The Arizona Coyotes have announced that they are renouncing their 111th draft pick, Mitchell Miller. The team’s President and CEO Xavier Gutierrez informed Miller’s family today.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) October 29, 2020
Coyotes Renounce Mitchell Miller Draft Pick
The University of North Dakota defenceman was selected in the fourth round, 111th overall by the Coyotes. He stands 5′-11″, 194 pounds. Mitchell tallied 33 points with eight goals while playing for the USHL Tri-City Storm during the 2019-20 season. He is 18-years-old and a right-handed shot. The decision to renounce him makes the third draft pick lost by the team. Earlier, they were punished by the NHL for prospect training violations and lost their first-round selection for 2020 and 2021. That certainly presents difficulty for new general manager Bill Armstrong to build his team with prospects.
The team feels this is the correct move to make under the circumstances. Mitchell is now free to sign with another NHL team, but under the circumstances that may be difficult.
What This Means for the Future
It certainly presents an issue for the organization’s hopes of building the team with draft selections. They just don’t have any to speak of and this surely didn’t help that situation. It will be a rough road to grind considering the team also lost draft picks in the Taylor Hall trade. Hall has since moved on and signed a lucrative contract with the Buffalo Sabres. The Coyotes gave up several young prospects including Kevin Bahl, and Nicholas Merkley.
The team must now move on and pick up the pieces with hopes of constructing a team which can make the playoffs even with all the distractions. If anyone can accomplish that it is Bill Armstrong. He is a very skilled general manager and judge of talent. Let’s just hope future draft picks don’t need to be renounced. It doesn’t fare well for the organization’s public relations or success going forward.
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Message from President Armacost concerning UND Student-Athlete pic.twitter.com/LHnE3Or2RM
— U of North Dakota (@UofNorthDakota) October 30, 2020
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