The Hayton pick was a game-changer because if it wasn’t for him the Coyotes were going to take Hughes.
Tim Bernhardt, Arizona’s director of amateur scouting at the time, told
The Athletic that the Coyotes went into the draft with Hughes, Tkachuk and Hayton as their three targets for the fifth overall pick. Kotkaniemi and Noah Dobson were in the tier below, though not seriously considered for the selection and Zadina was even below them.
According to Bernhardt, the Coyotes had no on-ice concerns with Hughes — they loved his hockey IQ, recognized his elite skating ability and identified that he was a smart defender with his stick in spite of his size.
“As you get closer to the draft, you start to hear rumours,” said Holland. “Sometimes the rumours are true and sometimes they’re false. Hayton at pick five? I’d heard rumours the week of (the draft) that he could go before us in Detroit.”
When asked if he saw the possibility of Hayton getting picked ahead of the Canucks, Benning responded with an emphatic yes.
Part of this belief was influenced by how high the Canucks themselves were on Hayton.
“We had Hayton really high too,” said Benning. “And Arizona’s built a real good defence, so there was a possibility that they could draft a forward.”
The Coyotes really wanted to trade down to justify picking Hayton, but once it became clear that both the Canucks and the Blackhawks (who were picking eighth) were high on him, they realized they couldn’t move down and be guaranteed to get their guy.
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