Do you believe Sabres front office really thought Sam Reinhart was BPA in 2014 draft?

[JOVIS*]

By that i mean... the best player in the draft period... since the story was "we got our guy!" This came up in the Risto thread, as people are using Ekblad's deal (a great deal for the Panthers) as a comparable. Seems like many actually believe the front office thought Reinhart was better than Ekblad. Personally I think there is no way a lifelong scout's scout at heart like TM believed that. I think his frustration in losing another lottery the next year was the culmination of 2 years in a row of losing out on the clear #1 player in the draft, despite our collective suffering! He has since not been back to the awkward dog and pony show that is the lottery selection. None of this is to criticize Sam Reinhart - who is my favorite player on the team and was amazing last year -, merely point out that Ekblad is truly generational from the perspective of how good he already is at so young an age. Maybe his projected ceiling doesn't have him eclipsing Duncan Keith or Drew Doughty, but his sheer man-child status for his age alone make him quite remarkable. Some point to his contract as a comparable to Risto... which i think is only the case to set the high end of the bar. The end which Risto will come in far short of. Personally I'd be shocked if he got Seth Jones money. We will all know soon enough...

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[Aladyyn]

Ekblad is not even better than Risto atm though.

 

[Zman5778]

Ekblad is not even better than Risto atm though.

Yes, yes he most certainly is.


And to the question -- yes, I do think that GMTM and crew thought that Sam was BPA.

 

[HP00]

Pointless poll with biased answers. Should just be Yes or No.

 

[HP00]

Ekblad is not even better than Risto atm though.

This is about the 2014 draft AT THE TIME.

 

[Husko]

Yes, yes he most certainly is.


And to the question -- yes, I do think that GMTM and crew thought that Sam was BPA.

Well, he hasn't been used in anywhere near as difficult of situations as Risto. That said, he probably is better.

I don't give a rat's you know what about BPA. I think that Sam was top of their board though. At the time Grigo was our only shot at a #1 center. We were taking Sam.

 

[Sabres83]

I don't know about BPA, but I do believe we were taking Reinhart at #1 or #2.

 

[Gabrielor]

Yes. I do.

 

[Man of Principles]

This is the year where we see exactly why Reinhart was the best player available at #2.

 

[OkimLom]

I don't know. We weren't in the room. Anybody who says otherwise(regardless of their stance) is lying if they say they knew. Sure there might be a PR game at hand, or there might not be. We don't know.

Do I think Reinhart was the highest on the board for this pick, yes. If I was part of the Sabres staff, I would have Reinhart and Ekblad rated the same, and then I would look at need.We needed a better prospect at our center position than defenseman. I think Ekblad was as close to a polished NHL player as we've seen in recent drafts in terms of IQ, body strength, and overall skill. I think Reinhart had a much better IQ than Ekblad, with much more room to grow in terms of his skating and his strength and fit a better need for Buffalo. If I'm Buffalo at the time I take Sam. Today, I probably lean towards Ekblad.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Well, he hasn't been used in anywhere near as difficult of situations as Risto. That said, he probably is better.

I don't give a rat's you know what about BPA. I think that Sam was top of their board though. At the time Grigo was our only shot at a #1 center. We were taking Sam.

Even ignoring positional need, it's not like Ekblad was the clear-cut #1 choice at the time among scouting services (who have no need to be more vested in one position than another). Reinhart was atop plenty of lists. Bennett was tops on a few as well. Ekblad wasn't some flawless psuedo-generational prospect. He just shot past the the forwards taken immediately after him during the 2014-15 season, in many peoples' eyes, because he was the only one in the NHL.

 

[JOVIS*]

I don't know. We weren't in the room. Anybody who says otherwise(regardless of their stance) is lying if they say they knew. Sure there might be a PR game at hand, or there might not be. We don't know.

Do I think Reinhart was the highest on the board for this pick, yes. If I was part of the Sabres staff, I would have Reinhart and Ekblad rated the same, and then I would look at need.We needed a better prospect at our center position than defenseman. I think Ekblad was as close to a polished NHL player as we've seen in recent drafts in terms of IQ, body strength, and overall skill. I think Reinhart had a much better IQ than Ekblad, with much more room to grow in terms of his skating and his strength and fit a better need for Buffalo. If I'm Buffalo at the time I take Sam. Today, I probably lean towards Ekblad.

that post makes lots of sense. very thoughtful and good points there.


just a thought for all the people who would have taken Sam then but not now... GMTM knew our roster then... he knew we werent as loaded on D as the fans thought. He knew he didnt like Myers or Psyk or the rest of the not-as-good-as-the local media and biased (for good reason, we're fans!) fans projected them. im sure he scouted everyone on the Sabres before he inherited the Sabres job... so the lens he saw them through was much much different than simply saying we were loaded on D and naturally needed a forward. I think that even with his blunt revealing style, he is highly intelligent...and was never going to say anything to undermine Sam. I think he is far more talented and visionary a GM than the trainwreck who has ran & refused to bolster Defense corps in Edmonton all these years. We can't redo that lottery... but for the sake of message board fodder i truly cringe at the notion that we could or would have missed out on a beast like Ekblad if given a shot at him!

 

[AustonsNostrils]

We were drafting one of the centers even if we had won the lottery, only a Bobby Orr type prospect would have changed that. I love Sam but I'd still have preferred Bennett.

 

[Havok89]

We were drafting one of the centers even if we had won the lottery, only a Bobby Orr type prospect would have changed that. I love Sam but I'd still have preferred Bennett.

Living in Calgary I've had many chances to watch Sam Bennett. I think Sam Reinhart will be a more impactful player, even if a lot of it doesn't show up on the scoresheet.

 

[joshjull]

I believe Reinhart was who Murray wanted based on comments leading up to and after the draft. Saying "we got our guy" was not PR but what was felt at the time from the organization. But thats not the same as saying thats who the organization thought was better of Reinhart or Ekbald. Something I could only guess at.

 

[krt88]

Forwards are easier to scout than defensemen but I thought the two were basically dead even (Sam vs Aaron). Had Sam way ahead of Bennett!

 

[paulmm3]

Yes. For the entire pre-draft year it was Ekblad and Rino ranked 1-2 in whatever order by most scouting services. Draisaitl and Bennett moved themselves into the conversation with great draft-1 seasons. I remember questions about whether Ekblad was a true #1 or a very good #2, especially concerning how his offense would translate to the pro level. I think we had Reinhart #1 OA.

 

[Meichel Kane]

Yes. At that time, there was no way to tell that the Sabres would be drafting a generational center the following year. Reinhart was the OG top-flight center. If I recall, there was some relief around these parts that Florida won the lottery, since they would be taking Ekblad and leave the top forward (Reinhart or Bennett) for Buffalo.

 

[toomuchsauce]

2 0 1 4 N H L D r a f t B P A g h a z i

 

[toomuchsauce]

*extremely investigatory journalist voice* Since being hired, Tim Murray has made several moves to further consolidate his power. *eerie music begins playing* But he is on record as saying that Sam Reinhart was the #1 rated player on the Sabres' board in the 2014 NHL Draft. Did he *really* mean that? Was it the hollow "PR" work of a corporate shill? How how far up does this go? *explosion sound* Did Pegula order the BPA? Is this the scandal that will finally bring down an empire? My podcast:

 

[CaseyMitts37]

Sam Bennett is a great player but our Sam is just so much better

I don't even think Bennett was in consideration at 2, it was probably 1. Reinhart, 2/3. Ekblad/Draisaitl

 

[JOVIS*]

2 0 1 4 N H L D r a f t B P A g h a z i

draft-gate!

I've always liked our Sam way better than Calgary's Sam for what its worth. I felt like when Murray went on WGR and pumped Bennett's tires (he'll fight u! he'll spear ya!") it was as clear a tell as any that we weren't interested

 

[AustonsNostrils]

NHL Central Scouting ranked Bennett #1 over both Ekblad and Reinhart. Time will tell - but looks like all 3 will be terrific players. That draft was maligned as weak, looks like it will be a solid draft.

 

[Butt Ox]

Of course he was. Anyone (looking at a forward) who had that WJC performance a few months prior still tucked away in memory would have made the same choice.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

Of course he was. Anyone (looking at a forward) who had that WJC performance a few months prior still tucked away in memory would have made the same choice.

I think you're confusing WJC years - in Reinhart's draft year he was on a very disappointing Team Canada, he was one of the few Canadian kids who played pretty well.