Are the Winnipeg Jets looking at trading up?

Kevin Cheveldayoff has talked before about moving up or down the draft. While he is the king of double talk and saying basically he could or could not do something (essentially saying all possible events are possible), it appears that there is some legitimacy to this time.

Let’s take a look after the jump.

The Arizona Coyotes are looking to rebuild and there is no better way in improving a prospect pool than trading back. I have shown this relationship before, but teams overvalue early draft selections and the quality gained with trading up and pay more than they should.

Because of this, historically speaking, the team that trades back usually wins.

There is an exception to this, and that is with the first-overall selection.

First-overall selections come at a premium but they also tend to (but not always) have elite talent. In addition, there is value to an organization with premium players outside of the on-ice contributions.

Many view this draft to have two first-overall talents with the consensus one and two picks, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel.

Could it be that the Jets organization feels like there is a third and it is worth the move?

If so, what did the Jets offer the Coyotes to move up in the draft?

Historically speaking, teams trading up with the 17th and 25th overall picks only move you into the 9-11th range. A team moving up from the 9-11th range to third needs to double their value. The player being added here would be significant, holding equal value to a fringe top-10 selection during the draft. We are not talking about a Paul Postma or Alexander Burmistrov or a Jan Kostalek type of addition.

The 2015 draft is being touted early as one of the better drafts of recent history.

It is viewed this way because the talent drop off after the first tier looks to extend deep into the second round, but also because their is a high amount of premium talent early.

Will the Jets trade for the third overall? If they do, will it be worth it for this premium talent, or will they lose out on the possibility of receiving multiple underrated premium talents later?

Only time will tell… this is why I love the draft.