While we’re a Buffalo Sabres site through and through, every once in a while another sport squeaks through the cracks, and that’s exactly what happened this weekend.
As I was watching the 2014 draft, and especially the efforts of the Buffalo Bills. (Side note: if you’re a Bills fan on this site, you’re undoubtedly also following the great Buffalo Rumblings, and if not, get on it.) The Bills share one very important element with the Buffalo Sabres in that both teams have brand new regimes running the draft for the first time.
In case you aren’t a Bills fan – and I promise, I’m getting to the Sabres here – new Bills GM Doug Whaley has been very aggressive in his first draft, trading his team’s 2015 first round and fourth round picks to move up in the draft and select the best wide receiver to come out in years. It was a bold move that will undoubtedly make the Bills better this year…but if it doesn’t improve them enough, then the team will have given up a very valuable asset in their 2015 first rounder.
All that got me thinking about the Sabres (finally) who have their own new GM running his first draft. Tim Murray has already shown himself to be aggressive on trade deadline day, moving a number of assets in and out, and showing a willingness to be creative by swapping minor league players who won’t see the NHL for another few years. Murray’s aggressiveness has been a refreshing change from the team’s old GM, but just how aggressive do you want Murray to be next year? The Sabres have a plethora of high picks to play with, but is it a bad idea for this franchise to sacrifice quantity for quality?
Should Murray pull off a trade similar to the Bills, you could be looking at sending the Islanders 2015 pick or a package of Tyler Myers and a second rounder away for another top-ten pick this year. The player taken could be very good and might see the NHL sooner than if they team stays pat, but they’d be taking a chance by mortgaging future assets.
How would you feel, Sabres fans, if Tim Murray sent away future assets to improve the team’s draft haul this year?