In The Buff

In the past 10 years, no team has traded out of the top 5 spots. But back in 2002, 2003 the Hurricanes traded their #1 selection both years, both for the #3 selection. The odds are obviously it wouldnt happen. But say the Sabres start out with the #5 pick. Take that & package it with our other picks and i dont know, maybe it becomes a possibility? Just fyi, heres the source paragraph of the Canes trading out of the #1 spot if any of you are curious to learn about it. I myself didnt remember until i googled it. The Florida Panthers traded the #1 overall selection two straight years, in 2002 and 2003, both times getting the #3 overall selection. In 2002, knowing that the #1 guy on their draft board (Jay Bouwmeester) would be available at #3, they swapped picks with Columbus, who chose Rick Nash #1 overall. In exchange, the Panthers got the #3 pick and the option to swap picks with Columbus in the 2003 draft. They won the draft lottery again in 2003, so they didn’t need to swap picks with Columbus, but they still moved down to #3 to select Nathan Horton, who was #1 on their board, and sent the pick along with a third rounder to Pittsburgh for the #3, Mikael Samuelsson, and a second round pick. Pittsburgh would select goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. In both cases for Florida, the player that was at the top of their draft board was still going to be available with the pick they traded to, so the risk for them “trading down” was minimal.

I've heard next years draft is supposedly pretty deep, so using the picks & stocking up on talent should be the better long term strategy imo. However I'm curious as to the chances of us trading all 3 1st round picks to move up to the #1 spot to get Hughes. Do you A. think that move would be worth it? Getting another one of those 'generational talents' who can jump in right away & be productive? And B. if we're not drafting 1st overall to begin with, do you think the team up top would be willing to trade down with us for 3 of those picks? I highly doubt JBots would do this, however if I were a GM i'd rather have 1 Connor McDavid than 3 possible Nylanders. The NHL Draft is a crapshoot, i'd rather go for the sure thing if i could. Just curious what some of you think about this scenario

Yeah i guess that true. And that makes sense given the talented D we had.... some sarcasm there lol. For McNabb's sake, i'm sure he's happy he got his shot for a team that went to the Cup, logging 20 some odd minutes a game & playing some solid hockey for them. I guess ive focused on it because that kind of play is what we've needed here desperately. Hindsight is 20 20 i guess.

Guess i can't blame him if that was his reasoning. I just hope he doesn't end up being another player that couldve potentially helped our team that got away. Watching Vegas's run this year was something special, but seeing Brayden McNabb have the success he had, all the while our defense was horrendous, left a bad taste in my mouth because he very easily couldve been helping our defense out. Our new philosophy of player development thru our farm system is the right way to go. But when those players bolt for other teams, its hard not to be cynical & think we're the farm team for the rest of the league. All said i am fully on board with our rebuild & direction & see bright days ahead. But its going to take a vast improvement on our defense this year for me to forget us trading McNabb for Fasching & Deslaurier.

Hello Board... long time reader, finally decided to hunt down my old password to login & join all the fun. I came across an article on Yahoo Sports today about Colin Blackwell. This was one of the guys i was hoping was improving & potentially on his way to the big club. I guess we didn't extend him an offer? --The Nashville Predators have signed forward Colin Blackwell to a two-year, two-way contract. The deal would pay the former Harvard star $650,000 (NHL) or $100,000 (AHL) in 2018-19 and $700,000 or $100,000 the following season. Blackwell was drafted in the seventh round by the San Jose Sharks in 2011 before he headed to Harvard. He has played the last two seasons in the AHL, including a breakout 2017-18 season with the Rochester Americans in which he scored 17 goals and tallied 28 assists in 61 games.