BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Since the dawn of their historic playoff drought the Sabres have selected 18 players in the first round of the NHL Draft, most often near the top of the order. Now reunited with coach Lindy Ruff in the quest for a postseason return, the franchise has reached a new phase in its roster rebuild.
The increasing likelihood of trading the 11th pick in this year's draft for veteran help was among the takeaways from Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams' pre-draft media availability on Thursday.
Adams stopped short of declaring the Sabres would prefer to trade its top pick for an established player. But he acknowledged that after taking methodical approach to building Buffalo's prospect pool in recent offseasons, trading a first-rounder is a greater consideration now than before.
"I've told every team in the league that we are wide open to considering moving pick 11," Adams said.
But that doesn't necessarily mean the Sabres would exchange the pick for an established player.
"I've talked to every team around us that we're open," Adams said. "Hey, we'd even look to move up. That's not always easy to do, but I think we have the assets to do that. We're very open to moving back, depending how the draft slides and where guys are going. So all of that's on the table."
Buffalo has not traded a first-round pick since 2015 when Tim Murray moved the 21st selection for goaltender Robin Lehner, as well as the top pick in the second round for center Ryan O'Reilly. In the past four drafts, Adams has made seven first-round selections, and 10 picks in the top 40.
"We've been disciplined," he said. "We've stuck to our plan. But I think we've moved into another phase now that we have to be really open and looking to make these type of decisions. But you still have to have the right opportunity to make them. So if we end up making Pick 11, we'll be excited about it. But it won't be from lack of effort of seeing of what else was out there to do."
Adams provided an oblique reaction to chatter that the Sabres are open to the possibility of buying out the contract of winger Jeff Skinner.
"There are rumblings on different scenarios," Adams said. "What I can tell you is from the day our season ended, after my conversations with Terry (Pegula) and kind of where we go from here, every single thing that we're doing this offseason we ask the question, does this help our team get better? Does this does this put us in a position to improve? And we've made a lot of decisions up to this point of where we sit today with that in mind and we're gonna continue.
"So, nothing's off the table," Adams concluded. "We're going to talk about everything. We're gonna look at every scenario. But that's probably as far as I'd go on specifics right now."
Skinner is Buffalo's oldest player at age 32, and the highest-paid forward with three years remaining on a contract paying him an average salary of $9 million. A buyout would cost the Sabres more than $19 million, with the cap charges spread over the next six seasons. It would give Buffalo more than $7 million in immediate cap relief, with a dead salary of $1.4 million this year. But that figure would balloon to more than $6 million in 2026-27, complicating future salary allocations for the Sabres.
Along with preparing for the draft and the start of unrestricted free agency on July 1, the Sabres already have begun negotiating new contracts for top goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, center Peyton Krebs, and defenseman Henri Jokiharju, all restricted free agents.
"Busiest time of the year," Adams said. "I've gotten in the habit with our really nice warm weather of going on walks late, talking on the phone. If you see me on the bike path in Clarence at 10 o'clock at night, then I'm working."
Adams said conversations with the agents for Luukkonen, Krebs and Jokiharju began late in the regular season.
"I like to start these conversations, making sure we're aligned on does the player want to be here," Adams said. "Do they believe in what we're doing because if you're not, if you don't start there in a good spot, I think it's going to be really challenging. And UPL made it very clear, he loves this team, loves the city, he wants to be here. We're excited about him and we're going to work at it. We're continuing to have conversations last week, there'll be some more in Vegas, but, yeah, excited about how we move forward there."
The Sabres can begin negotiating contract extensions July 1 with forwards JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn, defenseman Bowen Byram and goaltender Devon Levi.
"We’re always open," Adams said. "We’ve done it before. We’ve also gone the other way. I think right now, I wouldn’t anticipate that we’d go down that road this summer. But we could change. To me, it’s always about what’s right for us and what’s right for the player. So we’re open to it, but I don’t anticipate being in that the next couple of months."
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.