"It seems like it's a good draft, but I always am kind of cautious about getting too excited about the good drafts or too pessimistic when people say it's a down year because someone will always surprise you in a good way or, unfortunately, in a bad way," Kekalainen told NHL.com at the NHL Scouting Combine. "Either way, we're excited for our franchise with three first-round picks."
"We're going to keep our options open and we're going to be open for talks," he said. "I've expressed the willingness to move one of those picks [prior to making a selection] if we could get some help for our team. But we're not looking for any short-term fix or a quick solution. We're looking for a top prospect in return or a player that's still young and can contribute for our team for the long term.
"We might be looking to move up, or move back, but it all comes down to what's available at the time our pick comes up."
"I think you'll find a lot of opinions; there are a lot of good prospects at the top and at the end of the day, everyone is going to make their own decision, but it's probably closer this year than in some of the other years," Kekalainen said. "When it's close, and especially with the multiple picks we have, a tiebreaker could be selecting a position of need. As a principle, though, I would always take the best player available."
Kekalainen's reasoning behind that is simple.
"Your needs might change by the time that player is ready to contribute for your team," he said. "It usually takes four to five years. Suppose one draft year we are in need of a defender, and we choose a defender. But what happens in four to five years when we all of a sudden have a completely different picture with our team?"
