For teams on the outside of the NHL Playoffs, the focus has rightfully shifted to June’s NHL Draft. Most teams at the top of the draft likely have their lists ready to go and are excited to add a good young player. For the Buffalo Sabres, coming off the most disappointing season in recent memory, a major decision looms: “What should be done with the 11th overall pick?”
The 2024 NHL Draft Lottery
The 2024 NHL Draft Lottery came and went with minimal fanfare, which is understandable. The playoffs are in full swing, there is competition from the NBA playoffs, and the MLB has games happening every night. A draft lottery isn’t necessarily league-wide appointment viewing. The most talked about moment of the night was the apparent “leak” by longtime pundit John Buccigross, who had seemingly spoiled the entire draft order:
If anything, it was a relief for most because clearcut first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini going to the Chicago Blackhawks would have caused an uproar. But for the Sabres, nothing of substance happened, and the team landed where they expected to. That’s where the debate starts.
The Problem With the 11th Overall Pick
Let’s be honest. General managers want to be selecting at the top or bottom of the first round, and anything else offers varying degrees of frustration. Picking 11th means the Sabres might get a decent player, but it also means that the team was just bad enough to miss the playoffs.
That’s not to say they can’t get a good player in the spot. Gabe Vilardi, Kevin Fiala, and Filip Forsberg are all recent 11th overall picks. The real problem is that this player likely won’t join the lineup for another two years, at least. That leads to a major decision about what should be done with the pick.
The Problem for the Sabres
The Sabres have been God-awful for over a decade, missing the playoffs for 14 seasons. They need to get better now. Adding a good player here is fine. It would bolster an already solid stockpile of prospects in the system. But Buffalo’s roster wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs the last two seasons. They need a player who can impact the roster now, and the 11th overall pick isn’t going to do that.
The Sabres Should Trade the Pick
The Sabres looked better after swapping Casey Mittelstadt for Bowen Byram, but by then, it was too little too late. It does, however, set the Sabres up nicely on the back end for the foreseeable future.
It is hard to pinpoint one area of improvement because so many things have gone wrong for the Sabres. In 2022-23, they got career years from players like Alex Touch, Dylan Cozens, and Tage Thompson, but they couldn’t keep the puck out of their net. In 2023-24, the complete opposite happened. Cozens and Touch fell off a cliff, Thompson started to rebound after dealing with a hand injury for much of the year, and Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen emerged in the second half as one of the best goalies in the game.
One consistent issue has been the middle six. Jordan Greenway showed flashes. Victor Olofsson disappeared even when he wasn’t in the lineup. Jack Quinn couldn’t stay healthy. Adding a forward like Brandon Duhaime, Scott Laughton, or Boone Jenner would add sandpaper and offensive contributions. But getting one of those targets to accept a trade to Buffalo is another matter.
The Sabres Should Keep the Pick
The Sabres understand they have plenty of talented young players on the roster and in their system and keeping them in Buffalo will be a lot more costly as time goes on. So, adding another talented piece to the system wouldn’t be bad thing.
At 11th overall, the Sabres have a few options. Cole Eiserman of the USNTDP is mentioned a lot. He played well with Celebrini and even set the program’s career goals record with 127 over two seasons. He’s a natural goal scorer, and they don’t grow on trees. Instead, management could focus on defense and go with Carter Yakemchuk. He has good size, moves well for his size, and he plays with an edge. There is a bit of a logjam on the blue line already, but a right-handed shot from the point is becoming a rarity.
General Manager Kevyn Adams has shown great patience, and if he does keep the pick, taking the best player available will just give the Sabres another asset to dangle in front of a potential trade partner in the future.
What is Adams’ Call?
The easiest answer is to trade the pick. The Sabres have enough depth in their prospect pool to not only move this pick but also add a player/prospect like Peyton Krebs, Isak Rosen, Jiri Kulich, or Noah Ostlund to land a big fish. The pressure is on Adams to make a move now that will carry the Sabres into next season with momentum. With an asset like the 11th pick, there may not be a better time to act than this summer.