The Buffalo Sabres have a stockpile of young prospects in their organization, including four first-round picks who either played the entire year or split time between the AHL Rochester Americans and the NHL last season, but with GM Kevyn Adams looking to snap their 14-year playoff drought, the club is open to moving the ninth overall pick before or at the NHL Draft in Los Angeles on Friday.
"(Sabres Asst. GM) Jerry (Forton) and his staff do a great job being prepared for everything. I have had conversations up to this point, from teams that are all the way up at the top of the draft, right to teams behind us, preparing for every possible scenario, moving up or down, which you've seen us do in the past, and also being willing to move the pick altogether," Adams said at the club's media availabilty on Tuesday. "If there's a way to make our team better, and it involves pick nine, we'll have zero hesitation. In saying that, we also believe we'll get a good player if we make pick at nine."
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The Sabres have 10 picks in the 2025 Draft, with selections in each round, an extra pick in the fourth round and two additional selections in the seventh round. With an extensive stockpile of young prospects playing in the NCAA, and in Europe, it is quite possible that Adams would be willing to deal multiple pick to add players to the NHL roster, since he has admitted publicly that Buffalo is not a destination city for free agents or players with no-trade protection. The problem is that according to insiders like The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, there are very few teams who are sellers willing to trade players for futures.
"We had to really kind of try to build this organization up the appropriate way and I do believe in building through the draft and developing players and making sure you have depth in your organization, Adams said. "We've done a really solid job of having a good group of prospects that aren't even in Rochester yet (who) are coming. So does it give (us) the comfort of saying,’if we move pick nine, (do)we still have a lot of young, good assets?’ Absolutely! But I don't think you want to go into it saying, 'Hey, I'm just moving this pick, no matter what.' These are valuable picks, but you're open to everything."
Adams is likely looking to add a player with significant term, a player willing to sign and extension, or a young NHLer currently on his entry-level or second bridge deal with years remaining before being able to qualify for unrestricted free agency.
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