Looking back, it’s hard to believe the Arizona Coyotes ever had the chance to draft Dylan Guenther.

The Coyotes made the playoffs in 2020 but failed to repeat their success the following year, with new general manager Bill Armstrong responding to his club’s mediocre 2020–21 campaign by kicking off a fire sale.

Only one problem: Arizona didn’t have a 2021 first-round pick, having forfeited it as a consequence of violating the NHL’s combine testing policy during the regime of previous GM John Chayka.

Chayka had previously traded Arizona’s 2020 first-round pick to the New Jersey Devils to acquire forward Taylor Hall, who helped the Coyotes defeat the Nashville Predators in the post-season bubble.

But, as a result of those developments, the Coyotes — intent upon rebuilding — looked to be on the verge of going two years without participating in the first round of the draft.

Not so fast.

Trade rumors swirled around Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the weeks leading up to the 2021 NHL Draft, with the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins widely considered the frontrunners to acquire the Swedish defenseman.

Finally, Armstrong pulled the trigger on a deal with then-Canucks GM Jim Benning just hours before the start of the first round. It was a blockbuster: Arizona had traded both Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland to Vancouver.

The Coyotes received three players (Loui Eriksson, Antoine Roussel, and Jay Beagle) from the Canucks as part of the trade, but they weren’t the real prize.

Vancouver also parted with three draft picks. In addition to the Canucks’ own 2022 second-rounder and 2023 seventh-rounder, the Coyotes received pick No. 9 in the 2021 NHL Draft — two spots ahead of their forfeited selection.

Enter Guenther.

The 6-foot-2 winger has continued to rise in the hockey world since his excellent draft year with the Edmonton Oil Kings. He had a strong training camp with the Coyotes in 2021 before scoring 58 goals in 75 games over the regular season and playoffs to help the Oil Kings capture the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

After an injury kept Guenther out of the 2022 Memorial Cup, he spent much of the off-season training in Arizona with an eye on cracking the Coyotes’ 2022–23 roster. With Phil Kessel, Andrew Ladd, and Alex Galchenyuk all out of the equation, the Coyotes had multiple spots to fill on the wings.

This time, Guenther made the team out of camp. And as the 10-game cutoff nears for the Coyotes to either send him back to the WHL or burn a year of his entry-level contract, Guenther is making it an extremely difficult choice.

Through his first five NHL games with the Coyotes, Guenther has already scored a pair of goals, notched an assist and consistently earned the praise of head coach André Tourigny.

“He’s pretty composed and stable and everything,” Tourigny said after Guenther’s first NHL game, a 6–3 loss to Boston in which he picked up his first point. “First shift, he was a little bit nervous, but quickly he settled in and his calm and his poise took over and he played well.”

Guenther’s greatest attribute is undoubtedly his shot, which he’s already put to good use in his short time with the Coyotes.

He scored his first NHL goal against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 22, taking a slick feed from fellow youngster Matias Maccelli in the slot and effortlessly flicking a pin-point wrister past Anton Forsberg.

Then, in his next game, Guenther added goal No. 2. And it was a scorcher.