Thorny

Seems like a good pick based on consensus ranks

A plethora of options

No trade

ASP dark horse

“We have a trade to announce”

Benson in play maybe?

They should trade it for Hellebuyck

Axel Sandin

Flyers are up. Love the pick

Getting roasted for not trading down on sportsnet

Lol even he was surprised

Relative to his ceiling, sure. His pace is still 35 goals per 82 the last 2 seasons, though. For him that’s certainly “down” but a lot of that is system, too Still only 25

His hair has been an alarming issue for a while - - - Mostly just health, he’s still the best player in all the Dubois wheeling and dealing by far. He’s got 108 points in his last 111 games with Columbus over the course of the previous 2 seasons, an 80 point pace. Just needs to stay on the ice 56 in 56 52 in 55

Cap space for Vegas. Just signed Eichel’s winger Barbashev to 5x5

If you’d have told Jets fans this is all they’d have left from Laine, they wouldn’t be happy though

Seriously. Who does the first post even refer to? One guy, if that? So tiring

Whatevs. It’s yous thread.

Depends whether you care more about what he says, or what he does

Sabres come here in November instead of January! What a treat

Not as a rule. But past precedent is wildly in your favour

It’s true, the discussion can’t really go anywhere if you are operating as if handedness concerns on D provide no different obstacle to value than handedness concerns at F. And if I’m sticking with what my interpretation of the data is. If D can move around positionally as freely, I’d be hard pressed to make an argument we need a F more than a D, if D are just D, LHD/RHD need not apply. Functionally, we are then selecting a Guy Who Will Play Right Side D with Simashev. I just don’t believe that to the case. For the sake of argument, if handedness IS more of a concern with D, if there’s isn’t a reasonable “BPA” option that shoots right around where we are picking, I’d definitely trade the pick rather than take a guy we might not get full value from anyways at 13 due to organizational depth

The thing is, there are exceptions to every rule. BPA included. The Sabres aren’t “pretty set” at LHD. It’s nothing like the other positions, they are unbelievably *stacked* at LHD. Ignoring the context and going with a hard line rule is ridiculously shortsighted. We have two *number 1 overall* picks who play LHD. 66% of our LHD unit is filled by first overall picks, 2/3rds. Spending 2 first overall picks and then adding a 13th overall at LHD would be insane to me. It’s not that it couldn’t work to a reasonably degree, but you are cutting off your own value. I’d imagine the haul you could get in a trade would dwarf it if we actually used it as as opportunity to build the team rather than horde value.

Yes, forwards can transition to W without drop-off as handedness is specifically an added difficulty when it comes to defending and being a defenseman. The data, and operations of GMs, have statistically borne that out in vast sample sizes

It’s not always about value. Winning trades. Build a team.

Centres famously get moved to wing all the time, and there are way more F spots It we draft Simashev, two of Power Dahlin Simashev Samuelsson *must* play on their offhand. I guess you could play Samuelsson on pair 3 but that seems exceptionally unlikely And if the idea is we can trade one, trade a high level prospect, the various Wookiee led discussions of the past several weeks would determine that to be a near impossibility If you can’t find anyone else to call BPA when it’s time to pick a left shot D, you should absolutely, positively be trading the pick. We aren’t maximizing the value of a 13th overall pick by adding another left shot D, we just aren’t