Written by Graeme Nichols | 23 June 2009

Here's an interesting piece of information from Bob McKenzie's chat transcript that transpired this afternoon. One of the questions posed to Bob was in regards to any major movements or transacations during the NHL Draft's 1st round. Here was his response:

Denny, all subject to change, but as of now I don’t see Lecavalier being traded this weekend. As for Dany Heatley, it’s possible but unless the deal involves a pick in the first round on Friday, I don’t think there’s any additional pressure on Bryan Murray to conclude the trade this weekend. That could change, but that’s my sense of it. If Scott Niedermayer tells Anaheim he’s coming back, Chris Pronger goes into play and will be traded and of the big names, I suspect he could go more quickly than the others. Phil Kessel is another guy to keep an eye on. I think Boston will be really challenged to keep him, given their cap situation. San Jose is an interesting team to watch, too. It won’t surprise me if Doug Wilson tries to shuffle the deck there and that could mean a guy like Patrick Marleau will be in play. Otherwise, we could see Florida move Jay Bouwmeester’s rights for a conditional pick. I hate forecasting trades because they’re so hard to get done in today’s NHL, but for the first time in a long time, it looks like more than few teams are eager to make “hockey” trades (players for players). ~ courtesy, TSN

Also, another question was posed to Bob regarding who the Senators would likely take with their 9th pick. Here was Bob's response:

Neil, the Senators are going to have some wonderfully difficult decisions to make at No. 9. I think it’s safe to say with a high degree of certainty that the top five players – Tavares, Hedman, Duchene, Evander Kane and Brayden Schenn – will be off the board by then. That leaves three picks before Ottawa chooses. I think there are five more players in play there – Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jared Cowan, Nazem Kadri, Dmitry Kulikov and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson. I don’t want to say the Senators’ choice is elementary but it seems to me that you simply scratch the three prospects taken at Nos. 6, 7 and 8 and the Senators can decide which of the other remaining top 10 guys they want. If I were a betting man I would say one of Ekman-Larsson or Kulikov or Cowan will be there and one of Kadri or Paajarvi-Svensson will be there. Just a hunch on my part, and it’s highly subject to change because there could be a lot of movement in the eight picks ahead of the Senators, I think the Senators’ choice may come down to Paajarvi-Svensson or Kulikov.

For those interested, Pierre Maguire will be available tomorrow (Wednesday, June 24th) for a live chat at 1pm EST.

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