Blues looking to land 1st round pick; Leafs a target?

According to an article on NHL.com, the St. Louis Blues are looking to jump into the 1st round of the 2011 draft.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=1123

The Blues have three second-round picks and a pair of third-round selections, and Armstrong said that could be enough to entice a team to part with one of its top-round picks.

"With the possibility of the way our picks are clumped together there's the potential to move up into the first round, we believe," Armstrong told NHL.com. "We approach it pretty well the same way. You still have to do your homework; you never know what's going to transpire at the draft table. We're approaching it the same way as if we had a first pick. My experience shows me where you think you can move to in the first round with the assets we have and we'll focus in that area."

Armstrong said his targets could be the Avalanche, Senators, Oilers and Maple Leafs -- all teams with multiple first-round picks.

"The teams that have multiple first-round picks might want to consider moving back and gaining extra second-round picks," said Armstrong. "It all really depends on how those teams have their lists."

Maple Leafs make the most sense out of the teams listed in the article. Avalanche are rebuilding, and have two great pieces to do so. Ottawa is likely looking to move up rather than down out of the 1st round. They are re-tooling and want as high of picks as they can get. I believe they also have multiple second rounders. Oilers continue to build and could also potentially move up. Maple Leafs want to move up, but they have the latest 1st out of the teams listed at 29/30.

The Blues have picks 32 (via Colorado), 41 and 46 (via Buffalo) in the second round. If I'm Burke, depending on who's on the draft board, I'm looking to move that Boston 1st rounder for a deal such as 41 and 46.

Don't see St. Louis moving 32 in a deal with the Maple Leafs. In the article Armstrong stated that in some drafts the early 30 picks are as good as the early 20s so my guess is they may want to get a pick in the 20s while keeping that 32nd pick because of it's value.

Maple Leafs would then have 25, 39, 41, 45. This would still allow Burke to move up in the first round if there were such a deal. He could still package the 25 + 39 selection to slide into the top 20 (for example).

So ending up with a 17-20th selection and the 41 and 45 would land the Maple Leafs with some solid players in the top 50. It's something I would explore on draft day if I'm in Burke's shoes.

Again, it all depends on the players remaining on the board, but I'm of the thought process that there is some solid talent throughout the top 50.

Maple Leafs cut three prospects loose

With the deadline to sign drafted prospects from the 2009 class (well, ones that fall under certain prospect guidelines) the Maple Leafs let defender Barron Smith and German forward Jerome Flaake become free-agent prospects.

Well, in Smith's case he's not 'free' he goes back into the draft, but with only 80 something' games played in the OHL over the last few years he's going to pass through. Smith was a 7th round selection in 2009

Flaake (5th round, 2008) showed flashes of promise, but never really was able to take his offensive game to the next level in Germany. There was a point where he could have crossed over to play major junior (WHL), but stuck it out in Germany. Had he made the transition, who knows what would have happened with his development. He did look good, in my opinion, on the international stage with Germany at the U20's.

And there's one more bit of prospect news, Ben Winnett (4th round 2007). The forward from the University of Michigan will also not be getting a contract. His rights expire in August, and he's been a pretty big bust since joining the Wolverines.

Good news in this for me is that I don't have to do mundane right ups about these players anymore. I cringed every time I had to write about Barron Smith in a prospect update.

None of these players, at this point (and likely ever) are huge loses for the Maple Leafs. Good luck to them in the future.