- Chip Alexander: Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford didn’t rule out moving down from the No. 5 slot if the right deal comes along. He doesn’t anticipate moving up.
- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Senators have the No. 17 draft slot and have been trying to get into the top 10.
“I think it will be difficult to move up from the indications I’ve gotten,” said Murray in his pre-draft availability Tuesday at the Canadian Tire Centre. “I’ve talked to a number of teams now and they haven’t even given me a price to move up.
“As I’ve been told by a couple of managers, ‘It’s hard to move back to No. 17 from where we are.’ Maybe on the day of the draft somebody will come and say, ‘If you give me X player I would consider it.’ I haven’t been given that option so far.”
- Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Penguins have a first and two third round picks, GM Ray Shero on the doing something at the draft.
“You never know,” he said. “You always have to be prepared for that.
“It would be later on in the week, or on the weekend, when we’ll know if we can do that.”
They could package a player and a pick to net a first-round pick or more.
“If I want to trade one of our young defensemen, I’ll get a first-round pick back,” he said. “Easily. But that’s counter-productive.”
The Penguins want to re-sign Kris Letang, but could receive offers that include high draft picks.
- Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal: The Oilers are willing to trade their No. 7 pick, but GM Craig MacTavish doesn’t want to drop too far down that they miss out on a ‘skilled’ player. MacTavish will look for role players through free agency or by giving up one or both of their 2nd round picks.
“My sense is that we try and put together some packages,” MacTavish said Tuesday during his pre-draft media briefing. “The division we’re going into next year is a big strong division, and we’re going to need big, strong players who can compete. Our team is modelled more like the current Stanley Cup champions, so we do have that level of skill, but we also need to be able to compete in the tough areas.
“It’s a matter of entertaining the idea of moving draft choices and also some of the current players we have, to get some bigger strong players.”
- Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun: The Jets are looking to trade up in the draft, but moving down is also an option.
“I’m trying to move up,” Cheveldayoff said, Monday. “As high as is potentially possible. The reality is a lot of teams are making those calls right now….potentially finding your guy with a later pick and moving down are different options as well.
“There are teams that have contacted me below us that have asked if we would move down in the draft. But my focus… would be to see if there’s an opportunity to move up.”
“To move from 13 to a very high pick is a very difficult thing to do. But there are different ways you could potentially go about doing that.”
The Jets have three 2nd round pick, and one could be up for grabs. They also have two 3rd round picks.