"Although his cell phone was buzzing all day with potential trade partners who covet the Florida Panthers' No. 3 draft pick, General Manager Dale Tallon felt neglected as he watched the Flyers unload stars such as Mike Richards and Jeff Carter to other needy teams.

"I made a lot of dandy trades last night, but then I woke up,'' Tallon joked. "Cap-challenged teams have been talking to us but nothing's come to fruition yet. There's been a lot of pondering, a lot of positioning as far as what we might do, what we may trade or get back in return. … Things are starting to percolate.''

The Panthers have a whopping $46 million in cap space and 10 picks, including three in the first 47.

That said, Tallon said he'd be fine with keeping all his picks on the eve of Friday's NHL Entry Level Draft at the Xcel Energy Center.

He was excited about conducting one final round of interviews Thursday night at the Westin hotel with three of the projected top five prospects: center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, center/left wing Jonathan Huberdeau and left wing Gabriel Landeskog.

"We'd be silly to not see if we can move up or back if it benefits your team,'' he said. "We're comfortable at 3. It's a really good pick, no matter what happens in front of us.''

The Oilers have been dangling their top pick, but most observers agree, despite needing a defenseman like Adam Larsson, they'll most likely snatch Nugent-Hopkins, who notched 106 points for Red Deer. Colorado owns the second pick and they're enamored with Landeskog."