No, not Draught Day. Draft day!

The draft kicked off with a short statement from commissioner Gary Bettman and the lack of hockey knowledge from Nashville showed when the crowd actually applauded Bettman. Come on, everyone knows that Bettman should be booed at every ceremony the same way Vince McMahon is met with disapproval, to say it midly by WWE fans.

The draft did begin with a trade as the Penguins swapped 1st round selections with the Panthers and also gave up Mikael Samuelsson in order to acquire the new savior for the franchise. Although, the trade didn't change what each of the top 4 teams were hoping to acquire with their 1st round selections. Here's a quick breakdown of the top 4 picks:

	The last number one pick the Pens had was used to select Mario.

Marc-Andre Fleury, G, Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins have lacked an impact goalie since the days of Tom Barrasso and Fleury should provide the Pens with many great years of play, whether that be in the city of Portland or Pittsburgh. The acquisition continues a true tour-du-force for backline depth. Fleury joins last-years all-rookie team member Sebastian Caron as the guardian of the blue ice. Ryan Whitney and Brooks Orpik both products of US College play will help guide the Pens blueline for years. This method of drafting out from the net is a departure from the 90's draft years where high skilled European forwards like Martin Straka, Alexei Morozov, Markus Naslund, Jaromir Jagr and Milan Kraft were always the focus.

Eric Staal, C, Carolina Hurricanes: Eric Staal, a tall and lanky center that plays similar to Joe Thornton without the aggressiveness, will have great teachers to learn from. Staal will be able to mentor under the ageless Ron Francis and the veteran Rod Brind'Amour. By the time Francis retires from the game Staal will be able to step in and make an impact.

Nathan Horton, C, Florida Panthers: Horton is a scorer in the mold of a power forward who likes to engage in the occasional tussle and thrives on scoring close to the net. Horton adds a little grit to the young Panthers team that Keenan feels is still too soft. Skilled forwards Kristian Huselius and Steven Weiss have not endeared themselves to Keenan's hard-nosed style of coaching. Horton is a Keenan-type player. The only question is will Keenan be around to see Horton blossom?

Nikolai Zherdev, F, Columbus Blue Jackets: Zherdev could become the biggest offensive threat out of all the players taken in the draft. He is another in a long line of highly skilled Russian prospects that lack the defensive responsibility and consistency. If Doug Maclean and the Jackets can be patient with Zherdev in the same mold that the Pens were patient with Morozov then Columbus may have a great offensive combination for years to come with Zherdev and Rick Nash.

A guaranteed thing you'll see each draft year is the cheap pop that each GM tries to get from the local crowd:

We'd like to thank the city of insert city name here for their great hospitality. We'd also like to thank the management of the insert team name here for their job of hosting this draft. We'd also like to say hello to all our fans watching back home at our draft party at insert local bar name or arena.

Occasionally GM's will add the following to the cheap pop:

We'd also like to congratulate the insert Stanley Cup winner here on their great season. And we would also like to congratulate the insert Stanley Cup runner-up here on their great playoff run.

Usually you'll see expansion teams add the second cheap pop part because they hope to befriend the best teams in the league. Like in high school your popularity is decided by your association with the right people.

Every player has unlimited potential. You hear it time and time again from the announcers. "This kid has great potential", "He has unlimited upside". Just once I would like to hear that a player has no potential. "This guy has no future. He has already peaked at 18 and everything is downhill for him."

Somebody want to explain why the Nashville fans booed the announcing of the Columbus Blue Jackets having the next selection? Do these teams have a rivalry? I guess with the great history of these storied franchises a rivalry was just a matter of time.

When a GM drafts a player and then says "This was the player we always wanted. There was no other choice." and then doesn't have a jersey with guy's name on the back of it you know he's lying. There was another player that he wanted to draft and instead they settled on the current player.

Pierre McGuire, a hockey analyst and colour commentator for TSN had the best line from the draft telecast. After the Islanders drafted Robert Nilsson, McGuire waited a few seconds and then interjected with: "I don't like this pick at all!" That's the kind of winning endorsement that a team doesn't want to hear after using their first round selection. McGuire was actually more upset that Zach Parise, son of J.P Parise was not taken. After hearing McGuire describe Parise's play either Parise has pictures on McGuire or McGuire is planning on making a foray into becoming a player agent.

I loved how the Minnesota Wild announced their 1st round draft pick. "With our 1st claim in the 2003 draft, we select Brent Burns." Claim! Is that really the right term there? You claim shotgun in a car. You claim your income on a tax form. You don't claim a person. Weird fact about the Wild's selection is that Burns grew 6 inches in the past year. Who is this guy, the Hulk?

You ever notice when the GMs or announcers are describing players they make them sound like their talking about a car? "He's good sized, with a wide body, handles traffic well, has good acceleration and great wheels."

While the draft didn't have any blockbuster deals it was still interesting to watch teams address positional needs and provide some hope for the fans of teams rebuilding for the future.