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Tuesday, June 2, 2009 7:59 PM

Koules ready to entertain draft picks

Eric Duhatschek

NHL presidents and general managers spent the day huddling in meetings on the eve of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final, covering off what one president described as a fairly thin agenda. Typically, one of the few team presidents to stop and chat and actually have something interesting to say was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Oren Koules. Koules mentioned that the Lightning will fly the three top prospects for the NHL entry draft – John Tavares, Victor Hedman and Matt Duchene – to Tampa tomorrow, to talk to them as a group and see how they interact with one another in that setting.

“We’re going to take them to dinner; hang out with them a bit; show them around; and introduce them to the media,” said Koules. “We’re excited. Any one of those three kids will improve our team drastically. They’re all great kids and we’re excited to show them around Tampa.”

There is much speculation that Tampa will be active between now and the draft.

Koules said he sat next to “Burkie [Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke] for three hours and he never said anything me.”

Really? Brian Burke went three hours without speaking?

“He talked the whole time,” answered Koules, “but not about that [moving up in the entry draft].”

Koules did mention that the Lightning would be happy with any one of the top seven or eight players available in the 2009 entry draft, which suggests that they will not completely rule out a deal with Toronto, given that they are drafting at No. 2 and the Leafs select seventh overall.

Hedman, a defenceman, would meet a more immediate need, unless the Lightning do move Vincent Lecavalier before his no-movement clause kicks in July 1, in which case Tavares or Duchene might be a nice fit.

For the moment anyway, Tampa is proceeding on the assumption Lecavalier will remain with the team, said Koules, who indicated that his payroll next year needs to come in right around $49-million (U.S.) They will not be a cap team and neither will the Anaheim Ducks, a team that will try to meet with Scott Niedermayer to get a clarification of his status for next season within the fortnight, so they can put a game plan in place for the entry draft.

Ideally, Anaheim wouldn’t mind keeping both Niedermayer and Chris Pronger next year, but the only way that happens is if they can find a way of trading J.S. Giguere, another player with a no-movement clause who lost the starting job to Jonas Hiller this season. Getting out from under Giguere’s contract may prove impossible, but it is an option that Anaheim will explore.

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Globe On Hockey Contributors

David Shoalts

David Shoalts, a native of Wainfleet, Ont., joined The Globe in 1984 as a layout and copy editor in the sports section. He attended the University of Waterloo and Conestoga College. After graduating from Conestoga with a journalism diploma in 1978, Shoalts worked at the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and later the Toronto Sun.

In 1986, Shoalts went back to the writing side of the business. He was the CFL reporter for The Globe for four years and then switched to hockey. He has covered the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL ever since and became a hockey columnist in 2003. Among the most memorable events Shoalts has covered are the final hockey game at the old Chicago Stadium (between the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks) and the men's and women's gold-medal hockey games at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He is also the author of a book of humour, Tales From The Toronto Maple Leafs, and co-author with retired Globe columnist William Houston of Greed and Glory, The Fall of Hockey Czar Alan Eagleson.

 
Allan Maki

Allan Maki

Allan Maki joined the Globe in 1997, after spending 19 years as a reporter and columnist at the Calgary Herald. Born in Thunder Bay, Ont., Maki graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 1977.

A past president of the Football Writers of Canada, Maki has covered every Grey Cup since 1980. He's been to seven Olympic Games and covered everything from rodeos to the World Series to the Super Bowl.

A regular commentator on radio and television, Maki hosted a sports program for two years on CBC Newsworld. He has won several awards for his writing and was nominated for a National Newspaper Award in 1995.

 
Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek was the winner of the Hockey Hall Of Fame's Elmer Ferguson award for "distinguished contributions to hockey writing" in 2001. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario's grad school of journalism, he began covering hockey in 1978 and after spending 20 years covering the NHL and the Calgary Flames, joined globeandmail.com in September, 2000, where he writes a five-time-a-week NHL column.

A frequent contributor to Hockey Night in Canada's Satellite Hot Stove segment, he has covered four Winter Olympics, 19 Stanley Cup finals, every Canada Cup and World Cup since 1981, plus two world championships. Most recently, he was appointed as the newest member of the Hockey Hall Of Fame's annual Selection Committee.