- Craig Custance of ESPN: One GM, whose team is a lottery candidate, on what it would take to trade the first overall pick.
“It would have to be built around a young stud,” he answered, naming a couple superstar players in the league who would qualify, guys up for major awards right now. “But how many GMs are in position to expose themselves to being wrong?”
If the Sabres were to win the draft lottery, GM Tim Murray on the possibility of trading it:
“It would be impossible — almost impossible for me to move it,” Murray said on Monday afternoon. “I can’t give you names, right?”
Someone will look to trade for the first overall pick, and Murray admits he’ll be one of them if they don’t win the lottery.
“For sure,” he said. “It would have to take a top pick. Let’s say you’re sitting second, we have some young studs that might interest a team. They’d have to weigh first who they have projected No. 1 and what’s the difference between one and two.”
“I would certainly start a conversation. 100 percent,” Murray said. “You would know very quickly if there was even a point of making an offer or not. If the guy is like, ‘Are you kidding me, Timmy?’ That’s it. Then the conversation would have been a joke.”
One GM if the Oilers win the lottery.
“If I’m them, I keep McDavid and move Nugent-Hopkins and get a top young defenseman,” said the GM. “It would change their team.”
- Hope Smoke: Bob McKenzie on TSN Radio: “I wouldn’t be surprised if they trade one of Lehner/Anderson. I would have said that prior to Hammond bursting on the scene”
- Bob McKenzie: Expansion is obviously coming. Would be a shock if it wasn’t Vegas and Seattle. Timing is still not known.
Answering some questions
- Bob McKenzie: Maple Leafs Dion Phaneuf will likely be traded this summer, but it is too soon to say to where and for what.
- Bob McKenzie: The Leafs will look to break up their core this summer.
- Bob McKenzie: There should be some offer sheets this summer: “Ripe for the taking.”