On the Montreal Canadiens and the No. 3 pick …
Sportsnet: Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino believes the Canadiens are targeting center Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the first round.
“I think they’ve already investigated several trade back opportunities,” Cosentino said on the latest episode of the 31 Thoughts Podcast with Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman. “It’s probably cooled just a little bit because I think it’s pretty well out there that they want Kotkaniemi as the centre.”
Eric Engels tweeted that a week ago he didn’t think they’d pass on winger Filip Zadina, but it appears they are locked on Kotkaniemi. If they could trade down and select they would, but they could also be willing draft him at No. 3.
On the Toronto Maple Leafs and the 2018 NHL draft …
Chris Johnston of Sportsnet: Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said they wouldn’t rule out moving in the draft from their No. 25 slot.
“I know a lot of people say he’s only a trade-down person. I don’t know how it’s got to that point,” said Dubas. “I guess we did it twice, so sure. I think if there’s an opportunity for us to add players that can help our team we have the capital in draft choices to be able to . So I don’t ever go into it saying ‘We’re going to do X and Y.’
“We’re going to do whatever we can to do to help the team and keep moving ahead. So if that’s move up, move down, stay in the same spot and pick a player we like, that’s what we’ll do.”
The Maple Leafs won’t be studying their organizational depth charts and targeting defensemen or left-wingers.
“Positional need, to me, zero,” said Dubas. “We want to find the best players and draft them and bring them in. We can sort that out through trades and waivers after. But the more good players we can get in the better.”