You can get a decent amount of information out of NHL scouts, executives, agents, etc., in the months leading up to the draft. The "Industry Chatter" section in the Elite Prospects 2023 NHL Draft Guide stands as proof of as much.

The floodgates really open up from pretty much the moment that 224th pick is filed to the NHL's central registry, though. You can find out how the league valued these players, what sort of draft day manoeuvring almost went down, and get a much better sense of the landscape on which these teams operated when the picks were flying fast and furious.

I mean, at that point, what does anyone have to lose? All the cards are on the table – all 200-plus of them.

With that in mind, we've reached out to scouts and executives from upwards of 10 different NHL organizations and pooled our reporting to dive in on some of the most compelling storylines that played out in last week's draft.