With the Rangers selection done, we're now half-way through the first round. After forwards dominated the top of the draft, there's been a mini-run on defensemen, with blueliners going in five of the last seven picks. So far nine forwards and six defensemen off the board --- still waiting on the first goaltender.

Things have been quiet on the trade front. It's a little strange to see a draft go this deep without any picks traded on the floor. The Preds table has been really quiet, not too many calls or conversations.

Winnipeg came up to the draft podium with the No. 7 overall pick and unveiled both their selection and their new team name ... the Jets are back in the NHL! (Drawing a huge roar from the vocal group of fans who made the trip from Manitoba to Minnesota).

The run on forwards has continued at the start of the draft. So far six of the first seven picks have been forwards.

Ryan Strome (Central Scouting's No. 8 North American skater), Mika Zibanejad (No. 2 European skater), and Mark Scheifele (No. 16 North American skater) went fifth through seventh.

No real surprises in the first four picks. The consensus three best forwards all went off the board -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gabriel Landeskog, and Jonathan Huberdeau -- as well as the consensus top defenseman -- Adam Larsson.

Starting with Pick 5, things should now get a little more interesting; the draft experts were pretty much all in agreement that those four would go in the top-5, but after them the opinions were much more diverse.

Arrived at the arena and all set up with locations at the team draft table and up on the media riser. A few things have really stuck so far in these first moments in the arena:

    1) The New Preds color scheme REALLY stands out. Check out the pics of the team logo banners.
   2) A strong showing of Winnipeg fans here tonight. Tons of loud "Go Jets Go!" chants.
   3) Strange to see an NHL draft weekend without EJ McGuire, the long-time NHL Director of Central Scouting, who passed away on April 7. EJ was not only a great hockey man, but also provided especially huge assistance to NashvillePredators.com on our annual draft coverage. He knew the prospects and draft classes as well as anyone and was very willing to share that knowledge. In his honor all of the teams are wearing black "EJ" buttons on their table placards.

More to come as we get into the draft.

The scouts have wrapped up for the morning and are heading off to lunch and then -- around mid-afternoon -- on over to the Xcel Center for tonight's Round 1 of the Draft. If you haven't watched it yet, we caught up with Preds Chief Amatuer Scout Jeff Kealty for a preview of this year's draft (check it out here).

Business as usual for the scouts this morning; just firming up the order of players --- penciling in the players they're projecting around Nashville's eight slots and how comfortable they are with the options in those ranges. Plans always change as picks start coming off the board --- every year there are a couple of surprises (a couple of players picked earlier than expected, a couple of players who slide later than expected).

Trade talks are still pretty quiet, but usually calls around the league pick up as the clock starts for the first pick. Stay tuned to our blog throughout the evening for updates as they pertain to the Preds and the team's options.

David Poile and Paul Fenton arrived from NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas and joined in on the meetings in the afternoon. Poile took the lead for much of the late session, pushing the scouts on the prospects they feel will be available with the Preds picks.

Trade conversations have also picked up around the league this afternoon. Philadelphia's two trades definitely shook-up the complexion of the draft board. And as per norm, GM's around the league are testing the waters, so to speak, to see what the trade value is for different players and picks.

Poile and Fenton took the scouts through a couple of hyoptheticals to guage the scouts' opinions of the prospects potentially available in different ranges versus the prospects potentially available in the slots the Preds currently own --- it's an annual exercise that the scouts go through to measure how strongly they feel about the different areas of the draft and to give Poile an idea of how hard he should push if trade offers are presented. It's a very interesting exercise to listen in on; the discussions often sound a lot like trades presented in fantasy hockey leagues. The mock discussions among the scouts get that in-depth and that strong into hypotheticals --- which teams around the league may need what elements to their team and which Preds players/prospects may be able to fill that element and then what the Preds would need to get back in return to make a deal enticing, followed up by a gauge of how likely that team might be to entertain such a deal.

Most often the conversations are just that, but in past years they have resulted in calls to other teams and preliminary conversations. Poile likes to have his pulse on the potential options so the Preds don't get surprised by offers presented on the draft floor.

Right now, the Preds trade front seems quiet, but with multiple second and fourth round picks and a deep system of young prospects, there are likely to be several teams making trade inquiries over the course of the weekend.

Well, a couple of big trades announced today. The Philadelphia Flyers really shook up their roster, trading Jeff Carter and Mike Richards and then -- according to reports -- reaching a deal with goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. Both Carter and Richards were traded to Western Conference teams, so we'll take a quick glance at those moves and how they might impact the Preds.

First deal to hit the internet was Carter going from Philadelphia to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus parted with Jakub Voracek and 2011 first and third-round picks. The first-round pick being the No. 8 overall selection this year. Clearly this is a deal Columbus made with the intention to get into the playoffs next season --- Voracek is an impressive young player and the No. 8 pick should yield a real top prospect as well --- so this is more of a "now" move than a "continue to build" move. Still Carter is only 26-years old, so he's not exactly an old man, either. The move gives the Blue Jackets a dynamic pair with Carter and Rick Nash, to go along with Kristian Huselius, RJ Umberger, Antoine Vermette, Derick Brassard, etc, etc. But Voracek is pretty good young forward in his own right (has 39 career goals and will only turn 22 later this summer) --- just not as accomplished as Carter. Carter is signed to basically a lifetime contract --- his deal runs through '21-22 --- and according to reports when the Flyers signed the contract, Carter is set to make in excess of $6 million through the 2017-18 season. In short, this trade likely takes Columbus off the high-end shopping list in free agency. The roster the team has assembled now, is likely pretty close to the roster they will go to battle with during the season. But a Nash-Carter top-line is not a pleasant thought for teams in the Central Division, but should make for some amazing match-ups when Nash and Carter go head-to-head with Suter and Weber!

The other deal saw Mike Richards and forward Rob Bordson (a college prospect playing at Minnesota-Duluth) to the Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and a second-round pick in the 2012 Entry Draft. The Kings have been openly looking for a top of the lineup forward to complement the pieces they already have in place. They reportedly made attempts via free agency and trade last summer, but weren't able to make things work. Now they've landed that player in Richards. Richards had been the Flyers captain and was a member of the 2010 Canadian Olympic Team. The Kings were a playoff team last season and this move not only appears to solidify their slot in the playoffs again next season, but perhaps a move with an eye towards challenging San Jose for the Pacific Division title. LA parted with a lot, though. Schenn was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2009 draft and already has nine games of NHL experience under his belt (one game in '09-10 and eight at the start of '10-11), while Simmonds was a second-round pick in 2007 and has become a regular for the Kings the past three years, including a 16-goal, 40-point season in '09-10. But adding Richards to an already impressive group of forwards (Kopitar, Smyth, Penner, Williams, Dustin Brown) gives the Kings the potential for a very potent offense. On the down-side, once restricted free agent Drew Doughty re-signs, the Kings will likely be a little tight on cap room; but on paper the group on the ice looks impressive.

Rumors are starting to heat up around the league. Not sure if any blockbusters will be able to match the trifect the Flyers pulled off today, but don't be surprised if a few more deals come through before tomorrow night's first round wraps up.

Busy morning and afternoon for the Preds scouts as they continued to put the final touches on the team's rankings for this year's prospects. The scouts also had interviews scheduled with a couple of prospects. After the interviews they re-evaluated the player's ranking among the team's list, tweaking the order around after each of the interviews.

In most cases, the scouts already know a lot about the prospect, so it is interesting to hear what they are looking for out of the 15-30 minute interview. Some scouts are interested in the answers the prospect is giving; using the interview as a time to genuinely learn more about the prospect. Other scouts are more interested in how the prospect handles himself; the kid's poise, personality, body language, maturity. In many cases the scouts are looking to see if the prospect's attitude in the interview matches the attitude they display on the ice. In some cases, scouts are looking to elicit emotion from a prospect -- in discussing one prospect's interview, the scouts commented on the "look in the kid's eyes" and how much the kid seemed to want to win and get better. It's not always the answers with the words that make a big impact in these quick interviews; often it's the non-verbal clues that seem to stick with the scouts longer.

Interesting set of meetings this evening for the Preds scouts. The scouts work on the team's list all year long, so the draft board was pretty well shaped by the time the meetings started, but tonight's meeting served as another chance for everyone to lobby for or against certain players. They spent the majority of the time firming up the boarderline picks for the different rounds --- reviewing how many players they have valued as a First Round pick, a Second Round pick, etc. There was some movement of players up and down the draft board, but for the most part the conversation focused on the players closest to the "cut line" between the different rounds. It firmed up the number of players the Preds scouts feel are "First Round talents" or "Second Round talents" and so on through the seven rounds.

Thursday's meetings will get more in to strategy and -- based on the team's board -- who the scouts feel may be available at the different Preds picks. Ususally the Thursday afternoon session before the draft contains conversation about trade options with David Poile talking through some potential options to see if the team is better of standing put or if the scouts feel more strongly about the players available at other slots --- usually focusing on whether the scouts would sacrifice multiple picks to move up higher or if they would like to obtain more picks and slide back further in the draft.

Scouts took a break this evening so they could watch the NHL Awards Show.

Check back tomorrow afternoon for more updates from the morning session of meetings.

Draft weekend is upon us and NashvillePredators.com will be providing the most detailed and indepth coverage of the team's draft this year, including pre-draft thoughts and interviews, live blog updates from the draft floor, and reactions from Preds scouts and prospects over the course of the weekend.

Just arrived in Minnesota today and settled in to the team's hotel. Getting ready to run off to meet up with our scouts here this afternoon to start getting the scoop on potential activity for the week.

Interested in any specific questions or news? Send us your questions here and we'll try to follow up with as many as we can in later blog posts throughout the weekend.