Buffalo Sabres Retain 8th Pick In 2016 NHL Draft
No miracle scenario played out for the Buffalo Sabres at the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery.
The Buffalo Sabres had a 6% chance of winning the top pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft heading into Saturday night. Any fan looking for a miracle, or just forward progress of any sort, was probably disappointed by the final results of the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery:
It's official: We'll pick 8th overall at the 2016 @NHL Draft in Buffalo. pic.twitter.com/Aqf5Pxt4uN
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) May 1, 2016
Order is set for the top of the 2016 @NHL Draft in Buffalo. Updates from tonight's lottery: https://t.co/faJQ5Oncbv pic.twitter.com/2lQ6nqKn1Y
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) May 1, 2016
Buffalo failed to move up in the pecking order and will remain in the 8th spot when the draft rolls around, which is exactly where the team started the weekend. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets jumped all the way up to the second spot, and the Toronto Maple Leafs wound up winning the number one pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
Checking out how the fans reacted on Twitter was interesting, to say the least. Let’s start with some of the more optimistic fans, who didn’t take the news as the next sign of the apocalypse:
The last time we picked 8th overall at the @NHL Draft (2013), we selected Rasmus Ristolainen. #Risto pic.twitter.com/qMJKN7O5th
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) May 1, 2016
@BuffaloSabres @NHL would love another FINNISH D there this year!
— Buffalo Storm Chaser (@buffalo_storm) May 1, 2016
Can't wait for the @BuffaloSabres to select a future top pairing defenseman with the #8 overall pick in their own arena! #NHLDraft
— Ryan (@rnoonan96) May 1, 2016
@BuffaloSabres @NHL good to see us moving away from the top of the draft and closer to the playoffs! #TeamOfTheFuture
— Michael With Two Y’s (@SliccMick) May 1, 2016
I love the optimism of that last Tweet, although it’s not entirely accurate – the Buffalo Sabres drafted 8th back in 2013 and certainly were not closer to the playoffs immediately afterwards. Still, picking 8th is by no means terrible, so it was good to see that a large number of the Tweets I found were of the hopeful variety.
That isn’t to say that some fans were not upset. A lot of Buffao Sabres’ fan anger was directed toward people who complained about the Sabres tanking a few years back, noting that many of those same people are guilty of a double-standard:
This is a joke...earned by Toronto but #BuffaloSabres chastised 4 doing same thing..come on @NHL https://t.co/2GHhLZ9zyW
— SandiMarie (@SandiMarie79) May 1, 2016
These folks certainly have a point – you cannot lambast one team for losing, then commend Toronto for shutting down key players and winding up with the worst record in the NHL.
Then there are the fans who are convinced that the lottery is fixed:
@BuffaloSabres @NHL Apparently, all the Canadian teams suck and the league doesn't like it..they have the 5 of the top 6 picks.
— Hey, Abbott! (@Hey_Abbott6) May 1, 2016
@KimPegula @BuffaloSabres what a friggin joke , the NHL isn't fixed ????
— Ron Cianciosi (@Cianciosi) May 1, 2016
News flash: 7 of the 14 teams in the draft were from Canada! And 6 of the league’s bottom 10 teams were from Canada! The fact that 5 of the 6 top picks in this year’s draft belong to Canadian teams is not much of a surprise, given those facts.
Finally, we end with every NHL fan’s immediate reaction upon seeing the Edmonton Oilers fall out of the top three:
EAT IT EDMONTON pic.twitter.com/nioAyN8pS2
— SabreNoise (@sabrenoise) May 1, 2016