OTR: NHL Draft; Tarasenko; Kraken And NHL Trade Market | PHN+

As the 2021 NHL Entry Draft rapidly approached, the NHL Trade market was buzzing with rumors and chatter.

The NHL trade value for disgruntled St. Louis Blues star winger Vladimir Tarasenko has been low. That would explain GM Doug Armstrong finally addressing the topic on Thursday and going into damage control.

One of the biggest needs so far on the current NHL trade market has been the bottom four defensemen that are durable and hard to play against. Teams have learned from the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals that the depth of that gritty, playoff hockey-type defensemen are what you need in the always grueling Stanley Cup playoffs. The NHL’s newest team ironically stockpiled their blue line with those exact types of defensemen in the NHL Expansion Draft.

Years down the road, could we be looking back on the 2021 NHL Entry Draft as the draft that produced the next Pavel Datsyuk? One longtime NHL Amateur scout explains how in terms of a late-round steal, this could be one of the craziest drafts in recent memory.

All that in the latest ‘Off The Record‘