MONTREAL – The first day of the 2009 NHL Draft began with morning rumors that had Phil Kessel being offered to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Tomas Kaberle, but a long Friday ended without much fanfare at all in the way of wheeling and dealing.

Aside from a world order-shifting deal that sent towering, talented Anaheim Ducks blueliner Chris Pronger to the Eastern Conference and the perfectly appropriate Philadelphia Flyers, no other hockey trades were pulled off on a quiet Friday involving NHL roster players.

Despite an obvious desire on Boston’s part to deal the 21-year-old Kessel if the right package came along, things fell apart with the Leafs just before the first round was underway amid a “miscommunication” over Toronto’s No. 7 pick in the first round. Both teams reportedly backed away from the potential deal once all of the dust had gathered, and the Bruins didn’t bother to move up for either of the two players that their scouting staffs had targeted heading into the draft.

“I can’t remember the last draft where there was (just) one trade with a roster player,” said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. “I didn’t hear more than one or two of those types of trades out there.”

So, in essence, the day started filled with potential for big player movement or real change to the Bruins roster. It ended with the B’s adding a potential power forward winger who won’t be suiting up for the Black and Gold much before 2011-12.

The lack of deals – both for the Bruins and league-wide – spoke to a majority of NHL teams that are A) backed up against the salary-cap ceiling while still looking for ways to improve and B) simply looking to unload big-money players before the real bad times hit next season when the salary cap is expected to go down $2-5 million.

These developments left a glut of NHL teams looking to shed potentially high payroll players and a shortage of teams willing to take on said players and -- more importantly -- their contracts. Most GMs are stuck with players whom -- in a perfect world -- they would like trade but can’t. There just aren’t any good dance partnerships available on the draft floor this weekend. With a landscape like this, it wouldn't be shocking if the Bruins are forced to ride out through July 1 and simply hope that Kessel doesn't receive any crazy offer sheets from any other teams in the league. 

It’s a development that started on Friday during the first round of the NHL draft, and could potentially last through the entire summer. If that’s the case, there’s actually a fairly good chance that Kessel will sign a deal with the Bruins and again be wearing a Spoked B sweater next winter.

Here are five other things we learned at the NHL Draft at Bell Centre on Friday night:

THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION AREN'T VERY GOOD BETWEEN THE BRUINS AND MAPLE LEAFS...OR ARE THEY?

Is there ever a time when a hockey team makes a trade offer, but then doesn’t make a trade offer? Of course there is.

It’s when one GM makes an offer and the second hockey executive hears something completely different, and that’s reportedly what happened yesterday between Chiarelli and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke. Chiarelli thought he had offered a draft pick and 36-goal scorer Kessel to the Maple Leafs for four-time All-Star defenseman Thomas Kaberle and Toronto’s No. 7 pick in the first round of Friday night’s draft.

Burke apparently heard something different entirely.

“[Kaberle] was the subject of a trade offer that fell apart, and I'm not going to comment on what was offered because that obviously has stayed with the team involved,” said Burke when asked about the Kaberle trade talks. “The time frame here is, as I've said, I will only trade Thomas Kaberle reluctantly; he's a good player and good person and has a good cap number. And that said, my job is to improve the team and that means turning over every stone.”

Burke and Chiarelli agreed to discuss the deal on Friday even as Burke tried to find other offers on the table. But apparently Burke didn’t process all of the details of Chiarelli’s offer and instead thought the Bruins were dangling Kessel and a pick for just Kaberle -- with no involvement of his No. 7 pick.

As the warden famously said in the Paul Newman classic movie ‘Cool Hand Luke’, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

What to think about all this?

Perhaps the rumors and miscommunication are quite good, and simply a ruse constructed by Chiarelli and Burke to get other teams involved in trade talks for each of their respective players. Burke clearly looks at Kaberle as a tradable 31-year-old piece amid a rebuilding project, and there are several voices within the Boston organization that aren’t big fans of the skill assortment Kessel brings to the table. Some feel that Kessel is never going to develop that inner toughness that he'll obviously need to score big goals against good hockey teams. Some doubt he'll ever get a great scorer on a Stanley Cup-worthy hockey club.

 

There is reason for skepticism that this trade was ever really close to happening at all.

The sense from this writer at the meetings was that this was a smokescreen deal/rumor circulated by a couple of friendly GMs looking to move each player, and hoping the rumor would smoke some other interested teams out of the woodwork. It seems unlikely that there was much miscommunication between a pair of intelligent and bright hockey execs like Chiarelli and Burke, but, hey, that’s just one hockey writer’s opinion.

THE BRUINS COULD HAVE ANOTHER 'YOUNG MUZZ' ON THEIR HANDS

The Boston Bruins selected right wing Jordan Caron, an 18-year-old out of Rimouski Oceanic in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, with their first-round pick, the 25th overall. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound right winger had 67 points and 36 goals in 56 games for Rimouski last season, and really opened eyes during the Memorial Cup playoffs.

B’s GM Peter Chiarelli said that Caron has “power forward tendencies”, and that both his shot and his tenacity around the net remind him of former B’s scorer Glen Murray. Caron is expected to attend Boston’s prospect camp next month at Ristuccia Arena, but is likely at least a couple of years worth of development away from the "Hockey Show".

“He was in our top 15 on our list,” said Chiarelli. “When we saw the trend of the draft and we saw that this guy was available we kind of called off the dogs a bit (for a trade to move up). We were lucky because we thought a couple of teams ahead of us were going to take him. He’s got a really good shot, but he’s not what I’d call a pure shooter.

“He can grind too. He’ll go in and dig out pucks and he’ll take pucks to the net off the cycle or down low. I’ve talked a lot about those tendencies like (being) heavy on the puck, and he’s got a lot of those tendencies.”

A Quebec native, Caron must have immediately won over Bruins fans with his answer when he was asked if he was a Canadiens fan.

“I used to be,” said Caron without missing a beat. “I was when I was a kid.”

Chiarelli projected that the raw-boned Caron was probably a good two years or more away from potentially helping the Bruins. The next item on Caron’s agenda might just be tryouts for Canada’s World Junior Team, to which the 18-year-old has earned an invitation for this summer as one of the best and brightest hockey prospects in Canada.

Caron spent the last few minutes prior to Boston’s selection wondering if he was going to be taken at all in the first round, or if he was going to have to travel back to the Bell Centre Saturday for rounds two through seven. Instead, the B’s called his name with the 25th pick and a large gathering of family and friends – Caron is from nearby Sayabec – showered the budding hockey talent with congratulations and well-wishes.

“I had no idea (it would be Boston),” said Caron, who said he met only once with the Bruins during the rookie combine. “I think their style is a good fit. They like big guys, who work hard and can shoot the puck. I like the style of the team.”

KESSEL HAS BEEN IN TRADE RUMORS BEFORE

It appears as if any time trade rumors kick up with the Bruins, Phil Kessel is more than likely to be involved. During both summer breaks and trade deadlines, Chiarelli and Co. always seem to at least kick the tires on their young winger’s value, and Kessel was involved in two different trade discussions with Kessel last spring. Following the trade of Chris Pronger to Philadelphia, Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray confirmed to WEEI.com on Friday night that the Bruins weren’t among the teams discussing a potential trade for the big Ducks defenseman and former Hart Trophy winner this week.

But Murray did confirm to WEEI.com that the Bruins were involved in trade discussions for Pronger back in March prior to the NHL trade deadline, and the B’s did indeed make an offer for the big defenseman before Pronger was pulled back from the table. Murray eventually decided to go with Pronger and Scott Neidermayer for one final run at the Stanley Cup last spring, and it almost proved the perfect move before Anaheim eventually fell to Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings. Reports at the time had both Kessel and Patrice Bergeron potentially involved in trade talks with Anaheim for Pronger's services.

“Way back at the trade deadline Boston called (about Pronger),” said Murray. “Not really (close). With all of those other things going on, I just pulled back and I kind of wanted to see how it would be with a bunch of kids (playing) with Scottie and Chris. It was almost good enough. Almost.”

That marks at least two different trade scenarios last spring that involved the B’s leading scorer. The St. Louis Blues were in talks that potentially had Keith Tkachuk and David Perron headed to Boston for the services of the 21-year-old Kessel. There does seem to be a distinct pattern developing with the fast-skating young talent, doesn't there?

Don’t let the words of anybody fool you. The B’s would like to trade Kessel and get some value for him rather than being forced to potentially pay $4 million plus a year to the fast-skating Bruins forward. It just remains to be seen if A) another teams wants to give the Bruins value for the player and B) any team will step forward and give Kessel big money with an offer sheet after July 1.

HABS FANS HAVEN'T QUITE FORGOTTEN ABOUT LAST SEASON

It started with a capacity crowd at the Bell Centre that lustily booed the young man in a B’s sweater acting as a runner for the Bruins table on the draft floor, and it carried over into a long extended chorus of hoots, hollers and disapproval when Chiarelli stepped to the mic to announce Boston’s selection with the 25th pick.

Chiarelli said that he flirted with the idea of speaking a little French to the Habs fans when he grabbed the microphone, but he thought better of it when the loud boos began raining down on him.

“We were toying with me speaking in French because I used to be bilingual,” said Chiarelli. “But I would have butchered it and probably got worse booing. We knew we were going to be booed. I don’t know if they got my little statement when I said it was ‘Good to return.’”

THE BEANPOT IS THE BIG WINNER

A pair of Boston schools got a little bit richer following the first round of the 2009 NHL draft.

Montreal native Louis Leblanc – after being selected by the hometown Habs amid a deafening chorus of approval from the partisan fans – will attend Harvard University in the fall. Perhaps Harvard hockey coach Ted Donato will feel a pang of conflict while coaching a future Habs prospect in the finer nuances of the game, though the classy Donato is sure to rise above any such un-Ivy League sentiments.

Phillips Andover graduate Chris Kreider was another boy with local ties to get selected in the first round of the draft. The New York Rangers grabbed the big, promising forward with the 19th pick. Kreider is headed to the Heights this fall to play hockey for legendary BC coach Jerry York, and has a pretty good shot of playing in the outdoor hockey game at Fenway Park that’s being played against BU during the early days of January.

“My entire family are big Bruins fans and sports fans,” said Kreider. “We were always watching Bruins games growing up, still do. I guess we will be watching the Rangers games now.”