Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Many felt the Buffalo Sabres would trade the fourth overall pick of the 2026 NHL Draft on Friday, and maybe the 20th pick too. However, teams weren't willing to pay the price being asked by general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, resulting in Buffalo picking two prospects, who now need to be developed.
Let's face it: When you trade away Alex Tuch, Bo Byram and Jordan Greenway, while only adding Louis Crevier and Olen Zellweger, you have regressed by quite a bit. But that's what the roster looks like on June 27.
Buffalo has a large stable full of very good young players and prospects. It seemed like Kekalainen would've liked to get some top-flight talent to replace Tuch and Byram with trading the fourth overall pick, but the trade just wasn't there.
"We made it clear that all options, whether it's the fourth pick or the 20th pick overall, we could move up, we could move down. We explored all the options and I contacted all the other teams in the league to make sure they know all our options are open. But nothing was attractive enough for us to do anything else but pick," said Kekalainen while addressing the media after Round 1 of the 2026 NHL Draft on Friday.
"There was a ton of calls early about pick No. 4, but we weren't going to move it for something that wasn't significant. It would've taken a significant offer for us to move from four. We had some offers where we could've moved back a little bit and gotten something in return, and all kinds of different options.
"We were taking notes for a couple of days on what might be out there with Pick 4, but to outright trade pick No. 4, we would've needed an impact player that can play with our team for a good period of time and not just help us next year. Somebody with either term or a good age where we have control for many, many years."
Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman reported Friday that Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck has waived his no trade clause for a trade to the Sabres. He's 33-years-old, and would add $8.5 million to the Sabres' salary cap.
Kekalainen surprised many by using the fourth pick to select defenseman Daxon Rudolph. When the NHL Scouting Combine was in Buffalo in early June, the Sabres had the 27th pick and never interviewed Rudolph. That happened Friday morning.
"It changed a lot from the combine," Kekalainen said. "We were thinking we were picking at 27, so rather than wasting time with some of the people that were running from interview-to-interview and were so far down, we knew we weren't going to get to them. Plus, our area scouts are doing interviews throughout the season to know the background of the player. They know him inside and out. The 15 minutes at the combine is just for the whole staff to get to know him, so that's why we called him and had him come to our offices this morning."
So what did the Sabres get with Rudolph? Kekalainen feels he's an all-around defenseman.
"He's got great offensive ability, he's a big guy, got some jam to him too, grit, plays hard and his instincts are great," he said of Rudolph. "I think that's the biggest thing that we like about him. It's not just the physical ability, it's his hockey IQ, and puts another really great defenseman into our future."
The 20th overall pick was the second-youngest player in college hockey, Ilia Morozov from Miami University (OH). Kekalainen said he's the player Jerry Forton had in mind when the Sabres moved from 27th to 20th in the Michael Kesselring trade with the San Jose Sharks.
"I think he's a good two-way forward," Kekalainen said of Morozov. "It's pretty hard to score a lot in college at the age of 17. It was great for me, because two of my daughters go to Miami University, so I got to visit them and watch Morozov play. But he got off to a really hot start, then he cooled off a little, but I got to talk to the head coach [Anthony Noreen] there, and he couldn't stop talking about character of Morozov. And it's a pretty impressive story: He came from Russia and hardly spoke any English, and now he's an A student and works on his game. And they have to kick him out of the rink and gym before he leaves."
The draft is pretty much in Forton's hands. He's worked in Buffalo for three different general managers because of his eye for talent. Kekalainen has been in charge of drafts before, and as general manager, he doesn't want to get into the way.
"I ran the draft for 11 different drafts, and I believe we are in great hands with Jerry Forton and his staff," Kekalainen said. "They do exactly what I believe in too, which is you work hard, you watch a lot of games, you go back again-and-again-and-again to make sure you know the player inside and out. And we lean on the upside, not what they are now.
"I was always fortunate I worked with a general manager that didn't stick his fingers in the process, because I can't get to see those guys enough to form a solid opinion. But we have a great scouting staff, they do a great job. And you see some of the results from the team right now, so I have a lot of faith in our scouting staff. I stay away from it. If I see somebody enough, I give my opinion, I try to even do that carefully, because they've seen them a lot more than I have."
Let's take a look back at top defensemen in the system:
- Daxon Rudolph (2026 first-round pick)
- Radim Mrtka (2025 first-round pick)
- David Bedkowski (2025 third-round pick)
- Adam Kleber (2024 second-round pick)
- Luke Osborn (2024 fourth-round pick)
- Maxim Strbak (2023 second-round pick)
- Gavin McCarthy (2023 third-round pick)
- Vsevolod Komarov (2022 fifth-round pick)
- Ryan Johnson (2019 first-round pick)
Rounds 2 through 7 are taking place Saturday.
The Sabres made both their first-round selections when many felt they'd be traded
The Sabres made both their first-round selections when many felt they'd be traded
