It's what JR was leading us to beleive prior to the draft
Johansen and Drouin weren't exclusively linked to Shattenkirk, Fabbri and Parayko would have made more sense.
The Larkin rumor was supposedly debunked.
1- In regards to the "exclusively linked" comment. You're correct that Fabbri and Parayko were also mentioned, but it was more in the context of "we're offering Shattenkirk; they're insisting on Parayko/Fabbri". The rumors at the time strongly implied that we were trying to nab one of those 2 using Shattenkirk as the primary return, and the teams we were dealing with wanted more.
2- "Debunked" in terms of the timing.
The Larkin offer happened at the 2015 draft. When the rumor popped back up at this years Draft, it was strongly implied that it was an offer made recently and that is the part that got debunked.
3- As for JR, he's very good at reporting news but his speculations leave a lot to be desired. And even then, the only "pick return" I really heard him talking about was the 4th overall specifically to get Tkachuk(an option that was destroyed by Columbus).
Even counting that; it's 1 "pick/futures" return vs 5 "player" returns. I'm not buying that Army has any real interest in a return based on futures. With Hitch being in his last year, I think it's obvious that Army wants to give him one last good run at a Cup. That means whatever we get for Shattenkirk needs to be able to contribute this year. In addition, it's also clear from the guys he's been targeting that he wants somebody young enough to mesh with our emerging core. I realize that seems like a really hard fit to find, but IMO that's why he's paid the big bucks.
