Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

The Coyotes had a trade in place at Friday's NHL draft to move down in case all of the eight prospects they coveted already had been taken.

And when it was their turn, all had been selected — except one.

So the Coyotes held onto the No.12 pick and used it to take left winger Brendan Perlini, their first pick as the Arizona Coyotes with their name officially changing at the draft, which concludes Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia with Rounds 2-7 and seven more picks by the Coyotes.

"He's just a big, rangy, scoring winger," General Manager Don Maloney said. "Still developing physically but has all the attributes that we're looking for — size, skating ability, finishing pucks."

Perlini led Niagara of the Ontario Hockey League in goals last season with 34 while finishing second with 71 points through 58 games. He was rated the eighth-best North American skater by NHL Central Scouting and was ranked ninth by the International Scouting Service.

At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, Perlini offers the size and speed the Coyotes want.

"I feel like my skating is elite and I think one of the best in the draft," he said. "I look to create a lot of plays off the rush, around the net, bring the puck to the net. That's my style of game."

The Coyotes expect Perlini, who was born in England and lived there until he was 11, to mature even more physically before he's NHL-bound. It's likely the 18-year-old returns to junior hockey next season.

"I had a feeling they liked me," Perlini said. "I met with them at the combine. I had a meeting. It was a pretty good experience there. We chatted for quite a bit. I kind of had a little bit of a feeling, and it all worked out good today so very excited to go to Arizona."

While Maloney is still engaged in trade talk, a deal might not materialize until next week. After it was announced that the Coyotes had bought out the remainder of center Mike Ribeiro's contract, putting about $3.55 million back in their pockets for next season, the chatter heated up.

With Ribeiro gone, adding a center — or two — is definitely now on Maloney's to-do list and he expects to accomplish that before the season starts.

"I probably had 10 managers come up to me today with new ideas just knowing we had more available to us to look at some higher-level players," Maloney said. "So it all goes into the equation but if anything, I'm just going to stay patient until we find a deal that make sense to us."

Brendan Perlini

Overall pick: 12.

Age: 18.

Position: Left wing.

Height, weight: 6-2, 205.

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Last season: Scored a team-high 34 goals and finished second with 71 points in 58 games with the Niagara IceDogs in the Ontario Hockey League.

Skill set: Quick skater with a slick shot who likes to create off the rush. His size is an advantage. Will bulk up even more before reaching the NHL.

Fun fact: Born in England and lived there until he was 11.