A small group of reporters gathered yesterday afternoon at the Sommet Center to get David Poile’s assessment of the Predators’ draft.

Some key points Poile made from yesterday’s presser…

- Prospects are “spaced out” well for consistent flow to the team

- “Ellis was our player”…“What we might need in 3 to 4 years is exactly what Ryan Ellis brings us.”

- “This guy (Ellis) is unbelievably special.” Some analysts have said that “This guy could fall out of bed and run an NHL power play now.”

- Minnesota had the 12th pick, they had five offers to take their pick that dried up as soon as we took Ellis.

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Now the attention turns to Free Agents. All the Preds pro scouts are in town for meetings that begin tonight.

Interesting side note – Poile spoke of free agents yesterday and talked of an oddity in this season’s free agents. Poile said, “This is different this year, usually these players that are offered a direct contract usually sign with the club … nobody is signing … the players think they are undervalued … it’s a bit of a game of chicken.”

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Did anyone else catch the shot of Brian Burke during the Versus draft coverage? It was a picture of frustration at not being able to get a deal done.

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Congratulations to David Poile, he is now the proud grandfather of a baby girl… named Ellie, born yesterday morning. Mom and baby are doing fine, grandpa is busting his buttons!

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Thanks to Cory Curtis and the gang from News 2 for having me on SportsExtra last night.

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You are invited to follow me on Twitter. Search for PredPAPaul… Not only will I be updating when I get news or updates… I’ll also be updating during Pred home games in season with information and explanations from the PA box.

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Join Brandon Felder and me for the fastest hour in radio… HockeyBuzz Radio... Wednesday night’s through July 1st. Start time is 6pm on SportsRadio 560 WNSR, you can listen online at www.wnsr.com or you can download the podcast of the show at www.hockeybuzzradio.com

Our season finale will feature Eklund, bringing us the hottest rumors from UFA day and a roundtable of HBR’s contributors looking back at the season that was and forward to 2009-2010… so tune in! We’re efforting an appearance by one of the senior leaders of the Predators Hockey Ops department as well.

Don't forget to check out www.hockeybuzzradio.com for schedules, updates, links to more hockey and Predators information along with our new weekly feature called “On the Mark” featuring opinions on all things hockey from hockey writer Mark McGee.

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