The first round of the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft had just completed Wednesday when the Buffalo Sabres general manager realized that not a single trade had been made since the Chicago Blackhawks were put on the clock with the No. 1 pick about three hours earlier.
"That's shocking," Adams said. "I was just saying that to the guys at our [draft] table. I don't know what to make of that. I guess you have to process that a little bit but it's definitely surprising."
Very much so, when you consider what happened a year ago.
On July 7, the day of the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft at Bell Centre in Montreal, the Blackhawks alone made three deals, more than the entire NHL completed Wednesday. Those included Chicago sending forward Alex DeBrincat to the Ottawa Senators, and forward Kirby Dach to the Montreal Canadiens.
There were two trades completed Wednesday, long before the draft started.
The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired forward Reilly Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights for a third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The Colorado Avalanche landed forward Ross Colton from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a second-round pick in the 2023 Draft.
Once the event started, every team made its selection according to the pre-draft order. There were no swapping of picks. No big-name players were moved.
"It wasn't from a lack of effort," Adams said. "I think there was a lot of people trying to make deals that didn't come together. So, I don't think there was anything different about this draft in terms of preparing for the first round or going through the first round."
Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes said teams obviously wanted to stick with their game plan heading into the first round. The Canadiens selected defenseman David Reinbacher with the No. 5 pick.
"I just think this was a deep first round and teams wanted to stay the course and get the players they wanted," Hughes said.
"Hey, things could very well heat up [Thursday]."
There were a few trades made on Thursday with forward Corey Perry going to the Chicago Blackhawks from the Tampa Bay Lightning, forward Josh Bailey being traded to Chicago from the New York Islanders (his contract will be bought out) and forwards Klim Kostin and Kailer Yamamoto were traded to the Detroit Red Wings by the Edmonton Oilers.
But now that the draft is over and the start of free agency on Saturday, all eyes will be on DeBrincat, who Senators GM Pierre Dorion confirmed has no intention of re-signing with Ottawa when his contract runs out in a year and is looking to be moved.
For his part, Carolina Hurricanes GM Don Waddell said he doesn't see there being a rush to either extend or move players who are entering the final year of their contracts.
"These guys don't have to be signed by July 1," he said. "You go into the summertime, and you know sometimes the market might get better because there's teams that strike out in free agency that say, 'OK, let me focus that attention there.'
"So yeah, I don't know if it happens the next few days, but certainly there's an opportunity that there's going to be some trades throughout the summer. There's no doubt about that.
"Maybe [Thursday]. We'll see."
NET GAINS
Waddell said the Hurricanes' top priority is to settle their goaltending situation.
Pyotr Kochetkov (12-7-5, 2.44 GAA, .909 save percentage this season) signed a four-year, $8 million contract on Nov. 23, 2022, but veterans Frederik Andersen (21-11-1, 2.48, .903) and Antti Raanta (19-3-3, 2.23, ,910) will become unrestricted free agents July 1.
"It's something we're addressing," Waddell said. "We've been in touch with both."
Goal-scoring is one area where the Hurricanes could use some additional pop; they scored only six goals while being swept in four games by the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final.
"We're not going to force it," Waddell said. "To win hockey games you've got to score goals, but, like I said, we've also got to take care of our goaltending right now. We still have a couple open spots there.
"If you go into summer, I mean, we feel good about where we are, but you can always make your team better. We did not win the Stanley Cup last year, we lost in a conference finals, so you can always improve and we'll look to do that.
"It has to make sense though. It always does."
NOTHING'S BRUIN FOR BOSTON YET
Despite efforts to trade into the first round, it was a quiet night for the Boston Bruins, who surrendered their first-round pick as part of the trade with the Washington Capitals that landed them defenseman Dmitry Orlov on Feb. 23.
Boston is in the midst of clearing cap space, a goal that started with the trading of forwards Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to the Blackhawks on Monday. With the Bruins working under the assumption centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci won't be back next season, they could find themselves with a huge hole up the middle.
These are issues the organization knew were coming, team president Cam Neely said.
"We certainly were prepared for this offseason as far as changing the roster and probably having to bring some young kids in because of what we did last year," Neely said. "And with the overages for Krejci and Bergeron, we're kicking it down the road to this year. So, some we were prepared for, but there's still a lot of gymnastics that takes place.
"Centers, I mean, you know as you see your roster aging and aging, you know that's a position of need for the organization. That's been apparent for us for a number of years.
"I kind of equate what's going on now to 2015 when we did a bit of a retool and just, unfortunately, missed the playoffs. It was a retool, but not a complete teardown. Unfortunately, we had to move Taylor for cap reasons, but we like the top part of our lineup. We've just got to fill in around the edges a bit."
THE KINGS OF CENTERS
While the Bruins are on the hunt for centers, the Los Angeles Kings now have a glut of them.
To that end, Los Angeles president Luc Robitaille isn't ready to compare the Kings to the Montreal Canadiens' Stanley Cup dynasty of the 1970s just yet. But he does note the Kings, with the addition of Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets earlier this week, are taking a page out of the Canadiens' playbook in being strong up the middle, adding Dubois to a cache of quality centers that includes captain Anze Kopitar and two-way specialist Phillip Danault.
Dubois was traded to the Kings by the Jets on Tuesday for forwards Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari, and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The 25-year-old forward, who could have become a restricted free agent July 1, then signed an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) with Los Angeles.
"We think down the middle we're going to be as dangerous as any team in the League," Robitaille said Wednesday. "He plays a physical and emotional game and that's what we're looking for."
Robitaille mentioned centers like Hall of Famers Jean Beliveau and Jacques Lemaire, and strong two-way players like Doug Jarvis and Doug Risebrough, all part of those Canadiens teams of the 1970s.
"It's no secret you need to be strong at center to win Stanley Cups," he said. "It's been the same since the New York Islanders of the early 1980s, and those Canadiens teams before that. So, it's something that we're well aware of.
"That's why when we had the opportunity to get a player of a Pierre-Luc's stature, well, we're super excited."
THE LAST WORD
There are some really neat moments in every NHL Draft, and Mitchell Marner provided one of them Wednesday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs made the forward the No. 4 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft after he'd honed his skills with London of the Ontario Hockey League under the guidance of GM Mark Hunter and coach Dale Hunter.
On Wednesday, the Maple Leafs used their first-round pick to take another London Knight, forward Easton Cowan at No. 28.
Cowan grew up in the London area and used to watch Marner play for the Knights. So, imagine his surprise when Marner, now his teammate in Toronto, Facetimed him after he was selected.
"I was kind of in shock," said Cowan, who had 53 points (20 goals, 33 assists) in 68 games this season. "It was really cool."
