The Sun is reporting today that the Sens might make a draft day trade to move up from their 18th overall selection to something in the top ten, and in order to do so the thought is they’ll have to give up their pick and a roster player. It’ll be interesting to see if this happens, and, if it does happen, it’ll also be interesting to see what the reaction is from the fans at Scotiabank Place. I will be going to the draft, so I’m hoping to see some excitement. On the other hand, if one of my favourite players ends up getting traded while I’m there, I’ll be pretty disappointed. Distraught, even. I’m not saying I’ll throw myself off the third level of seats or anything, but it might ruin my evening. Take heed, Murray.

If they could somehow trade away the rights to one of their free agents (Wade Redden?) for a pick or maybe convince someone to take Ray Emery, that would be ideal. As much as I would like to see Emery gone as soon as possible, keeping him around until after the draft, just in case, seems like a wise move.

CBC’s website has a pretty good article about Uncle Ben Hartsburg today which quotes Bob Nicholson of Hockey Canada and Dave Torrie, who was Hartsburg’s boss in Sault Ste. Marie. Both have only good things to say about him.

“The key with Craig is he’s up front, he’s honest and he gives a real clear picture of what he wants his players to do,” Nicholson — who watched Hartsburg lead Canada to back-to-back world titles as head coach in 2007 and this year — told CBCSports.ca.

“The last two years as the head coach of the world team, he’s done an outstanding job with top-end players and with the role players and I think that’s because his message is clear and he doesn’t play games with anybody.”

I like the sound of this: a system, with clear-cut roles for everyone, is exactly what the Sens lacked for much of last season, which is why they looked like chickens with no heads out there a lot of the time.

Don Brennan writes today that Curtis Hunt of the Regina Pats might be brought on as an assistant in Ottawa. He also points out that current Sens assistant Greg Carvel previously worked with Hartsburg in Anaheim. It’s good to know they have that previous relationship. Hunt, meanwhile, was Hartsburg’s assistant with the Canadian Junior team, so there’s familiarity there too. I really like the way the coaching staff is taking shape at this point.

A final, non-Sens-related note: I don’t normally write about basketball (because … I don’t care about it at all), but I love Harry Potter so I thought this one was worth noting: Kobe Bryant has turned to the Harry Potter books for help in finding a way to beat the Celtics. The boy wizard earned praise from Kobe for his ability to deal with certain obstacles:

“He had more problems with Voldemort than we have dealing with the media after a loss,” Bryant said Saturday after practice.

Well, that’s probably true, because Voldemort is ultimate evil and will not hesitate to kill even his own followers. I don’t think the media even have wands.

But I wonder if Bryant has perhaps missed the point of the books a little. Surely the analogy would make more sense if Voldemort represented the Celtics, and the Lakers were Harry. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Harry and Voldemort have their duel in the graveyard and the wands join and Harry has to force the spell back onto Voldemort’s wand — that is actually not unlike basketball (or hockey), if you think about it. You’re just trying to keep the other guy’s magic out of your end.