With all of his offensive potential, center Oliver Moore should be on the Coyotes draft board.
Could the Arizona Coyotes select center Oliver Moore with the in first round of the 2023 NHL Draft?
The 18-year-old played 61 games for the U.S. National U18 team this past season where he had 31 goals, 44 assists and 75 points.
Similar to Coyotes prospect Logan Cooley, Moore is expected to play at the University of Minnesota next season so they will have some familiarity with each other.
In a league that is becoming more and more reliant on speed, Moore should fit well in the NHL as he is known for his high-end skating ability, arguably one of the fastest skaters in the draft.
“Moore might be the fastest skater in the draft, and one with the potential to become a real game-changer,” Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff wrote. “Moore is the USNTDP’s second-line center, so he’s often been overlooked by the high-flying top line led by Will Smith. But some believe Moore might have the highest ceiling. Some time with the University of Minnesota will be beneficial. He’s a great dual-threat offensive forward that generates much of his line’s scoring chances and, again, his speed is his biggest asset.”
With Moore’s blazing speed on the ice on top of his elite offensive abilities, the Minnesota native has the potential to be a first line center. There are not many prospects in the draft that rival Moore when it comes to producing offensively.
“Moore is the second most involved player in offensive transitions in North America behind Connor Bedard,” Austin Garret of Smaht Scouting wrote. “He’s sending almost a quarter of his passes to dangerous areas of the ice, and is among the higher-end shot generators in the class. Put this with his superb skating and edgework, dogged mentality of being hard on pucks defensively, and his puck skill: Moore has risen to the top 10 of our rankings and still could climb higher.”
Both Moore and Cooley are explosive players so if the Coyotes decide to select Moore, these two could very well become an unstoppable pairing down the middle.
Moore’s potential may be too much for the Coyotes to pass up on if he is still sitting on the board at the sixth pick. Arizona also has the 12th overall pick but if the team waits to see if Moore is available by then they might lose the opportunity to draft the young center.
Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong has some big decisions to make.