The NHL Draft is when the league's offseason officially kicks off and the young prospects just starting their careers are only part of the story.

It is also one of the busiest stretches of the year for trades, as teams look to shed salary before free agency, accumulate draft assets and really start building their rosters for the next season.

This year's draft has plenty of intriguing storylines with several big-name players on the rumor mill and we have already seen a couple of deals happen (Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to Chicago, Ryan Johansen to Colorado, Kevin Hayes to St. Louis and Pierre-Luc Dubois to Los Angeles).

There is also the intrigue of which players go immediately after Connor Bedard goes to the Chicago Blackhawks with the No. 1 overall pick.

Let's dig into some of those storylines before the first round begins on Wednesday night.

Who Goes After Connor Bedard?

There is no intrigue or mystery when it comes to the top pick in Wednesday's draft as it has been a foregone conclusion for over a year that Connor Bedard is going to be the pick.

It was the focus for the fanbase of every bad team in the NHL this season as they cheered for draft-lottery positioning in the hopes they would land the top pick.

The Chicago Blackhawks were the lucky team to get that potentially franchise-changing player.

While Bedard is the clear-cut top prospect in this year's class, he isn't the only potential star. The real intrigue begins with who goes after him.

The Anaheim Ducks own the No. 2 overall pick in the draft and will have their pick of potential star centers with Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Will Smith. Fantilli has been the odds-on favorite for this spot, leaving Columbus with a likely choice of Carlsson or Smith.

The biggest wild card in the draft might be Russian prospect Matvei Michkov and where he ends up going. The fact he is still signed on to play in the KHL for three more seasons might turn teams off, but his talent and upside is immense. He could be a potential franchise player down the line for a team that is willing to roll the dice and take him. Philadelphia has been rumored to be extremely interested in him.

Will Erik Karlsson Get Traded?

Erik Karlsson added to his already impressive trophy case this week when he officially took home his third Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman.

The one thing in his career that is still eluding him is a Stanley Cup and he is going to need a trade away from San Jose to make that happen before he retires.

Could that trade happen this week at the NHL Draft?

Karlsson suggested last weekend that he would like something to get completed sooner rather than later and that winning a championship is his great motivator in where he goes.

Such a trade is going to be very, very complicated for a number of reasons.

For one, the Sharks know they have an incredibly valuable player that should command a significant price in terms of trade assets. Karlsson would make any contender significantly better the moment he arrives in the locker room, and they should not be willing to give that away.

But how many contenders are really in a position to pay that sort of price and take on the remainder of Karlsson's contract? His deal still has another four full seasons on the books and counts more than $11 million against the salary cap per season.

Most contenders are already pretty close to the cap to begin with and would either need the Sharks to take significant money back in any trade or retain a significant portion of that contract. Sharks general manager Mike Grier does not seem willing to retain much in any deal. That could complicate things even further.

At this point, it seems to be a matter of when and where Karlsson gets dealt. The Sharks would presumably like to add a first-round pick in such a trade, preferably in this year's loaded 2023 class.

The Alex DeBrincat Sweepstakes

Everything involving Karlsson, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Hayes over the past few days has seemingly pushed DeBrincat's name to the back-burner. But this could still be a significant move to be made this week.

DeBrincat is a restricted free agent this summer and has no interest in signing a long-term extension with the team.

Because of that, Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said he has talked to teams about potentially trading him and doing what's best for the Senators. That is almost certainly a trade while he still has some value to them.

DeBrincat is a fascinating player because he is still in the prime years of his career (entering his age-26 season) and already has two 40-goal seasons under his belt. HIs 2022-23 performance came in a little below that (26 goals and 66 total points) but he also had one of the lowest shooting percentages of his career (10.3 percent). He seems like a strong candidate to bounce-back in a big way next season, especially if he gets into the right situation with a play-making center.

But his contract situation complicates things a bit.

The Senators traded three draft picks for him a year ago (only one of which was in the first round), and that was coming off of a 40-goal performance while he was still under contract and under team control for two more years.

Coming off a worse season as a restricted free agent and in need of a significant contract will probably make the return less than Ottawa initially gave up.

But any team that has the salary cap space and a need for a top-line winger should be blowing up Ottawa's phone trying to work out a deal. If the Senators want to get draft pick compensation for him (and potentially get back into the first round) the time for a deal is now.

How Busy Will the Jets Be?

The Jets have the potential to be one of the busiest teams in the NHL this offseason, and they already got things started by sending Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings for a package centered around Gabriel Vilardi and Alex Iafallo.

But will it stop there?

Should it stop there?

The Jets have been mired in perpetual mediocrity for years and seem to be in need of a dramatic shakeup to their core.

The current recipe simply is not working and there are several significant pieces here that could be put on the trade block.

The most significant of those pieces are starting goalie Connor Hellebuyck and veteran forward Mark Scheifele.

Hellebuyck is one of the few goalies in the NHL that teams should feel confident in projecting from year to year given his consistent body of work.

He is an elite goalie that could make any contending team a potential champion and almost any mid-level playoff team a contender. If he is in your crease, you have a chance every night. But he is in the final year of his contract and has already suggested he does not have much interest in being part of a rebuild.

The Jets already received solid value for Dubois and could really turn the roster over with another or two.

Does Nashville Have Another Big Move Coming?

There is a new leader in Nashville with Barry Trotz taking over as the team's new general manager. Over the past few months, the Predators have been purging salary from their salary-cap situation and continued that this week by dealing Ryan Johansen to the Colorado Avalanche.

They enter draft night with $18 million in salary-cap space and have multiple draft picks in each of the first five rounds, including two first-round picks. They also have five first-round picks over the next three years.

Do they have something bigger cooking?

With the draft being held in Nashville, it would be a great time to make a big move in front of the hometown fans.

If nothing else, we should get a sense of where Trotz sees the team going in the short-term based on what he does with all of those assets.

If he goes for a big move to bring in immediate help it would suggest that he still sees this team as a potential contender in the Western Conference. But that might be a stretch given how average the Predators have been the past two years. They barely snuck into the playoffs in 2022 and needed pretty much everything to go their way just to get in as the second Wild-Card team. They ended up getting crushed in the First Round by a superior Colorado Avalanche team.

This past season, they fell just short of the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

Is there one trade (or even two trades) that is going to get this back to a level where it is a serious contender?

Or is this an opportunity for Nashville to continue hitting the reset button and dealing off more veterans (like, potentially a Juuse Saros)?

We will find out a lot about what Trotz thinks over the next 24 hours.

Will Kyle Dubas Make a Big Entrance into Pittsburgh?

Kyle Dubas is the new man in charge of the Pittsburgh Penguins and he has his work cut out for him when it comes to cleaning up the mess left behind by Ron Hextall and Brian Burke.

This will be his chance to make his first significant move for the roster.

What exactly could that look like?

In a rare twist the Penguins still own their first-round pick (No. 14 overall) and it is probably their best trade chip.

Does Dubas dangle that as potential trade bait for a goalie? Or does he move it for more immediate help somewhere else on the roster (depth scoring, defense), or to potentially shed a bad contract?

He could also move back to try and collect more draft assets for a team that needs to replenish its prospect cupboard?

Or does he do something boring like simply keep it and take the best player at that spot?

The Penguins are not ready to go into rebuild since Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are still on the roster and playing at an elite level. They did their jobs a year ago and still give the Penguins a chance to compete. They just need some help. A lot of help. The Penguins have more than $20 million in salary-cap space entering the offseason and should have the flexibility to significantly add to the roster around their core.

Will Dubas get that started this week?