The Calgary Flames earned the sixth overall pick in the NHL draft by playing poorly this season. They added first-round picks from St. Louis (in the Jay Bouwmeester trade) and Pittsburgh (via the Jarome Iginla deal).

Scoring an elite prospect with their first pick shouldn't be hard, given the quality at the top of this draft. But the draft offers some depth, too, so the Flames could add several good prospects to their pile this summer.

Right now Flames management is leaning toward using all the picks rather than packaging them to move up or trading some of them for proven talent.

"I think the upper parts of this draft are really strong," Flames assistant general manager John Weisbrod told NHL.com. "It's tough to compare [drafts] year to year, but some are deeper than others in terms of some really good players available in the fifth, sixth or seventh rounds -- I would sort of describe this year's draft as similar to that.

"I think it's a really strong draft all the way into the third round. So from our standpoint, it makes me excited about having three picks in the first round because there are a lot of high-potential players in this pool.

“You obviously have the premier players at every position. Seth Jones is a horse on the back end, and as far as goaltending goes, Zach Fucale is really strong. But I believe the strongest position is probably up front, particularly down the middle, with some really good centers all throughout the top of the draft.”

Drafting dynamic young defenseman Seth Jones would be marketing gold for the Colorado Avalanche. Jones grew up playing hockey in Denver and he could some day become the face of the franchise.

Naturally the Avalanche are considering trading the first overall pick – and their shot at Jones – for more immediate help.

The new Joe Sakic/Patrick Roy management team wants to make a splash this summer. Dealing the top pick could achieve that goal at great long-term cost to the franchise.

“We haven't decided what we're going to do in the draft. We haven't decided which player we're going to take at No. 1,” Sakic told the Denver Post. “We haven't decided if we're going to take a player at No. 1. There are lot of options we can discuss, and we will be discussing.

“We're not set in stone with what we're going to do. We might take the first pick, we might take the second guy or we might not. That's the exciting thing about having the first pick, especially this year.”

Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin didn’t a whole lot done against the tight checking he saw during the playoffs.

But his strong finish to the regular season suggests Ovechkin could score 50 goals during the full 2013-14 campaign.

His adjustment to right wing wasn’t easy, but he finally bought what coach Adam Oates was selling. He settled in on the other side of the ice and scored 23 times in his last 23 games.

Ovechkin led the league with 32 goals during the lockout-shortened season. He will enter next season on the same page with Oates, which ought to make a big difference.

“Right now I can tell to work with him, it was probably one of the biggest reason to my success this year,” Ovechkin told reporters after the postseason ended.

His only big concern for next season is whether the team will lose center Mike Ribeiro to free agency. Ribeiro’s presence gave the Capitals two legitimate scoring lines and opened up more opportunities for Ovechkin to do his thing.

That is what a lot of folks did in the Twitterverse. Here is a sampling of the conversation:

Howard Bryant, ESPN.com: “ ‘The Toronto Maple Leafs, unless they suffer a colossal collapse, are going to eliminate the Bruins.’ -- Jack Edwards, 14:10 left 3rd period.”

Gerry Callahan, WEEI radio: “How do you line & shake hands if you're Leafs? You just completed one of worst choke jobs in NHL history. I'd be in locker room throwing up.”

Joffrey Lupul, Maple Leafs forward: “That hockey game will haunt me until the day I die . . .”

Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal: “Re: The Maple Leafs. Remember: what doesn't kill you, eventually makes you . . . a documentary.”

Deadspin: “The Maple Leafs did something amazing. They made the hockey world feel sympathy for Toronto.”

Darren Rovell, ESPN: “Assume Tim Leiweke, the new CEO of Maple Leafs Sports, is counting the millions the organization lost in a matter of minutes tonight.”

Steve Rushin, SI.com: “Been following Maple Leafs and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield returning to Earth simultaneously.”

Skye Kalosza, professional photographer: “When I die, I want the #leafs to lower me into my grave, so that they can let me down, one more time.”

Radek Bonk’s Mullet: “Do thousands of fans walking away from Maple Leafs Square count as a parade?”

The Fake ESPN: “ ‘Well, at least we have curling and cricket to look forward to.’ - 3 Maple Leafs fans.”

No North American in his right mind would ever hire him to coach, but he managed to find work in Russia. At least we want' have to endure his crappy TV analysis,

The Minnesota Wild face some tough roster choices with the NHL salary cap shrinking for next season.

That factor, combined with the production addition of winger Jason Pominville, led many experts to believe the team will ditch winger Dany Heatley.

But general manager Chuck Fletcher noted how much the team missed Heatley after he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury April 3.

“Dany Heatley, nobody talks about, but from the time he got hurt, our record wasn’t very good,” Fletcher told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “He’s a big body who can play against big teams. He gets to certain areas of the ice and he can be successful.”

On the other hand, Heatley is due to collect a whopping $7.5 million on the final year of contract. The team needs to allocate money elsewhere, especially with goaltender Niklas Backstrom headed to unrestricted free agency.

Backstrom can reasonably expect vigorous bidding for his services. To retain him, the Wild will have to pay top dollar.

Heatley’s effort last season had “buyout” stamped all over it. He produced just 21 points (14 at even strength) in 36 games last season and earned a minus-12 rating.

The Blues have built the framework for a winning program in the ultra-competition Western Conference.

But the project remains incomplete. The Blues are good enough to play the defending Stanley Cup champions to a virtual standstill, but not quite good enough to beat them.

They earned respect from their rival but they did not advance. The Kings set the standard in the NHL these days and the Blues don’t quite measure up.

So now the hockey operation goes back to work. Here are some thoughts about the task at hand:

Ken Hitchcock is still the right coach for this team. When the Blues fell into some funks during the lockout shortened season, we all wondered if message fatigue was setting in. But this team finished the season with an impressive push and then delivered a big effort against the Kings. The Blues fell just a bit short, so the same coach with a refreshed roster could take a big run next spring.

Doug Armstrong must resolve his goaltending situation. Brian Elliott gave the Blues a chance to beat the Kings, but he did not elevate the team. He wasn’t quite good enough, especially with Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick on the other side. So what is a general manager to do? Jaroslav Halak was not happy watching the playoffs as the back-up. Then again, management was concerned about Halak’s inconsistency and inability to stay healthy. Rookie Jake Allen, the mid-season lifesaver, is an X-factor. The sensible call is to move Halak and go with Elliott and Allen. But Armstrong is a bold leader, so nobody should be surprised if he looks outside and bids for a veteran like Ryan Miller.

The team nucleus appears to be a bit stale. Crossing off veterans like Andy McDonald, Scott Nichol and Jamie Langenbrunner seems easy enough, but what about David Perron, Patrik Berglund and T.J. Oshie? They have been around for a while. They have become perennial also-rans wearing the Note. Fans are clamoring for change and that prospect doesn’t scare Armstrong. On the other hand, Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko and Dmitrij Jaskin could assume bigger roles next season and freshen up the group -- just as Adam Cracknell and Chris Porter did this season.

For more on the Blues, check out my post on STLToday.com.

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury flopped in the playoffs last season, so the team added veteran goaltender Tomas Vokoun.

Fleury struggled again this spring, so coach Dan Bylsma replaced him with Vokoun – who brings a modest 3-8 career playoff record into Game 5 against the New York Islanders.

“Tomas is capable of being a great goalie for us,” Bylsma told reporters. "We brought Tomas Vokoun to play big games for us and be a goaltender we can count on to go in and play big games.

“He's done that this year for us and been very good against the Islanders in the three games he's played against the Islanders.”

It is notable that Vokoun has another year on his contract, so he could make a play on the starting next fall by playing well in these playoffs.

“We have confidence in both of them,” winger Pascal Dupuis told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The Vancouver Canucks finished the job. They bowed out of the NHL playoffs in four games, allowing the San Jose Sharks to complete their sweep.

Questionable officiating gave them a nudge out the door, but the Canucks deserved to lose that series.

“We put ourselves in the situation where one bad call costs you a game,” Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa told the Vancouver Sun. “It was four games of not executing. This wasn't an isolated incident; we were in a 3-0 hole. We didn't play good enough to win the series. It sucks. There's no way to sugarcoat it.”

They have lost 10 of their last 11 playoff games. They are growing old and less relevant.

So what happens now?

General manager Mike Gillis could fire coach Alain Vigneault, but the pool of head coaching candidates is underwhelming.

Gillis could try to trade goaltender Roberto Luongo again, but he will have a tough time finding somebody to take the rest of Luongo’s onerous deal.

The Vancouver Province raised the possibility to moving the Sedin Twins at some point next season to turn the page on this era. That concept seems unpalatable . . . but so does the notion of giving Henrik and Daniel additional years at big dollars.

The Province’s Ed Willes summed up the scenario:

The Canucks were exposed against the Sharks. They were exposed as being too small and too soft to compete at the highest level of an NHL which now rewards other attributes.

This team is no longer close. The window is closed. You saw it over these four games; four games in which the Canucks grew old before our very eyes.

As for the rest of the 2013 campaign, the most exciting part is coming up for the Canucks and that’s all you need to know about what they’ve become.

The St. Louis Blues have earned a couple of 2-1 victories over the Kings and suffered a 1-0 loss at Los Angeles. You can expect more of the same for the rest of the series.

“If you look at the series, 5-on-5 is so tough,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter told reporters after Saturday night’s game. “There are a lot of little battles going on that only the players appreciate or understand. It’s pretty much what we said at the outset.”

The forecast for this series was low-scoring games. Blues goaltender Brian Elliott and Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick both played very well down the stretch for their defensive-minded teams.

“Do your homework before the series,” Sutter said. “The two teams are very even. Gave up the fewest shots in the conference, one and two. Both goaltenders – everybody understands who they are and what they are.”

These games are coming down to one bounce, one break or one breakdown.

“I think it’s great, because you can’t take a shift off,” Kings winger Justin Williams told reporters. “You take a shift off, it could be the difference in a game. Your mind needs to be ready every single time you get on that ice, because little plays turn into big plays in series like this, and we got big plays out of our goaltender tonight.”

Both teams are trying to fight through the defensive gridlock.

“There’s not much for goals, and you can’t get frustrated by it,” Sutter said. “Your top guys can’t get frustrated and start playing their own individual game, a turnover or stretch it out. That’s basically how we’re trying to play.”