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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — It’s probably not worth other NHL general managers giving Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff a call about his No. 2 pick in the upcoming NHL Draft.

He’s pretty set on selecting this one.

“You know again it’s one of those things I would never want to lead people astray, but it would take quite a bit to change my mind to not picking,” Cheveldayoff said while in St. Petersburg.

Cheveldayoff has three players – Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi – in his sights, and he plans on having a wealth information on each when the Toronto Maple Leafs get done selecting the first pick and the Jets are on the clock at No. 2 on June 24 in Buffalo, New York.

He has already scouted all three players plenty, but he’s continuing that process during the World Championship. He’s been based in St. Petersburg the past week watching Matthews play for the U.S. and Laine play for Finland. Puljujarvi isn’t playing in the tournament.

“We’ve obviously done our due diligence throughout the year not knowing obviously where you’re going to pick,” Cheveldayoff said. “Even at the final part of the year, we watched real closely with knowing obviously we’re going to be a lottery team and the opportunity would be to hopefully win the lottery.

“We’ve kept a close eye on all three of the guys there as much as you can. This is a good opportunity. We were able to watch Puljujarvi in Grand Forks when he played at the U-18s World Championships. And watching Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine here, it’s a good opportunity to keep scouting.”

Cheveldayoff broke down what he thought each player brought to the table.

On Puljujarvi: “He’s a very good skater. He’s a very good two-way player. You know, smart player. Both he and Laine were exceptional at the World Junior Championships. I guess all three of them were, but the two of them played on the same team along with defenseman Olli Juolevi. They won the championship there and Puljujarvi was the MVP of the tournament, so he’s a very good player as well.”

On Laine: “Again, every time the puck is on his stick he’s a threat to score. You saw yesterday just seconds left in the game shooting from the tops of the circles he’s a threat to score. His game has really matured from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year to now. And certainly what he’s doing in this tournament is very impressive.”

On Matthews: “Auston is obviously a player we’ve had a chance to see a little bit more playing over here two years ago, playing with the U.S. development team. Obviously you know what he can do. He’s a very complete center, plays a real smart game, can make plays. Again yesterday showed his wrist shot where he can score goals and be dangerous from all areas. Big size, good size, strong player, mature player.”

One of them will be gone once the Jets pick, but Cheveldayoff doesn’t think he can go wrong any way.

“Obviously the top-3 players have been mentioned as real special players,” Cheveldayoff said. “We were fortunate when we moved from six to two. Even at six, we were preparing to get a real good player. These three players when you get a chance to pick one of them you’re very happy.”

So, he knows who he’ll select whenever Toronto is done?

“It’s still a little early for that,” Cheveldayoff said. “There’s obviously the scouting to be done here and the combine that we’ll go through and continue the evaluation process in that. We’ll see. Obviously Toronto has the first pick. They can dictate where things can go. It’ll be exciting.”

Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff breaks down the top-3 NHL Draft picks