I think this tells you a lot about the NHL top defenseman and the top five defenseman in this draft class:

"... Chiarelli knows how difficult it is to find a No 1 defenseman in the NHL..."

"Over the years I've had discussions on teams I've been with on how many true No 1 [defensemen] are there? Maybe there's 12," he said. "So there's 30 teams and maybe there's 12 No 1 [defensemen]. So to think maybe you'll get a true No 1 [defensemen], it's tough."

Chiarelli feels the top defense prospects in the draft project as solid No 2 defensemen, though he conceded they may develop into a No 1 down the road.

"I wouldn't say there's a clear-cut No 1 [defenseman]," he said.

A final word prior to the draft, by a Hockey News scribe:
(Talking about Dallas Stars) Nothing can sabotage a good hockey club more than bad/mediocre goaltending.

There is a gun to Andrew Shaw & his agent’s head…he can have some of the dollars that will be vacated by Kruger’s departure, or he can be the one moved, at the draft, while Kruger is retained.

With Shaw traded I really hope we hope we sign Ladd!

If there is anything to like about losing Shawzie,
it is there are more than nine interesting long term prospects available to the Blackhawks who will be picking ninth overall tomorrow.

Forwards LW Carl Grundstrom, C Pascal Faberge, C Cliff Pu, LW Cam Morrison, LW Boris Katchouk,(<---the closest Andrew Shaw clone) RW Rasmus Asplund RW Wade Allison, C Will Bitten C RW Nathan Bastian speedy Brandon Gignac, and midgets Alex DeBrincat & Vitali Abramov, and giant Tage Thompson.

Defenders Markus Niemelainen, Libor Hajek, Kale Clague, Ryan Lindgren, Sam Girard, Filip Hronek, and Josh Mahura and
a couple goalies in Filip Gustavsson and Carter Hart
That’s a list of 22 players and the first two Montreal picks common the first 20 slots…

Will somebody please explain to me how ex Hawk Perri managed to get a 4M contract? Has Perri improved that much since a year ago with the pounding