MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- As outrageous as it may seem or sound, Doug Armstrong said the Chicago Blackhawks will be getting calls -- if they already haven't -- about moving up to the No. 1 overall pick at the NHL Draft in Nashville on June 28.

"I guarantee it," the Blues general manager said recently.

The consensus top overall pick is Regina Pats forward Connor Bedard, and unless the Blackhawks shock the hockey world, he will be playing in the Windy City for the next dozen or more years.

But Armstrong is going off experience of what teams will do, even as outrageous as it can sound at times, and Chicago GM Kyle Davidson will be a popular man leading up to the draft.

"One year we had 10 picks and we offered them all for one pick," Armstrong said. "Now we're going to go from in the 20's, a couple seconds, a couple thirds to get into 10 and their actual words at the table were, 'That doesn't work.' I guarantee someone's going to do it. I guarantee we're going to do it."

Oh really? Well of course the Blues will, and why wouldn't they at least try, because Bedard, who is being touted as the next Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and a host of NHL greats that went on to have tremendous careers in the league, could be a game-changer for a franchise.

"I wouldn't want to put that much pressure on him," Armstrong said of Bedard, who is still only 17. "He's a dominant player at his age group. He's everyone's consensus No. 1. But you're talking McDavid, you're talking Crosby, you're talking players that are going to retire as the top potentially three or four, or let's say the top five that ever played. I don't really think I want to put that pressure on a 17-year-old right now to say that if you're not in the top five in the history of the game, you had a bad career. I think he's a dynamic player. I know that if we'd have won the lottery, we would be taking him. But I wouldn't want to heap that kind of pressure on a young man. But he's got a great ceiling."

And then there's the Anaheim Ducks, who finished as the bridesmaid in the draft lottery and will pick second.

As their "consolation" prize, Hobey Baker Award winner and University of Michigan alum Adam Fantilli will be there -- barring a trade -- sitting for the Ducks to select, a player Armstrong was able to see firsthand at the World Championships in Finland and Latvia playing for Canada's gold medal-winning team last month.

"I thought he was really good," Armstrong said. "An 18-year-old going in, dynamic skater. He scored a goal ... that's all you're going to see at the draft is a goal at the World Championships, danced a guy. It was a big goal for us. Loves to shoot. You can see why he scores goals. He's an exceptional person too and that's the real benefit of working for your national team is getting to know coaches, getting to know trainers, but more importantly, getting to know players.

"My wife was there, we spent time talking to Fantilli's parents. What great, great people. You can tell why he's a good, young man. He's got a high ceiling also. He's a dynamic player."

If Armstrong can't land the top overall pick, would be settle for second if offered and he could consummate a trade?

He laughed, "I've got to make that call too."

Could either somehow, someway become a member of the Blues? Never say never, but the Blues have the three first-round picks, which would be good starting points at trying to pull off an absolute blockbuster if they want to move up that high in the draft. But that's all those picks would be, starting points. It would take way more than that -- way more.