Insider Trading: Habs remain undecided on No. 1 pick

TSN Hockey Insiders Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger join host Kate Beirness to discuss some major topics of interest as the NHL Entry Draft and start of the free agency period are just around the corner.

We are one week away from the NHL draft where Montreal will play host and they own the top pick. Any sense of who we like for that No. 1 pick?

LeBrun: What I was told on this day is that the Habs’ braintrust remains undecided in terms of being 100 per cent on the No. 1 pick, which is not shocking. [General manager] Kent Hughes has said that they would use all the time they had leading up to next Thursday's first round to settle on that No. 1 pick. But what it could do in the meantime is perhaps add some intrigue in the hours leading up to next Thursday's first round in that everyone knows the New Jersey Devils are picking at No. 2. There are some who believe that Montreal is waiting to see if the Devils make a move closer to the first round in terms of picking up the phone and asking Montreal what it would take to flip the No.1 and No. 2 picks so that the Devils can make sure they can get their hands on winger Juraj Slafkovsky. But the Devils are telling people 'if a centre is the best player available in our eyes, we have no problem with taking another centre,' even though the Devils have Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. Something to keep an eye on because I think the Habs would be willing to entertain that conversation.

It appears the Leafs are moving on from [unrestricted free agent] Ilya Mikheyev as they have informed teams they are willing to trade his rights, correct?

Johnston: That's right. What's interesting here is obviously before sending out that note, there was nothing worked out with any teams