Las Vegas, Nev. (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) – The Buffalo Sabres used the 14th overall pick in Friday’s NHL Draft to select center Konsta Helenius.
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General manager Kevyn Adams says he worked hard to try to make a trade to bring in a player that would help the team now, but says the team was aggressive.
"There weren’t trades that we could get the other teams to agree to and if I was to sum it up, I don’t think there was a trade in the first round that involved an NHL player," said Adams following Round 1 of the draft in Las Vegas.
"I was making clear to teams around the league that we’re going to do everything we can to make our roster better, we were open to anything, but it wasn’t the way the draft fell this year."
Adams knew when he got to The Sphere, he wasn’t going to be able to move his pick for an NHL player.
"As the afternoon went on, I thought we put together some really strong offers, and then when that didn’t end up happening, I just knew that teams just weren’t willing to move a player for a pick in a package," Adams said.
After Adams spoke with the media, he says he anticipated trade conversations to go into the night.
"We have other assets and have ongoing conversations that we’ll keep working at, but it takes two to make a trade," Adams reiterated.
He adds he’s gotten a lot of calls on his prospects, but the trades weren’t something that would help the team now.
"Some of the people asking about our prospects have been a little more focused on a prospect they have or a draft pick, and that’s not what we’re focused on doing," Adams said. "We really like our prospect group, but we want to make our team better. So if we’re going to move a top prospect, it’s with the goal of us improving our roster right now. That just hasn’t been available yet."
As for Helenius, he played for Olli Jokinen with Jukurit in the Finnish Liiga, who played 1,231 NHL games before retiring following the 2014-15 season. Adams says his staff talked to Jokinen a lot in the pre-draft process.
"He really spoke highly of Konsta, just his belief in him, the path he’s on. Everything came back high character, well-liked by teammates and work ethic," Adams said.
Helenius has played professionally in Liiga for two seasons, starting when he was just 16-years-old. The kid will still grow, but he already plays a hard game.
"This isn’t a fully developed player, for sure, but you don’t play in the men’s league in Finland for the last year-and-a-half if you can’t handle yourself," Adams said. "He is, to me, a true center. Sometimes you draft guys and you’re not 100% sold that he’s a center, but we believe 100% that he’s a centerman and will be in the National Hockey League."
Adams says Helenius has a very good two-way game, and is very competitive. He adds Helenius is a player that could be in Buffalo or Rochester, and a player they’d like to get to North America as fast as possible.
Heading into Day 2 of the draft on Saturday, Buffalo is slated to pick twice in the second round, once in the third round, twice in the fourth round, and once in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds.
Join Derek Kramer, Joe Cali and Brayton Wilson as they kick off our coverage on WGR at 11:30 a.m. ET.