NHL Draft Q&A

Looking back at first round of 2009 NHL draft

Here's Why Burke Couldn't Move Up

MONTREAL

Brian Burke wanted one of the top five picks in tonight's NHL draft. He talked incessantly about doing so in recent weeks, and it seemed a slam-dunk that it would happen.

And it didn't.

Why? Well, here's why:

--The Islanders, with the No. 1 overall pick, weren't interested in trading it to anyone.

"The Islanders never gave us a chance to swing," said Burke.

--The Lightning, with the No. 2 pick, were willing to give it up if the Leafs were offering defenceman Luke Schenn in return. Burke wasn't, and as it turned out, John Tavares, the apple of his eye, wouldn't have been there with the second overall pick anyway.

"We'd be without Luke Schenn and I'd look like an idiot," said Burke.

--The Avalanche, with the No. 3 selection, were under the leadership of greenhorn GM Greg Sherman, who had taken over only 23 days earlier. The Leafs were willing to take on difficult contracts like those owned by Ryan Smyth (three more years, $15.5 million) and Scott Hannan (two more years, $9 million) but Sherman was understandably not ready to wheel and deal.

--The Thrashers, with the No. 4 pick, would have surrendered it for Tomas Kaberle and the No. 7 pick, paving the way for the Leafs to draft Brayden Schenn or Evander Kane. But Burke did not want to use Kaberle to move up in the draft, so that negotiation went nowhere.

--The Kings, with the No. 5 pick, took Schenn and simply had no interest in what the Leafs were offering. If you look at the Leaf depth chart, it's not hard to figure out why.

Leafs GM talks about drafting Nazem Kadri

Kadri's first press conference as a Leaf

Speed to Burn

MONTREAL

Instead of another defenceman, the Maple Leafs have gone for pizzazz up front.

The Leafs drafted London-born winger Nazem Kadri with the seventh overall pick in tonight's NHL draft, choosing not to take strapping blueliner Jared Cowan of Spokane.

With fans at Bell Centre derisively chanting "'67, '67!" and booing Leafs GM Brian Burke - who smiled - the Leafs went for the speedy Kadri after unsuccessfuly trying to move up in the draft.

The Leafs were expecting Cowan to go to Phoenix at No. 6, but the Coyotes - with fans chanting "Hamilton, Hamilton" - grabbed Swedish defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larson instead.

Kadri is a Muslim of Lebanese descent born and raised in London, Ontario.

After All That!

MONTREAL--John Tavares started No. 1 and stayed that way.

The New York Islanders ended weeks of speculation by selecting the OHL star with the first pick of the 2009 NHL draft tonight, end Tavares' long wait.

Rumours in recent weeks had suggested that Swedish defenceman Victor Hedman or Brampton centre Matt Duchene might have supplanted Tavares as the No. 1 pick, but that turned out not to be true as the Islanders grabbed the high-profile teenager on the planet.

As it stands, Hedman is now expected to go No. 2 to Tampa Bay and Duchene No. 3 to Colorado.

Pronger Moved

MONTREAL

What didn't happen at the NHL trade deadline has happened just minutes before tonight's NHL entry draft.

Anaheim, apparently believing Scott Niedermayer will return next season, have moved defenceman Chris Pronger to the Philadelphia Flyers. That deal also takes the Flyers out of the Jay Bouwmeester sweeptakes after they were believed to be one of the hottest pursuers of the free agent blueliner.

With Derian Hatcher retiring officially, Pronger gives the Flyers another big man on the blueline, while the Ducks get the salary cap relief they require. Philly is expected to send winger Joffrey Lupul and possibly both young blueliner Luca Sbisa and a first round pick to Anaheim.

More on the deal later.

Picking At No. 7

MONTREAL

With no deals to be had, the Maple Leafs are set to pick seventh tonight in the NHL draft.

The scenarios for that pick go like this.

If Spokane defenceman Jared Cowan is available - Phoenix is expected to grab him first - the Leafs will grab him.

If not,GM Brian Burke is expected to go for either London forward Nazem Kadri or Swedish defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Larsson is a high-end offensive blueliner who would be the obvious successor to Tomas Kaberle, now a certainly to be traded this summer after he was nearly dealt to Boston today.

In the case of Kaberle, the Leafs will wait to see the Jay Bouwmeester sweepstakes play out, then try to attract offers from the teams that don't land the rangy blueliner.

Multiple Moves

MONTREAL

No deal.
In fact, no deal of any kind for Brian Burke, it appears, with one hour to go until his first draft as GM of the Maple Leafs.
A deal with Boston that would have brought Phil Kessel and a pick to the Leafs is apparently off, and so are any of the deals that would have moved the Leafs up in the draft.
So much talk, but only frustration, apparently, for Burke and the Leafs. As it stands, the Leafs will pick seventh overall, and could be looking at either OHL speedster Nazem Kadri or Swedish blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larson.

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With less than three hours to go before the 2009 entry draft, the Maple Leafs are still working on separate deals that could see the club acquire wingers Phil Kessel and Ryane Clowe.
The Clowe deal with San Jose may be in jeopardy, with the Sharks possibly working on another trade that would see goalie Evgeny Nabokov moved.
Boston, meanwhile, is expected to either formalize an offer within the hour for defenceman Tomas Kaberle that would see Kessel and a draft pick go to the Leafs, or that deal will fall apart.
Leaf GM Brian Burke would be just as happy to wait until after July 1st to see what offers materialize for Kaberle after free agent Jay Bouwmeester is snapped up.
As of now, the Leafs do not have a trade in place that would see him move up from the No. 7 draft slot.

The Maple Leafs are seriously looking at a Tomas Kaberle-for-Phil Kessel deal.

But it would not involve the Leafs also sending the No. 7 pick in tonight's entry draft to the Bruins.

TSN broke the story this morning that the Bruins had offered the 21-year-old Kessel to the Leafs to land Kaberle, which was bang-on. But the TSN report also included the seventh pick, and multiple sources say this morning the Leafs would not give up the No. 7 selection to make that deal happen. In fact, the Leafs might be the team getting the extra pick in such a transaction.

Burke, the boss of the U.S. Olympic team, clearly loves Kessel, who scored 36 goals in only 70 games this season and produced another six goals in 11 playoff games after being scratched for three of seven post-season matches the year before.

The University of Minnesota product would immediately become the Leafs' top winger, although he is a restricted free agent this summer and is the type of player who might be vulnerable to an offer sheet.

But consider this.

Kessel, if acquired, would give the Leafs much more useful ammunition to move up in the draft, possibly to the No. 3 slot (Colorado) or No. 4 (Atlanta). That would get the Leafs into the territory of Matt Duchene/Evander Kane/Brayden Schenn, unless John Tavares still happens to be available after the top two picks.