Should We Trade Our Number One Pick This Year?

[bob_sauve28]

Another year, another very high draft pick for the Farm Team known as the Buffalo Sabres. 

 

Tage Thompson is a great hockey player who's career is going to die here in Buffalo if he does not get a top player to play with. We need someone that can make the PP work and this is a big bargaining chip. 

Hang out a for sale sign and see if there are any takers, but I'm sure we will wait till season is over to make any deal, but I do not want another long term project on the team where we have to wait seven years for him to grow to a man. We have enough "prospects" already. 

[Thorner]

I’m flabbergasted by the logic of not 

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Another year, another very high draft pick for the Farm Team known as the Buffalo Sabres. 

 

Tage Thompson is a great hockey player who's career is going to die here in Buffalo if he does not get a top player to play with. We need someone that can make the PP work and this is a big bargaining chip. 

Hang out a for sale sign and see if there are any takers, but I'm sure we will wait till season is over to make any deal, but I do not want another long term project on the team where we have to wait seven years for him to grow to a man. We have enough "prospects" already. 

As always, depends on the return.

[SDS]

5 minutes ago, Thorner said:

I’m flabbergasted by the logic of not 

… finishing your thought on a message board.

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, SDS said:

… finishing your thought on a message board.

 

11 minutes ago, Thorner said:

I’m flabbergasted by the logic of not (trading the pick) 

 

[SDS]

1 minute ago, Thorner said:

 

 

😃

[Dreams Burn Down]

I am reactionarily tempted to think, "**** it, trade the pick no matter what."  However, this season could get so much worse.  We may end up with the top pick.  If it's a great fit for our future (a reliable, workhorse stay at home D for example) I'd keep the pick.

[Thorner]

Imagine using another first overall pick on a D-man. Would be insanely bad asset management. If the top pick in a draft is a “stay at home” D-man, that’s by definition a weak draft. Trade the pick. We should be trading it unless teams’ offers are out of left field 

[Flashsabre]

Do whatever you want it won’t make a difference. Either draft a young, highly talented kid who will get devoured by this culture of losing or trade it for a few underwhelming assets that won’t fit into this culture of losing.

[Mustache of God]

I've been advocating for trading our 1st round pick since we drafted Östlund, Kulich and....Rosen(?) in that one draft. We've had a problem of having too many "skill" guys and nowhere on the roster to accommodate bringing up all this young talent. Instead GMKA has sat back on his hands doing the bare minimum as a GM and here we are.

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Might as well trade it. They will only pick a passive maybe goal scorer that is afraid of the front of the net and cannot play defense.

[LGR4GM]

15 minutes ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

Might as well trade it. They will only pick a passive maybe goal scorer that is afraid of the front of the net and cannot play defense.

Looks at Zach Benson and Konsta Helenius... 

Then looks at Misa and Martone...

18 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

I've been advocating for trading our 1st round pick since we drafted Östlund, Kulich and....Rosen(?) in that one draft. We've had a problem of having too many "skill" guys and nowhere on the roster to accommodate bringing up all this young talent. Instead GMKA has sat back on his hands doing the bare minimum as a GM and here we are.

Savoie, Östlund, and Kulich. 

FTR, I have no problem trading a first round pick, what are we getting in return? 

[thewookie1]

I'll trade a protected 1st but easy no to any unprotected asks.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Like all questions, the answer is it depends.  Depends on where we are drafting and what is offered in return.  

Is there a franchise center in this draft?  Will that player be available when we draft?  

Are prospects and or draft picks offered in return or are there NHL players coming back the other way, such as a top 6 playmaker or top 4 defenseman.  

The other question is who is making the trade.  If it’s still Adams, how can you trust him to make the  right decision?

The Sabres need to fix this mess, but trading a top 5 draft pick may not be the smartest first step.  
 

 

 

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

As always, depends on the return.

Of course, but Adams, or whoever, should be saying out loud, we want to make a trade. No more, "Well, we are always listening to offers" 

 

 No doubt the pick will win the cup with the team he goes to. 

[Archie Lee]

We have lots of tradable assets. I don’t want us to trade our 1st rd pick more than I want us to trade any number of assets that could be moved to make us a better team. Also, I don’t need to win a trade. We have so many young assets that it should be understood that it’s ok to move a piece that will hurt a bit. Presumably, the more it hurts the better the return should be. 

[SabreFinn]

I would not trade a top 5 pick. There has to be other ways to make a winning team.

[LabattBlue]

3 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Another year, another very high draft pick for the Farm Team known as the Buffalo Sabres. 

 

Tage Thompson is a great hockey player who's career is going to die here in Buffalo if he does not get a top player to play with. We need someone that can make the PP work and this is a big bargaining chip. 

Hang out a for sale sign and see if there are any takers, but I'm sure we will wait till season is over to make any deal, but I do not want another long term project on the team where we have to wait seven years for him to grow to a man. We have enough "prospects" already. 

There is not a single pick, prospect or current Sabre that should not be on the table.  

[Demoted]

Will it actually matter one way or the other?

[Jorcus]

 

Here is a list of people you probably can not get with that pick. or pick and package. We are so screwed the only way to get out of it is keep drafting until there is so much talent on the ice a hamster could coach them.

https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2024/07/players-with-no-move-no-trade-clauses-in-2024-25.html

[Ogelthorpe]

No, draft the right guy for once! Then trade all your misses, ie; Cozens, Quinn, Rosen, Power, Joki, for experienced players who play the right way and actually look like they are trying. 

[Thorner]

37 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

There is not a single pick, prospect or current Sabre that should not be on the table.  

Agree.

And I’d be converting any good future asset to a good present asset whenever possible. Presumably the 1st round pick has higher value than most if not all of our other future assets, if we get the same relative value in return as we’d be getting in a trade for any other young asset, of course I’m taking it. If it’s a good trade (the kind you make) we likely get the highest level of current asset with it that we can look to see from moves we may make.

ie im not trading it just to trade it but it would be at the top of my list, all else equal. (Ie we are getting the same relative level of trade return across the board)

Edited Monday at 05:53 PM by Thorner

[EM88]

It is not as easy as a yes or no question.  The first round pick is just one of many young assets this team has. So is the first pick the following year. Kulich. Rosen. Levi. Helenius. Östlund.

If I am going to trade my first overall pick and not protect it, the return better be very good.  If you are putting some kind of lottery protection on that pick or you are talking one of the other prospects, than sure, make that trade.

If you get someone that is going to help this team right now, then they should trade a future asset for it.

[Weave]

Without question we should keep the 1st round pick.  That pick is the only way we can continue to justify pushing out the timeline another year.

[Carmel Corn]

If GMKA is still doing the drafting, then I say yes….trade it.  Adam’s will draft another small and soft lefty defenseman. 😬

Edited Monday at 08:29 PM by Carmel Corn