Speculation: Draft Talk, 2018: Picks 1, 32, 94, 117, 125, 156, 187

Sabre the Win

Joke of a Franchise
Jun 27, 2013
12,242
4,917
What happened to pick 156? We traded with Toronto? Let me guess we can get 2 more defensemen in the 7th round?
 

dotcommunism

Moderator
Aug 16, 2007
5,181
3,345
Honestly some of the weirdness to this draft (outside of the pick swap) makes some sense with this being Botterill's first real draft. Targetting a lot of defensemen, and all from either European leagues or NCAA-bound, makes sense. Defensemen tend to take longer to be NHL ready than forwards do, so Botterill takes a ton of defensemen to build that sort of foundation. Forwards taken in future drafts might be ready on the same timescale as the guys taken today. Having everyone's rights held for four years also means everyone's got plenty of time to develop if they need it (and if they don't, then they can turn pro sooner), rather than, say, a CHL-heavy draft where everyone's turning pro in two years or going back in the draft.
 

krt88nc

Registered User
Oct 7, 2017
717
278
Fayetteville, NC
I liked the 2nd and first 4th rounder we picked. After that I have no opinion at all. If any of them invaded my house I wouldn't know who they ere. Now 'd likely guess the William guy because if a telephone pole entered the house, I could tell. 6'6" and 172 pounds Yikes, that boy needs some beef on weck and an dozen order of wings, big time!
 

sincerity0

Registered User
Dec 23, 2016
1,970
740
Long term I still think that defense was a big need for buffalo. Realistically, Scandella will only be here two more years, and McCabe doesn’t really fit what Buffalo wants to do.

What the Sabres did today (and later in the draft last year) was roll the dice on some higher skilled, good skating defensemen. If Buffalo hits on 2-3 of the 6 or 7 defensemen they drafted the last two years then they would be in really good shape (outside of dahlin ofc).

Botterill is taking the Pittsburgh plug and play approach for wing, to a certain extent. My belief is that he thinks he can rely on picking up cheaper UFAs, UDFAs, and lower round picks to fill in the wings with high energy, speedy wingers.

A few weeks back I said that I wouldn’t care if Buffalo used every pick on defensemen... they came damn close. Not picking a goalie was a bit surprising, though, considering it’s Ullmark, Johansson and UPL in the system. That’s pretty bare. Am I missing someone?

Either way, Buffalo has gone HEAVY forwards in the previous three or four drafts. We have a ton of young and prospect forwards coming up the ranks. Botterill has seemed pretty intent on bringing in younger depth guys + UDFAs at forward.

This draft allows Buffalo to move a guy like McCabe (who I thought was expendable before). Not only did Buffalo shore up their defensive prospect pool (outside of Dahlin) by sheer force (numbers), I believe this allows Botterill to not be forced to trade ROR for strictly a defenseman / defensive prospects.

If ROR does get moved Buffalo can now bring in an elite winger prospect rather than being pigeon holed into raking in a defenseman.

Again, I’d like to have seen a goalie picked because of the numbers game, but overall it seems we picked up a number of high skill players. Botterill stated he picked all euro players and the winger (going to NCAA) because the team retains rights for 4 years rather than 2 (major junior). That was never really a thought that crossed my mind, but it definitely allows the team to retain more talent at the AHL level (and long-playing development) because the team doesn’t need to toss a contract after one or two years in juniors. That’s great thinking.
 
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ZZamboni

Puttin' on the Foil
Sep 25, 2010
15,399
1,449
Buffalo, NY


How is Mike Harrington still employed :laugh:


He’s still employed, in part, because people (like you did just now) read his stuff, retweet his stuff, comment on his stuff, react to his stuff.
If only blitz and a couple other repeat offenders stopped posting anything anything anything he puts out there, it may have an effect. Just a thought. :dunno:

I stay away from everything he does no matter what.
 

Icicle

Think big
Oct 16, 2005
6,055
1,007
I honestly find nothing wrong with that article. Botterill deserves some scrutiny and should not feel comfortable. This team has regressed since he has been GM. We have massive holes everywhere except on the blue line now.

Maybe in result but not in hope. There was no path up before him.

Nothing but hope won a presidency. It’s a strong emotion.
 

Sabre the Win

Joke of a Franchise
Jun 27, 2013
12,242
4,917
I honestly find nothing wrong with that article. Botterill deserves some scrutiny and should not feel comfortable. This team has regressed since he has been GM. We have massive holes everywhere except on the blue line now.
 

hizzoner

Registered User
Sponsor
Jun 19, 2006
3,971
1,079
We now have centre and D depth in spades. Like everyone else I would have liked to see a sniper picked at some point but cannot argue against our first, second or first pick in the 4th. After that it is such a roll of the dice--I was hoping for a winger to be selected for the sake of picking a winger and not because I thought some gem was there for us. There wasn't. So I will continue to wonder about it but not say too much negative for a couple years anyway!
 

1972

"Craigs on it"
Apr 9, 2012
14,426
3,147
Canada
We are going to have two picks in the top 30 next year in what is going to be a forward heavy first round. Botterill can come away with two skilled forwards there, skilled forwards in the first round take less time to develop then defence, we needed to address the back end this year more then the wings so I don’t see an issue.

If they get Samuelson to become a top 4 D after drafting Dahlin it’s a great draft, and if one of those other D hit it’s an unbelievable draft.

I can’t believe so many care about drafting a winger, they can be found everywhere as it’s the least valuable asset. Elite wingers are almost always top 20 picks to, and we didn’t have that.
 

Rasmus CacOlainen

The end of the Tank
Sep 24, 2015
7,226
1,137
Europe
We are going to have two picks in the top 30 next year in what is going to be a forward heavy first round. Botterill can come away with two skilled forwards there, skilled forwards in the first round take less time to develop then defence, we needed to address the back end this year more then the wings so I don’t see an issue.

If they get Samuelson to become a top 4 D after drafting Dahlin it’s a great draft, and if one of those other D hit it’s an unbelievable draft.

I can’t believe so many care about drafting a winger, they can be found everywhere as it’s the least valuable asset. Elite wingers are almost always top 20 picks to, and we didn’t have that.
Where is this everywhere that you speak of? We have 1 quality winger and that was a player that was supposed to be a center in Reinhart. If it was so easy why dont we have any?
 
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1972

"Craigs on it"
Apr 9, 2012
14,426
3,147
Canada
Where is this everywhere that you speak of? We have 1 quality winger and that was a player that was supposed to be a center in Reinhart. If it was so easy why dont we have any?

I’m sure drafting a winger in the 4-7th round would have made a difference :eyeroll

I’m not going to be surprised if Botterill is deep in the Jeff Skinner discussions.
 

Der Jaeger

Generational EBUG
Feb 14, 2009
17,547
13,865
Cair Paravel
Draft thoughts:

Dahlin was a no brainer pick.

Botterill had a lot of options at 32 but went with Samuelsson. I like the pick, despite the other needs and some really good players available. Samuelsson is a physical, defense-first defender. I think he ends up as a top 4 defender, sooner rather than later. The future defense is looking big and physical with Samuelsson, Ristolainen, and Borgen. I like it.

I wasn't keen on Botterill's 4th round. I hoped he picked Pivonka at the spot he picked Pekar. Pivonka has similar prospect shortfalls, namely a lower ceiling. but he plays the game a lot like Sobotka. Like many of you, I wanted Kurashev with the other pick. Taking a flyer on talent in the 4th is good business. From there, Botterill could've take all the unknown Scandinavian defenders he wanted.

Overall, it's a good draft if just Samuelsson becomes a contributor, along with Dahlin, of course.
 

Rasmus CacOlainen

The end of the Tank
Sep 24, 2015
7,226
1,137
Europe
I’m sure drafting a winger in the 4-7th round would have made a difference :eyeroll

I’m not going to be surprised if Botterill is deep in the Jeff Skinner discussions.
Of course it does. You can hit on players in the later tounds too. Otherwise we might as well just draft goalies or something in rounds 4+??
 

Ace

Registered User
Oct 29, 2015
22,956
27,544
Things being said on this board today:

“Drafting wingers in the second half of the draft doesn’t fix anything.”

Things also being said on this board today:

“Oloffson could have a good camp”
“Next year - oloffson -Eichel-Rodrigues”

...
 

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