from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- In the aftermath of the trade deadline, I asked junior expert extraordinaire Sam Cosentino for feedback on what went down with some of the prospects. He had an interesting answer about the upcoming draft.

Sam said he would compare it to 2008, where 12 defencemen went in the first round. Eight of them were right-shot defenders, some real studs among the group: John Carlson, Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson, Alex Pietrangelo. Add Zach Bogosian, Michael Del Zotto, Jake Gardiner, Tyler Myers, Luca Sbisa and Luke Schenn — you’ve got a lot of guys who hit 500 games (Sbisa is at 495.) In his February rankings, Sam had 13 defencemen in the first round, six with right shots. With defence and centre being the most premium spots to pick, it’s a really good year to take a shot at a top pairing defender.

- The early success of Seattle’s ticket drive will likely mean a franchise vote as early as the next Board of Governors meeting in June. The one thing that sticks out to me: the 2020-21 season (when Key Arena renovations are to be completed) is a potential lockout/strike year. That’s less than ideal.

many more topics...