Canadian: Panthers first pick available?

BETTING À DAY

Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes may have had his biggest break when he landed the Florida Panthers' No. 1 pick in return for Ben Chiarot last year . He could do it again by trading that selection in the next draft. 

That's what TSN reported on Tuesday.

Hughes wouldn't be closed to the idea of ​​concluding another transaction similar to the one which allowed him to get his hands on Kirby Dach, during the last auction of the Bettman circuit. He then became the owner of the New York Islanders selection by sacrificing Alexander Romanov, before trading him to acquire the big forward from the Chicago Blackhawks.

Remember that the Panthers' choice is not protected. The Florida team is in the midst of a fight to qualify for the playoffs, but they had the 14th best odds going into the lottery heading into Tuesday's games.

In fact, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the St. Louis Blues would also like to get rid of later first-round picks.

The Ohio team acquired the selection from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Vladislav Gavrikov and Joonas Korpisalo.

For their part, the Missouri team got the picks of the New York Rangers and Vegas Golden Knights when they traded Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev respectively.