Evaluating Draft Day Deals

In this week’s contribution at Puck Prospectus, I examined the draft day deals that included draft picks.  While at the Draft, I was surprised by how many draft picks changed hands on both Friday and Saturday.  So, I decided to evaluate all sixteen trades over the weekend that included strictly draft picks changing hands on both sides.

Here is an excerpt:

Leading into the Draft, we examined the value of each draft round’s apparent worth. After my colleague Timo Seppa analyzed the blockbuster Chris Pronger trade, it makes sense to analyze the rest of the trades made on draft weekend.

Now, for the purposes of continuity, we will not examine trades involving any players. Instead, we will examine all trades that only included draft picks. How many of those trades were completed, you ask? There were sixteen draft pick only trades to be exact.

So, let’s examine these sixteen deals and see who came out on top.

1. Minnesota traded pick #12 in the 2009 Entry Draft to NY Islanders for picks #16, #77 and #182 in 2009.

Winner: Minnesota Wild.

Why: Considering the minimal difference in value between selections 11-20 and 21-30, the Wild made out extremely well in this transaction. Minnesota moved down only four slots and added a 3rd round pick, as well as a fairly valueless 7th round pick. The key is obviously the extra third round selection which is well worth the small move to drop four spots in the first round.

Read the entire article here.