Yesterday the Buffalo Sabres held their annual pre-draft press conference with GM Darcy Regier and director of amateur scouting Kevin Devine. Contrary to what many fans are clamoring for, Devine revealed that the organization isn’t looking to move up in the draft to snag a top pick. Apologies in advance to all the Galchenyuk/Grigorenko fans out there.
Devine went on to say the the top of this year’s draft class is weak in comparison to others, stating courtesy of WGR,
In the top of the draft, I don’t see anybody, there’s no Stamkos, the number one last year was Nugent-Hopkins no question. It’s a very good draft, there’s as many as 20 very good players in the first round, so you’ll get a real good player, but for us to move up to the top five with the price it’s gonna be, I’m not sure that it’s worth it because I’m not sure that those players have distinguished themselves any differently than some of the players that might be around nine.
He did say that the team would be willing to move up a few spots if a player they really liked was still available before their selection, but didn’t indicate any specifics.
Darcy Regier also made mini-headlines when he revealed that he’s made more phone calls to other teams inquiring about possible trades than he’s received for players currently on the Sabres roster. There’s a theory that Darcy overvalues his own players that may be part of this, but then again, it could be because the Sabres are looking to be more aggressive in the trade market at the draft than other teams are.
Of course, since we’re talking about the draft, this could all be part of a big smokescreen, but that’s what make the speculation so much fun, isn’t it?