Tippett:

“Toronto had the plan in place and they were going to stick with their plan and take the No. 1 pick. If I was sitting on Toronto’s side I wouldn’t blame them. He’s going to be a fantastic player. Toronto just never, ever entertained the fact of moving him at all, and you have to respect that. As much as we would have liked to have him in Arizona, being an Arizona kid and a great player, it just was not something that Toronto would ever consider doing and a lot of the rumors get started out there, but there was never any traction to it, Toronto was very firm at the start and never changed their course.”