Finally, day one of the NHL Draft has come. The Sabres will officially select defenseman Rasmus Dahlin with the first overall pick. While that in itself is exciting, that’s not all you need to watch today.
Here’s a list of five things to follow throughout the day.
1. Making it Official
As I just mentioned, the day has come to officially be able to call Dahlin a Sabre. He’ll be selected first overall and they’ll have their franchise defenseman they’ve been searching years for.
Fans have waited for this day for a few months now, so enjoy it.
2. Ryan O’Reilly
Alright, now to the drama portion of the day. What is going to happen with Ryan O’Reilly? Do the Sabres make a trade involving the centerman today or wait it out?
We know from various reports that the Montreal Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild, Philadelphia Flyers, and St. Louis Blues are in on O’Reilly to varying degrees.
We also know that the Sabres covet third overall from the Canadiens, but is Marc Bergevin desperate enough for a center to hand it over in part of a package for the 27-year-old?
If a trade goes down it’ll likely be one of the big storylines to come out of day one.
3. What happens after two?
Dahlin and Andrei Svechnikov look to be set in stone as the top two picks today. Then things start to get crazy at third overall. Do the Canadiens trade down? Trade out? Pick a center or a winger?
Then after that is decided we get to see how the rest of the draft board falls. There’s a consensus on who will likely go in the top 10 picks, but where they’ll go is very much in question.
4. Will the Sabres get a second first round pick?
This ties back to O’Reilly in a way. Currently, the Sabres hold first overall and the first pick of round two at 32. They could get back into the first round via an O’Reilly trade or package other players and picks to get back into the back half of round one.
We’ll see how active Botterill wants to be or if he’s ok standing pat at 32.
5. What else is going to happen?
Once you get past the Sabres stuff, then there’s everyone else. Who else gets moved tomorrow? Big names like Jeff Skinner, Erik Karlsson, and Max Pacioretty are out there.
Also, could the Sabres make another trade today that doesn’t involve O’Reilly?
All in all, today is going to be a fun day. So, buckle up and enjoy the ride!