Rumours of a monster failed trade at the draft last night!

On Thursday night on the Draft floor in Montreal, the New York Islanders pulled a trade, acquiring defenseman Alexander Romanov and the 98th pick from the Montreal Canadiens in return for the 13th-overall pick. The Habs then packaged that pick with the first pick of round three (66th overall) and sent them to Chicago for centre Kirby Dach.

But apparently, Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello wanted to use his 13th overall pick in another trade. Many insiders reported that prior in the day, the Islanders attempted to acquire forward J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks, using that first-round pick in a package deal to land him.

In recent chatter, there is a sense that the Canucks don’t appear willing to offer Miller the term that he’d almost surely fetch on the open market one year from now. That’s why the team is looking at getting the best return for Miller on the trade market and it could have included a first-round pick could have made that happened, but clearly the rest wasn’t enticing enough…

Or the trade proposal never happened. When speaking to Pierre LeBrun, Canucks GM Patrik Allvin was surprised there were even rumblings about this.

“There was definitely nothing going on (with the Islanders).”

Maybe the GM is keeping quiet, hoping to get more prospects or NHL-ready players in a trade for Miller…? The top forward is eligible to sign an extension on July 13, seeing that has one year left on his current deal at a bargain $5.25 million. He quickly became Vencouver’s best trade chip after a career-best, 99-point season.

One of his previous clubs, the New York Rangers, has been named as a possible destination for Miller, along with the New Jersey Devils. There is also been some interest from the Washington Capitals as a potential replacement for Nicklas Backstrom.

To be continued…