Adams admits he is open to trading 2024 top pick for immediate help
The Buffalo Sabres are entering this offseason with a completely different outlook than they’ve had since Kevyn Adams took over for Jason Botterill in 2021. Even prior to this week’s NHL Draft Lottery, the Sabres GM indicated that he has altered his focus from a draft and develop philosophy to more of a win-now approach, and may be willing to deal his 2024 first-round pick in the right situation.
"If we're sitting at #11, it's a valuable pick. There's no doubt about it." Adams said in an interview on WGR 550 earlier this week. "You know what it means to set your franchise up for sustainable success. You need a deep prospect pool, you need a pipeline of players that can come through your system and replace players that either you have to trade for financial reasons, or they've just falling off (because) they get older. I laid that plan out three or four years ago now and we've stuck to that.... but we're in a different phase right now."
The hiring of Lindy Ruff after Don Granato’s failure to snap an NHL-record 13-year playoff drought was meant to apply more pressure and expect more accountability from a young and talented roster, but it was also an admission that the organization failed to address areas of need last summer, opting instead for short-term fixes and bringing back the same group that fell one point short of the post-season in 2023.
"We need to look at every possible scenario to help our team get better. And so when I talked about winning now, that absolutely comes into play." Adams said. "We're certainly not going to do something that doesn't make sense, but we will definitely talk about that type of moves and does that make sense. Maybe it makes a lot more sense now based on where our roster is and where our prospect pool is than it did one, two or three years ago."
The Sabres organization has four former first-rounders (Jiri Kulich, Noah Ostlund, Isak Rosen, and Ryan Johnson) playing in the American Hockey League, and another in 2022 top pick Matthew Savoie playing in the WHL Championships, so dealing one of those players and/or their 2024 top pick for a player that can get them over the top seems to be a viable option.
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