On the NHL Draft …
Darren Dreger: The Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets are very unlikely to consider trading their first round picks. The Oilers pick at No. 4 is definitely in play.
Jonas Siegel: Brendan Shanahan said last night that they won’t announce who they are selecting with the first overall pick.
Ben Kuzma: Canucks GM Jim Benning ““If we think a player is going to be No. 1 line player — over a first-pairing defenceman — we’ll take the forward.” – (I’m not when this quote was given, but it could have been recently)
Damien Cox: The Maple Leafs now have a No. 1 center (Auston Matthews), Nazem Kadri for six years and Tyler Bozak. They may now decide that they don’t need to go and spend $60 million on Steven Stamkos.
Damien Cox: Wonder if the Maple Leafs will try to package the first round pick they acquired from Pittsburgh with their 2nd round pick (No. 31) to move up in the draft and select one of the good defensemen.
Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun: Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli on dropping to No. 4 after last night’s draft lottery.
“Yeah, I’m a little bit disappointed,” said Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli via cell phone from the Hockey Night In Canada studio in Toronto.
“I have to be honest, when it happened, my heart was racing. It’s nerve wracking. You tell yourself before that it’s not going to be. There were some disappointed teams and we were one of them. Initial disappointment for sure.
“I know there’s been an under-current of guys saying you shouldn’t be able to win two years in a row, but I came here hopeful we’d win or hopeful we at least maintained our position,” he said of hoping the 29th place Oilers won the No. 2 pick.”
It now seems unlikely that the Oilers will be trading Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Leon Draisaitl this offseason. It’s now more likely that they trade Jordan Eberle or Taylor Hall for a defenseman.
