Buffalo Sabres Draft: Is Trading The 8th Pick For Taylor Hall An Option?
The Buffalo Sabres need another top-6 forward on the left wing, and Edmonton sucks. What’s not to love about this scenario?
There is no doubt that the 2016 NHL Entry Draft will be loaded with promising young talent. While there is really only one (maybe two) game-changers in this year’s prospect pool, there are enough players on both sides of the ice who project to becoming top-6 (or top-4) players in the NHL, so the Buffalo Sabres should not be worried about picking up a quality player with the 8th overall pick.
More from Sabre Noise
- 3 biggest standouts at Buffalo Sabres 2023 Prospects Challenge
- 3 takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres final Prospects Challenge game
- Buffalo Sabres experiment with lesser-known talent in loss to Pens
- Buffalo Sabres 75 Bold Predictions for 2023-24: Prediction 51
- Buffalo Sabres vs. Pittsburgh: A quick look at the Penguins prospects
Of course, envisioning a draft in which the Sabres just use their pick is boring, and since we have covered most of the players that we would like to see the team draft, it’s time to discuss a more radical approach, and that is making a blockbuster trade.
I could pick any number of players around the NHL as the basis for this theoretical scenario, but I have decided to frame the argument around Taylor Hall for a few reasons: he’s good, and the Edmonton Oilers are not.
Put aside the “Taylor Hall is the only untouchable player on the Oilers” argument. Granted, it’s got weight – if I am Peter Chiarelli or Craig MacTavish, I am shopping pretty much every forward not named McDavid, Draisaitl, or Hall – but let’s also keep in mind that in the NHL, NO player is untouchable these days. Two years ago, everyone would have assumed that the Tampa Bay Lightning would do whatever it took to resign Steven Stamkos; now, it is a foregone conclusion that Stammer will be wearing a different sweater in 2016-17.
Hall can be moved, but only if the price is right.
Look: the Edmonton Oilers are the poster child for how not to rebuild a team in the NHL. Four number one draft picks (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov and Connor McDavid) in the past decade have done nothing to help the Oilers become relevant, and it took a monumental tanking effort by the Toronto Maple Leafs to keep the Oilers from finishing with the worst record in the league in 2015-16. McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are great centers to build around, but the Oilers desperately need top-4 defensemen, and it’s going to cost them a top-6 forward. Jordan Eberle is fine, but the Sabres don’t need a right winger. Meanwhile, Nugent-Hopkins had the sort of season that makes you wonder if he really is a top-6 forward, and besides, I don’t believe he would survive the transition to the left wing.
Clearly, the 8th pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft is not enough to get the Oilers to move Hall. The Buffalo Sabres would have to give up a blueliner, possibly Mark Pysyk but more likely Zach Bogosian, and maybe even toss in a prospect in order to pry Hall out of Edmonton. If the Sabres could get the Oilers to include a defensive prospect, such as Griffin Reinhart, I would say each team almost made out even; the Oilers would own a top-4 RHD, a prospect (or hell, even Tyler Ennis!), and the 8th pick in the draft, and the Sabres would have the second top-6 forward they need to pair alongside Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart.
Next: Sabres Prospects: Is Jake Bean Worth The 8th Pick?
The Buffalo Sabres have no real reason to pursue such a trade, given the fact that picking 8th is going to produce a quality player who has potential to be top-6 (top-4) in a few years. And yes, if the Oilers insisted on including Bogosian in any trade talks regarding Taylor Hall, GM Tim Murray might balk; Pysyk, Ennis, the 8th pick and maybe even a prospect makes this deal a whole lot easier to swallow.
A proven scorer like Hall would make the Sabres a hell of a dangerous team, however, and GMTM can always use free agency to replace Bogosian, who you can argue has not done enough to prove that he was worthy of the third pick in the 2008 draft. Since it seems like the Edmonton Oilers enjoy drafting young talent, why now offer them a second top-10 pick to waste, I mean, to use in their “We promise, this time it will work!” rebuild?
It may not be realistic, but it sure wouldn’t be boring if they tried!