CHICAGO – As Bruce Boudreau sat at the draft table "bored out of his mind," according to General Manager Chuck Fletcher, on Friday night, the Wild coach fired off a text message to someone asking, "Is no one making any moves?"
A couple of trades trickled in late, but Boudreau is a hockey nut. So he, too, had hoped to witness a couple of league-shaking trades, even from his own Wild.
But alas, none from the Wild came, even on the second day of the NHL draft that was spent Saturday with Boudreau … at the airport, then in the sky.
"Nothing's happening," Boudreau said, laughing, before boarding a flight to Minnesota. "You'd love it this time of year. It creates excitement for the fans, for us — me included. We all love moves. But you don't want to cut your nose to spite your face. If it's not there, don't make it."
Most anticipated that Fletcher would trade a defenseman — probably Marco Scandella — in Chicago, especially after manipulating the expansion process by persuading the Vegas Golden Knights to take center Erik Haula over any of his blue-liners by delivering them prospect Alex Tuch.
But so far Fletcher hasn't executed a swap. Saturday, after the Wild drafted six players, Fletcher said he didn't have as many conversations as one would think "for whatever reason" and if somebody wants to make a "hockey trade," he's all ears.
The Wild had a couple of chances in a defenseman trade to get a first-round pick, but Fletcher's right-hand man, Brent Flahr, said, "We weren't desperately just trying to move a player to get a pick. If it happened and it included a pick, that's fine."
If no trade comes to fruition, Fletcher said he's perfectly content to return roughly the same group next season from the team that had the second-most points in the Western Conference last season but bowed out in five games in the first round of the playoffs.