NHL
Sabres looking for luck with 13th pick
The Buffalo Sabres’ scouts met six months ago to revise their draft list. Then they watched games and video throughout the winter and spring, moving prospects up and down along the way. This month, they interviewed more than 85 players at the scouting combine, and the youngsters’ words and actions forced the team to change the list again.
Finally, after internal meetings during the past week, the Sabres have narrowed their first selection in the NHL entry draft down to two or three players. Now they have to cross their fingers and see if their gems make it through the first 12 picks.
If the dream prospects are gone when the Sabres select 13th, all that list-changing will be for naught. But if one of the boys is there Friday in Ottawa, six months of swapping names will be worth it.
“I’ll either be very happy or I’ll be cursing silently,” Kevin Devine, the Sabres’ director of amateur scouting, said at a predraft news conference.
The Sabres enter this weekend’s two-day, seven-round draft in an enviable position. They own three of the first 44 picks, including a pair of first-rounders. They earned the 13th pick by missing the playoffs, and received San Jose’s 26th selection in the deal that sent defenseman Brian Campbell to California. The 44th pick is in the second round.
Round One is Friday in Scotiabank Place, while Rounds Two through Seven will be Saturday.
“We’ve got a very good chance to get three good NHL players in the first three picks,” Devine said. “There’s a good possibility that the third-round pick will be a good pick, too. Most people consider it the strongest draft ever for defensemen. There’s going to be a lot of defensemen taken in the first two rounds. It’s a very good year for the goaltenders also. There’s some good forwards, too, but those two positions I think teams can really stack up some prospects for the next five or six years.”
The Sabres will select either a defenseman or a forward with the 13th pick, depending on which position has the best player available. The other first-rounder depends on which way they went at 13 and which direction the draft is going.
If it’s not going the way the Sabres like from the outset, they could package their picks (and possibly winger Maxim Afinogenov) and make a deal. That’s a benefit of having two first-round picks.
“More than anything it provides you some flexibility,” General Manager Darcy Regier said. “You want to use the flexibility to create some opportunities. [The trade conversations are] really starting. We have all this time in advance of the draft, but it really only starts to heat up the week of the draft.”
The Sabres’ first picks in the last two drafts were defensemen. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that continue. At one point last season the Sabres didn’t have any healthy blue-liners to call up.
Another trend that may continue is small and speedy rather than bulky and physical. The Sabres could use size, but not at the expense of skill.
“Everything being equal, yeah, we’d like to get a bigger guy, but if there’s a significant difference in their ability, we’re not going to pass over a smaller guy,” Devine said.
Either way, don’t expect to see any of the Sabres’ seven selections in the NHL anytime soon. “Most of these kids are going to go back and play two more years with their junior team, college or will stay in Europe for two more years,” Regier said.
