“We’ve certainly listened to people. We’ve had a couple of expressions of interest on the pick in terms of moving down,” Howson told The Morning Show on Sportsnet 960 The Fan on Thursday. “We wouldn’t want to move too far down so we’ll just see how it plays out next week. Traditionally, and if history repeats itself, teams get a little more serious about exchanging picks as we get closer to the draft on the draft floor.”

“We’d be open to any suggestions,” Howson said. “It’s not an easy trade to trade out of the two slot, or one slot or three slot for that matter.”

“When we put our final list together, which we’ll do next week, we’ll know we’re getting one of our first two players … It was a little frustrating when we did lose the lottery to Edmonton but in the grand scheme of things we know we’re going to get a really good player and we have to make sure we do our job and select the right player.”