Chiarelli: Bruins unlikely to move from No. 24

PITTSBURGHThe Bruins seem locked in on their 24th overall selection in the first round of Friday nights NHL Draft at the CONSOL Energy center, and it doesnt appear theyll be moving upward.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli gave it a 20 percent chance that Boston will move up from the 24th selection in the first round, and it still appears theyll be selecting whichever defenseman drops into their draft position.

In fact Chiarelli said that the draft trade chatter has slackened off for the Bruins, and he didnt expect to do anything of significance until after the July 1 free agency period. That means the Bruins wont be in on Rick Nash or trading for negotiating rights for players like Zach Parise or Ryan Suter, and things will be quiet for the next week aside from their draft picks selected this weekend.

Its pretty much in the background for us; we dont really have anything significant going on with respect to the trade market right now. I think I might have mentioned kind of that secondary level trade market after July 1. Thats probably going to be a little more active than it is now, said Chiarelli. Its actually quieted down a little bit in the last couple of days.

Were all brave souls and say weve got all these deals and all this stuff and then when it comes time to doing them everything quiets down. Everyone starts focusing on the draft, so I think thats what were seeing right now.

There may be a chance the Bruins move up in the first round if they feel one of their targeted picks isnt going to last until the 24th pick, but it may just come down to picking the best player left in the group of eligible players.

Id say its like 20-80, 20-percent chance of moving up from the 24th pick. There seems to be more people that want to move down. I hear that this year, said Chiarelli. Just intuitively, I cant get my head around it yet to move down, like it just seems that unless the player is so close and you want to move down a little bit - but I doubt well move down.