MINNEAPOLIS—After being so far unable to move up in the NHL entry draft, Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke is trying a different tact.

He’s now put his top three picks on the table, saying he’s willing to trade those selections for a player or players that would help make the Leafs more competitive immediately.

“If we can leave here with our team better, I’ll trade all three of those picks,” Burke said Thursday as his team continued the process of interviewing and testing prospects in advance of the first round of the draft on Friday night. Rounds two through seven follow on Saturday.

That said, Burke also conceded that trade talks are “nowhere” at the moment, and if he can’t deal his top picks — which are 25th, 30th and 39th overall — for veteran help or a move up in the draft order, he’d be quite happy using those selections to stockpile talent.

“If we don’t trade them for established players, we may well do that. I’m not sure if you move up into the teens that you get that much better a player. So we don’t feel under any duress to do anything,” Burke continued.

“If we get a move up scenario that makes sense, we’ll do it. But if we pick three times, that’s fine too. But the picks are in play for established players. I’ll trade them all.”

Burke later conceded that “a move-up scenario at this point looks unlikely.”

It is believed Burke was in on an attempt to land Mike Richards out of Philadelphia on Thursday, perhaps using some of those picks as part of a package or working on something involving Nazem Kadri and Nikolai Kulemin. He also lost out on Jeff Carter.

Burke, citing potential tampering accusations, doesn’t comment on players under contract to another club. But now, by putting his top three picks “in play” he is clearly trying to see what other players shake free.

His fallback position is to draft with those picks out of a pool that many observers believe runs relatively deep with talent that, while not star quality, will eventually help teams at the big-league level.

Burke said he believes there is a “ledge” where the talent drops off from the elite players in this weekend’s draft — “Most teams will tell you it’s anywhere from seven to nine,” he said — but he believes there are more than 50 players that are solid prospects.

“We’ve had a lot of discussions about a lot of different things: moving up, moving down, trading picks for players who can help us now,” said Burke.

“But there’s nothing that’s materialized and nothing that I even sense is that close. I’m not waiting for the phone to ring with a deal. That’s not uncommon. It’s still early yet in hockey terms.”

The Leafs continued testing and interviewing about 15 prospects Thursday. Among those checking in with the Leafs were Niagara junior Ryan Strome — who will be gone unless the Leafs move up — top-ranked goaltender John Gibson, highly regarded Minnesota high schooler Mario Lucia, Peterborough star Matt Puempel and Dillon Simpson, son of former NHLer and broadcaster Craig Simpson.

Director of amateur scouting Dave Morrison said the team was finalizing its list for the draft, taking into consideration every possible eventuality. The Leafs have 11 picks in total.

Morrison said he wouldn’t be crushed if, after all his preparation, Burke traded away the team’s top picks.

“For me, it’s looking at it in terms of the big team,” he said. “If the big team doesn’t do well and they make changes, chances are I could be one of those changes. So, for me, it’s important that the big team does well. And if we have to do something like that to make the big team better, than I think we should do it.”

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Morrison said if a lot of players are taken early that aren’t on Toronto’s list of top 30 players, that, effectively, gives the team a higher draft pick — or certainly someone higher on the Leafs list.

“Right now, I’m hopeful that at 25, we’ll get a guy on our list roughly between 13 or 14, and maybe 18 or 19. That’s my hope,” he said. “It always works that way. Everybody’s list is totally different than ours.”