Las Vegas, Nev. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – The Buffalo Sabres made a trade on Thursday, but it may not be what most fans were looking for.
Buffalo sent the 11th overall pick in Friday’s NHL Draft to the San Jose Sharks for the 14th overall pick and a second-round pick, which is 42nd overall. That now gives Buffalo Picks 42 and 43 in the second round.
Related
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams says there was just too much value there to pass up.
"When we look at this year’s draft, we feel pretty strongly that after [Pick] 6 or 7, it’s a wide range of where we think the names will go. It’s a real good value for us to make that deal," said Adams while in Vegas ahead of Friday's first round.
"We really like the group of players, where we see ourselves potentially targeting at 14. We picked up an extra asset, which is good value at Pick 42, and that certainly is something we’ll talk about. We’re actively shopping around, looking to see if there’s a deal to make to help our roster better. This just gives us more ammunition."
This will be the eighth time the Sabres have had the 14th overall pick. The others were:
2021 – Isak Rosen
2012 – Zemgus Girgensons
1995 – Jay McKee
1990 – Brad May
1989 – Kevin Haller
1985 – Calle Johansson
1977 – Ric Seiling
This trade became more attractive, because teams weren’t offering the proper value for the Sabres to trade away Pick 11.
"There was not a trade, and we went through every possible scenario with every team we could possibly go through that we thought made sense for Pick 11," Adams said. "Also, any trade that we’ve looked at or talked about, there still could be the same trade there at 14. That’s part of the thought process, so it doesn’t mean we’re done here."
When it comes to Jeff Skinner, Adams could buy out the remaining three years of his contract right now, or he could wait until 4:59 p.m. ET on June 30 to see if a trade might develop. It’s not likely, but it costs nothing to wait and find out.
"We’re going to look at every possible scenario, whether that’s trade opportunity, who’s out there in free agency. Those are the things we’re looking at," Adams said. "No final decision has been made on Jeff yet, but we don’t have to, because we’re not at that point yet."
Adams says Skinner and his agent have given no indication they’d be willing to waive their no movement clause.
Related
In this offseason, Adams and his staff have a whole different philosophy that they’re operating under than they did last summer. Last offseason was a failure, and now they’re working on ways to make this team better in other ways.
"It feels very different this year," Adams said. "I feel the last three years at the draft was so much about making sure we were building our pipeline up and our prospects pool, and putting ourselves in position where we have assets in the organization. Meanwhile, you do your best to look for trades, because you always have to have prospects to funnel through your system. But it has flipped in the sense that we need to be a team that’s competitive and getting to the playoffs, fighting for those opportunities, and do what we want to do to win a Stanley Cup."
Over the last three drafts, Buffalo has had six first-round picks, five second-round picks and four third-round picks, giving them 15 picks in the first three rounds.
Adams expressed his displeasure that trade talks with the Carolina Hurricanes about forward Martin Necas became public through the media. Necas, who asked to leave Carolina, is also being reportedly pursued by the New Jersey Devils.
New Jersey can offer a better pick in the first round at No. 10, but the Devils do not have a second-round pick to sweeten the deal. Buffalo now has two of those picks to offer.
The 42nd pick that Buffalo just acquired was sent to the Sharks by the Devils in the Timo Meier trade.
Necas was the 12th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft and is 25-years-old. This season, he had 24 goals in 77 games, while last year he had 28 goals and 71 points in 82 games.
Our coverage of Round 1 of the 2024 NHL Draft begins Friday at 7 p.m. ET with Brian Koziol and Brayton Wilson. I’ll be reporting live from Las Vegas both Friday and Saturday.
