Crusader1969

I think that a person would have to be delusional to think anything other than them being a lottery team. They would barely be a non lottery team if you added both of the last two seasons together. Going from low 50's to 75 to 80 points is a great leap forward for this team.

Future Considerations Top 30: 1 Connor McDavid Erie OHL C 6-1 195 CAN 2 Jack Eichel Boston University NCAA C 6-2 205 USA 3 Noah Hanifin Boston College NCAA D 6-3 205 USA 4 Dylan Strome Erie OHL C 6-3 185 CAN 5 Mitchell Marner London OHL RW 5-11 165 CAN 6 Mikko Rantanen TPS Liiga RW 6-4 200 FIN 7 Ivan Provorov Brandon WHL D 6-0 200 RUS 8 Zachary Werenski Michigan NCAA D 6-2 210 USA 9 Lawson Crouse Kingston OHL LW 6-4 215 CAN 10 Mathew Barzal Seattle WHL C 6-0 180 CAN 11 Travis Konecny Ottawa OHL C 5-10 170 CAN 12 Jeremy Roy Sherbrooke QMJHL D 6-0 185 CAN 13 Pavel Zacha Sarnia OHL C 6-3 210 CZE 14 Kyle Connor Youngstown USHL C 6-1 180 US 15 Colin White NTDP U18 USHL C 6-0 185 USA 16 Timo Meier Halifax QMJHL RW 6-0 210 CHE 17 Nick Merkley Kelowna WHL C 5-11 190 CAN 18 Evgeny Svechnikov Cape Breton QMJHL LW 6-3 210 RUS 19 Daniel Sprong Charlottetown QMJHL RW 6-0 190 CAN 20 Jakub Zboril Saint John QMJHL D 6-2 185 CZE 21 Jeremy Bracco NTDP U18 USHL C 5-9 175 USA 22 Thomas Chabot Saint John QMJHL D 6-2 180 CAN 23 Jansen Harkins Prince George WHL C 6-1 180 CAN 24 Oliver Kylington AIK (Loan) Allsvenskan D 6-0 180 FIN 25 Jake DeBrusk Swift Current WHL LW 6-0 175 CAN 26 Joel Ek Eriksson Farjestads J20 SuperElite C 6-2 185 SWE 27 Brock Boeser Waterloo USHL C 6-1 190 USA 28 Paul Bittner Portland WHL LW 6-4 205 USA 29 Jacob Larsson Frolunda J20 SuperElite D 6-2 185 FIN 30 Denis Guryanov Ladia Togliatti MHL RW 6-2 195 RUS One of my top guys falls to Sabres in this ranking. Jeremy Bracco - speed and skill.

Id start thinking about the 2017 NHL draft thread if I wasn't so busy with the "What am I am currently eating and drinking" thread.

Marc Crawford was on the Fan 590 yesterday (team that Matthews may sign with). He was saying that he doesn't expect the European avenue to be used very often. Teams only get 4 import players and they need them to be able to play in the top 6 or top 2 D pair. It is rare that a player be ready to at 16/17 to play vs men and command that type of ice time. So it may happen again but it will be only be with guys who are in the Eichel / McDavid class.

TOP PICKS FOR 2016 and current Teams Auston Matthews Undecided (Everett CHL rights) Jesse Puljujärvi Karpat (Finland) Jacob Chychrun Sarnia (OHL) Logan Brown Windsor (OHL) Matthew Tkachuk London (OHL) Sean Day Mississauga (OHL) Tyson Jost Undecided - CHL rights Everett Michael McLeod Mississauga (OHL) Max Jones Undecided - CHL rights London Patrik Laine Tappara - Finland Tyler Benson Vancouver - WHL Sam Steel Regina - WHL Dante Fabbro Undecided - CHL rights Seattle Jake Bean Calgary - WHL Kale Clague Brandon - WHL

Potential top 10 pick Matthew Tkachuk commits to London Knights http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2015/5/8/8575855/matthew-tkachuk-signs-london-knights-ohl

the latest is that the Matthews decision will come later this week. Definitely playing in Swiss is an option for him. Will be interesting to see how that plays out. Way less exposure than in CHL or NCAA and won`t be putting up crazy numbers like he would playing against peers vs men.

are you assuming that one of McNabb, Zadorov or Pysyk gets traded? If so, I agree with a pick on another D. If they hold on to the youngsters then I go highest skill level.

Marner could be gone by 5th. I think Strome's skating is coming under scrutiny as the play-offs continue.

released yesterday afternoon. http://www.isshockey.com/iss-top-30/ 17 Bittner, Paul LW 11/4/1996 L 6.04 204 Portland WHL 18 Svechnikov, Evgeny RW 10/31/1996 L 6.01.75 199 Cape Breton QMJHL 19 Merkley, Nick C 5/23/1997 R 5.10.5 191 Kelowna WHL 20 Ek Eriksson, Joel C 1/29/1997 L 6.01.75 180 Farjestad SweJE 21 Carlo, Brandon RD 11/26/1996 R 6.05 196 Tri-City WHL 22 Zboril, Jakub LD 2/21/1997 L 6.00.75 184 Saint John QMJHL 23 Roy, Jeremy RD 5/14/1997 R 6.00 188 Sherbrooke QMJHL My guy Daniel Sprong comes in at 26.

Sorry if this was posted but I don't recall seeing it. Mock Draft on NHL.Com http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=764205 As for the Sabres - give me the highest skilled forward best skating forward you can find - Konecny, Svechnikov, Bracco or Sprong.

maybe not bottom 5 but 6th, 7th or 8th last would be my prediction. Even to finish 6th last they would need to improve by 24 points over this past years team. If the team who finishes last next year wins the lottery then the Sabres should have close to a 10% chance of getting pick #2.

Spotlight on Paul Bittner http://www.tsn.ca/radio/edmonton-1260/pipeline-show-draft-spotlight-paul-bittner-1.263367

TSN Preview of the 2015-16 Sabres http://www.tsn.ca/off-season-game-plan-buffalo-sabres-1.267947 calls them a lottery team next year and I completely agree.

To Tank or Not to Tank 2011-2012 Top 6 Forwards Stafford, Roy Foligno Vanek, Ennis, Pominville Top 4 D Erhoff, Myers Leopold, Sekera 2016-17 - (As it stands now as of course there will be changes to the current roster over the next year) Top 6 Forwards Kane, Eichel, Girgensons Moulson, Reinhart, Ennis Top 4 D Risto, Bogosian Pysyk, Zadorov to be honest I think Moulson will have his work cut out for him to remain in top 6 by the start of the 2016 season. Anyone really think the Tank wasn't worth it? It gets really scary when we start looking at the 3rd and 4th line of the future Sabres compared to the 2011-12 team D

Only complaint is that 9 is Kane's #.

Smart take - you should post more often as I completly agree with you.

I agree that maybe the Jets trade wasn't an overpayment. When they line-up next season the Sabres will have both Kane and Bogosian in the line-up. Myers will be a Jet but Stafford could be anywhere and who knows if Lemieux,the #1 pick from the Blues or Armia ever turn into anything. sure he wants to win the lottery, their odds may not be great but they will still be in it.

yes, that would be fanastic but I wont be surprised when the next "trade for McDavid" arguement infiltrates this Thread.

why is this even a thread? its not happening. Oilers can not trade the next great Canadian player, he is worth more $$ to the Oilers than anything the Sabres could give hockey wise. Plus they are going into a new stadium after this coming season. How many Private boxes and Season Tickets does the name McDavid sell on name alone? You can dream about a trade to the #1 slot but its pure fantasy. WHy waste the time?

my only concern is that Murray is so enamoured with McDavid is that he gives up the farm in order to move up to #1. Im content with just adding Eichel to the long list of prospects the Sabres already have and battling with whichever team is lucky enough to win the lottery tonight.

Hurray! I agree with you on something :)

we are set for the next 15 year - Eichel and Reinhart. TSN replayed the final game of the WJC last night - watched the last 10 minutes and Reinhart was fantastic. Last two minutes of the game - not sure he left the ice, took every important draw and set up Duclair beautifully for an empty netter where the D made a big save.

you should probably read it again as they didn't lump the 15th pick with the 4th. It said " 15th-overall pick being worth about 1/3rd of a first-overall selection". Im pretty sure it isnt guaranteeing anything it just proved that you are wrong with your statement that "Now go back and look at drafts over the years and compare players in those two ranges. You'll find a guy here and there, but what you'll see is an indistinguishably mixed bag of good and bad players." The main point I had from the beginning was that guys like Zacha, Konecny and Conner have all been ranked in the top 10 at some point in the year and have great potential to be a front line NHL player. Now guys like DeBrusk, Bittner, Harkins, and others ranked around 22 are all fine players and may turn out to be great players but the odds of that happening is lower than that of first group. So as I Sabres fan I would prefer pick 14 over pick 22.

I don't need to look it up as I know the research is already done and sorry but your statement is completely wrong. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/analyzing-value-nhl-draft-picks/ "Using this graph, we can see that the most significant value in NHL draft picks lies in the first three selections, and the largest drop-off in pick value occurs between picks three and four. Players selected in the four-to-15 range are still generally very valuable across their careers with a 15th-overall pick being worth about 1/3rd of a first-overall selection." Guys drafted late in the first round have a value not that much different than a guy drafted in the 3rd. Further this is perceived as a deep draft but one where Tim Murray said there is a drop off around 19th.