2015 NHL Draft day two live blog: Trades, rumors and picks – CBSSports.com
Connor McDavid was the top pick in the first round on Friday night. (USATSI)
This will be your home for Eye on Hockey’s 2015 NHL Entry Draft day live blog, following all of the action from Saturday in Sunrise, Fla. We will be discussing all of the trades, rumors, and notable draft picks from around the league.
12:40 p.m. ET: The Anton Khudobin to Anaheim trade is finally official, and the Hurricanes are receiving veteran defeseman James Wisniewski in return. For Wisniewski, it’s his third team since the start of last season going from Columbus, to Anaheim where he never seemed to gain the trust of coach Bruce Boudreau, and now to Carolina. The Ducks seem content for the time being to keep three goalies, especially since John Gibson still has another year on a two-way contract and can play in the American Hockey League.
In other goalie news, Stars general manager Jim Nill sees Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen splitting time in the crease this season. Those are two veterans (one that already has a large contract, and another that is likely to soon have one) that are used to playing a lot of games (two of the most used starters in the league in recent years) sharing one crease. Interesting dynamic.
12:05 p.m. ET: And the Oilers aren’t done. The No. 107 pick did not stay in their possession for very long as they traded it and prospect Travis Ewanyk to the Ottawa Senators for defenseman Eric Gryba.
Gryba is a big, physical defenseman but I’m not sure if this is an upgrade over Marincin, especially for a young, rebuilding team.
It’s been an interesting weekend for the Oilers. On one hand, they ended up with Connor McDavid. Which is good.
But they also traded Martin Marincin and the No. 16 and 33 picks for Griffin Reinhart, Brad Ross and Eric Gryba. We’ll have to see how that all plays out.
12:00 p.m. ET: The Edmonton Oilers trade defenseman Martin Marincin to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Brad Ross and the No. 107 pick in the draft.
This is a strange trade for Edmonton, and an excellent one for Toronto. Marincin is already an NHL player and still has some upside, while Ross’ claim to fame at this point is getting suspended for PED use this past season while playing in the American Hockey League.
It’s also another example of some questionable asset management by the Oilers. They pretty much had two good defensemen on their roster last season: Jeff Petry and Martin Marincin. Over the past five months they have traded the two of them for Brad Ross, a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick.
Petry has already become a favorite in Montreal and signed a new long-term contract with the team.
11:49 a.m. ET: The Detroit Red Wings selected Vili Saarijarvi with the No. 73 overall pick, a selection that has produced what might be my favorite draft fact of the weekend.
#RedWings Saarijarvi born in Rovaniemi, capital of Finnish Lapland, listed as hometown of Santa Claus. So he’s not biggest celeb from there.
— Bob Duff (@asktheduffer) June 27, 2015
11:39 a.m. ET: On the trade front, Canucks president of hockey operations says that there is nothing new to report on a potential Kevin Bieksa trade.
Meanwhile, in Toronto…
Leafs looking at taking on a bad contract in exchange for an asset or two. Sounds like lot of interesting discussions.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) June 27, 2015
11:06 a.m. ET: The Penguins’ first pick, Daniel Sprong, seems to be quite the gamer.
daniel sprong, big fan of game days pic.twitter.com/ltIy7H9ATh
— Mike Darnay (@MikeDarnay) June 27, 2015
Also, just a quick recap on several teams that made their first pick of the draft in round two.
33. Tampa Bay Lightning: Mitchell Stephens
43. Los Angeles Kings: Eric Cernak
46. Pittsburgh Penguins: Daniel Sprong
53. Calgary Flames: Rasmus Andersson
54. Chicago Blackhawks: Graham Knott
55. Nashville Predators: Yakov Trenin
56. St. Louis Blues: Vince Dunn
10:56 a.m. ET: And then the Cam Talbot shoe finally drops as he goes to the Edmonton Oilers for three draft picks.
We also have a couple of teams making their first pick, including the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks who select Graham Knott, and the Pittsburgh Penguins who selected Daniel Sprong at No. 46.
10:39 a.m. ET: The New York Rangers complete a huge trade, but it’s not the one everybody expected with Cam Talbot. Carl Hagelin, the 59th and 179th picks are going to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Emerson Etem and the 41st pick.
The Dallas Stars also acquiring the free agent rights to goalie Antti Niemi in exchange for a 7th round draft pick.
10:08 a.m. ET: The story of the day so far seems to be goalie trades.
Eddie Lack is already on the move going to the Carolina Hurricanes for a pair of draft picks, a move that should kickstart some action around the league.
ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Carolina is close to flipping Anton Khudobin to the Anaheim Ducks, which would create another logjam in their crease, which could be solved with a potential John Gibson trade.
And let’s not forget that the Rangers still have Cam Talbot sitting out there.
•The Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning made their first pick in the 2015 draft (they have nine more picks coming today) when they selected Mitchell Stephens in the second round.
•And speaking of first picks, and we forgot to get to this last night, let’s re-watch the glorious awkwardness that was this obviously staged “welcome to Edmonton” involving Connor McDavid and Oilers owner Daryl Katz.
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