The New York Islanders put the rumours to rest and selected young phenom John Tavares first overall. The draft, which continues today, saw a couple of big-time players on the move.
It happened the way most thought it should even if no one was entirely sure that the draft would actually unfold the way it did. After weeks of rampant speculation as to who the New York Islanders would take with the first overall pick, they picked a future stalwart in John Tavares.
The Islanders needed to make a splash and they did just that in selecting Tavares. They haven't had a true hockey star in years, and yes that includes the Alexei Yashin years. Now they have one and hockey fans are waiting to see whether the excitement that Tavares brought to the Ontario Hockey League and team Canada will translate in the NHL.
The Tampa Bay Lightning then took massive defensemen Victor Hedman second overall. He's had comparisons to Detroit's Niklas Lidstrom. A number of observers and players say he's the best defensemen to come out of Sweden since Lidstrom, a huge compliment given that Lidstrom has won the Norris Trophy six times as the NHL's best defenseman and the Stanley Cup on four occasions.
Matt Duchene went to the Colorado Avalanche, who plucked the speedy forward third overall. Evander Kane (Atlanta) and Brayden Schenn (Los Angeles) rounded out the top five.
The biggest news came from a trade that saw dominant Anaheim Ducks defender
Chris Pronger packaged to the Philadelphia Flyers for Joffrey Lupul who scored an impressive 25 goals last year, along with two first round draft picks and a conditional third round pick. The trade will also see Ryan Dingle move to Philadelphia while Luca Sbisa will join the Ducks. The trade followed the announcement that future Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Niedermeyer will play another season with Anaheim.
After rumours of
Jay Bouwmeester being moved out west, the defenseman's contract rights were shipped from the Florida Panthers to the Calgary Flames. Bouwmeester is considered the top free agent defensemen available. Calgary will have the exclusive right to negotiate a contract with him in the hopes of getting a deal done before July 1st when the window of opportunity to retain him closes. In return, Florida received the rights to negotiate with impending free agent Jordan Leopold and a third round draft pick.
Meanwhile,
the trade that would have seen Boston's Phil Kessel join the Maple Leafs in exchange for Tomas Kaberle fell through. Boston believed that it was receiving a first round draft choice in addition to Kaberle, while Toronto thought that it was receiving Boston's pick. Communications faltered and the deal is dead.
The wheeling and dealing is likely not over. Big names are still rumoured to be traded and with all NHL General Managers in the same room, anything can happen.
