- Mike Morreale of NHL.com: Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke once again let everyone know he’d like to move up in the draft,
“We’re trying to move up, but haven’t had any luck yet … it’s still pretty early,” Burke said. “We own the 25th pick (from Philadelphia) and either a 29 or 30 from Boston (depending on the result of Stanley Cup Final), and we’re trying to package 39 and one of those first-rounders.”
“Making a draft deal is like farming,” Burke said. “You have to do a lot of work before you harvest anything. You can’t just show up at the Draft and say ‘OK we’re making this deal.’
“You’ve got to lay it out for all the teams ahead of you so they understand exactly what you’re prepared to do. But it may happen on the floor. If a team feels a player isn’t there where they want him, they’ll maybe turn to us and say, ‘Now we want to do that deal.’ So if you don’t do all the groundwork before you get there, there’s no chance of making the right deal, so we’re doing all the spade work now.”
- Adam Kimelman of NHL.com: Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson may be interested in moving their 1st round pick, if they keep it, their take the best player available.
“Possibly we’d look to move the pick — even for a player, if we could,” Howson told NHL.com. “We’re open for anything. I don’t think it’s likely we’d move up, more likely we’d either make the pick or move back or perhaps trade it for a player.”
- Tom Gulitti via twitter: The Phoenix Coyotes are interested in trading their 1st round pick (#20) and one of their 2nd round picks to move up in the draft.
- Tom Gulitti via twitter: The Rangers traded their 2 2nd round picks for Tim Erixon, and may look to move down from #15 at the draft.
- Tom Gulitti via twitter: “There’s also a growing sentiment that there will be more players under contract traded for picks on draft day because cap is going up.”
- Tom Gulitti of the Bergon Record: The Devils have looked at a range of 15 players for the #4 pick at the NHL draft and will continue to narrow it down. Jonathan Huberdeau, Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan Strome, Dougie Hamilton and Ryan Murphy were invited do some extra testing after scouting combine ended. There has also been talk that they could be interested in Mika Zibanejad but he may be a stretch at #4.
- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Ottawa Senators coaching search is coming to an end. Paul MacLean (Red Wings), Kirk Muller (Canadiens), Craig MacTavish, Dave Cameron and Gerard Gallant have all been interviewed. Kurt Kleinendorst will be interviewed after the AHL final. They hope to have their coach named by the draft on June 24-25.
- Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: Craig MacTavish has had multiple discussions with Wild GM Chuck Fletcher about vacant head coaching position in Minnesota. Fletcher has also talked to Paul MacLean, Gerard Gallant, Michel Therrien, Kirk Muller, and would like to talk to Mike Yeo of the Houston Aeros (AHL). The Oilers need to add ‘team toughness” according to GM Steve Tambellini. Martin Gerber didn’t sign a deal with a Swedish team as rumored, he could retire. They may not re-sign Alex Giroux despite being 2nd in AHL scoring last year. The Oilers have 14 players under contract for next year, and could have close to $25 million in cap space.