Courtesy: OHL Images
This past Friday night, the 2014 NHL Draft kicked off, which then continued on Saturday in rapid fashion with rounds 2-7. There was a ton of speculation going into Friday that there would be a ton of trades – including the first overall pick that belonged to the Florida Panthers.
Among the boos of the Philadelphia Flyers faithful, what was leading up to be an interesting night, turned out to be kinda dull. The Panthers held on to their pick in the end, taking Aaron Ekblad first over all. Ekblad was highly coveted and teams were trying to trade up to get the defenseman, but the Panthers weren’t loving the proposals by offered. The first round went relatively smooth with nothing too exciting to report.
The Capitals selected 13th overall and picked Jakub Vrana, a Czech player from the Swedish Hockey League. Vrana was slated to go later in the round, but the Caps saw something they thought they liked. Vrana is a right wing and is said to be talented scorer with lots of offensive upside, however he needs to improve his two-way game and doesn’t play much defense, according to the ISS.
I did hear that the Caps were trying to move up in the top ten to select Haydn Fleury, a big defenseman from the Red Deer Rebels. Whatever team was talking with the Caps, however, were not interested in dropping down to 13. Fleury was chosen by the Carolina Hurricanes.
There were a couple trades that day – and big ones.
Earlier in the day, the Vancouver Canucks traded center Ryan Kesler and a 2015 third round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Nick Bonino, defenesman Luca Sbisa and picks number 24 and 85 in this years draft.
Later, the Canucks traded defenseman Jason Garrison, forward Jeff Costello and a 2015 7th round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 50th pick in this years draft.
Then the Canucks swapped a 3rd round pick for Rangers toughguy Derek Dorsett. They also acquired forward Linden Vey from the Kings fora second round pick.
The first round saw one exciting trade involving the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators. The Penguins traded winger James Neal to the Predators for forward Patric Hornqvuist and forward Nick Spaling.
Next, the Maple Leafs scratched some heads by sending defenseman Carl Gunnarsson and a 4th round pick to the Blues for rugged defenseman Roman Polak.
The Flames acquired toughguy-forward Brandon Bollig from the Blackhawks for a 3rd round pick.
And finally the Capitals traded three picks (6th and two 7th rounders (2014, 2015)) to the Winnipeg Jets for goaltender Eddie Pasquale and an earlier 6th round pick.
So, that wasn’t a terrible weekend, but judging by all the rumors I had heard, it wasn’t the slam dunk which I was hoping for – but that’s my own fault I guess for getting too excited.
In other news since the draft, the NHL has raised the salary cap to $69M with the floor set at $51M. This gets more intersting going into tomorrow when the Free Agency period opens. More on that later.
The Edmonton Oilers traded Sam Gagner to the Lightning for Teddy Purcell, then Gagner was immediately shipped to the newly named Arizona Coyotes along with B.J. Crombeen. The Coyotes were in need of a new center since they bought out former Capital Mike Ribeiro, citing behavorial issues. Very intersting indeed!
The Lighting cleared more cap space this morning by trading Nate Thompson the Ducks for a 4th and 7th round draft pick in 2015.
That’s the news so far. Lots and lots of speculation leading up to tomorrow and we could expect to see some rights traded today. I’ll do my best to keep you informed.
Some rumors of note:
The Capitals could look to sign Jarome Iginla or Thomas Vanek. Evander Kane’s name has been linked to the Caps via trade, as is Dustin Byfuglien.
Willie Mitchell and Brooks Orpik, although not linked to the Caps by any rumors yet, are two of the best bets for that elusive shut down defenseman we’ve been craving.
More to come…
