On the Vancouver Canucks …
Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province: The Vancouver Canucks dropped from No. 3 to No. 5 after the lottery drawing.
“It was a very likely situation we were going to move down,” Linden said from the airport in Toronto about an hour after the lottery.
“I knew we couldn’t lose, and I don’t think we’ve lost. Obviously, the cachet of getting one of these top three guys was there, but it doesn’t speed anything up for us.
“Naturally, there’s a part of you that has visions of picking one, and there’s the instant gratification of having the player show up in October and being a contributor right away. But this is a great draft. There are tremendous players behind those top three. Whoever we pick is going to be a big part of our future.”
The Canucks could be looking at forwards – Matthew Tkachuk, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Alex Nylander.
Most have Olli Juolevi as the top defensemen. GM Jim Benning loves Jake Bean. If they trade down, other options could be Mikhail Sergachev, Jacob Chychrun and Dante Fabbro.
“We’ll look at every possibility,” Linden said. “There’s more action at the draft than any other time. I think it’s taken over from the trade deadline. We’ll have lots of options.”
On the Ottawa Senators …
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen: The Ottawa Senators held on to their No. 12 slot after the lottery, but it doesn’t mean they will hold on to it. GM Pierre Dorion hasn’t ruled out either moving up or down once the draft starts.
“Moving up? You know what, calls will be made but realistically I doubt that teams want to give up their picks or switch picks,” Dorion said. “Now, picking 12th, is still a very attractive thing for a team that might want to get an asset with a pick so I think you have to study those possibilities.
“At the end of the day, if I had to predict where we’re going to pick in Buffalo, I’d probably have to say we’re going to pick 12th.”
