NHL draft week buzz: Top prospects, plus free agency, trades - ESPN

It's a big week for the NHL. Tonight, the annual awards show will anoint the winners of the Hart, Vezina, Calder and Norris trophies. Wednesday is Round 1 of the draft (7 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN+), while free agency begins on Saturday at noon ET.

To help make sense of it all, our reporters reached out to sources in front offices around the league for their takes on the draft, trades and the free agent class.

So ahead of this week's flurry of action, Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski deliver the latest buzz around the NHL:

The Columbus Blue Jackets didn't get their wish to draft first or second overall, but their No. 3 pick could shape the rest of the selections in the first round.

«So much hinges on what Columbus does at No. 3,» one NHL draft evaluator said. «We know they've spent time with all three kids — Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Will Smith.»

Fantilli is the hulking Michigan center who won the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA's top player. Carlsson is a tall center for Örebro of the Swedish Hockey League. Smith is an offensive dynamo for the U.S. Hockey National Team Development Program.

«GM Jarmo Kekalainen never just falls in line with what the consensus is,» the evaluator said. «If it's between Smith and Carlsson, I see Smith as more of a goal scorer and Carlsson as more of a playmaker type. For what the Blue Jackets have already in someone like Patrik Laine or Johnny Gaudreau, I could see them going for the setup man.»

Of course, those plans might be thrown off if the Anaheim Ducks opt to not take Fantilli at No. 2 and perhaps select Russian winger Matvei Michkov instead.

«They're loaded at center,» the evaluator said. «GM Pat Verbeek drafted a Russian last year in Pavel Mintyukov. Michkov is an