Buffalo Sabres Daily: NHL Draft, Ekblad, Reinhart, Bennett

By Tim Redinger | Jun 25, 2014

The Buffalo Sabres haven’t revealed what is up their sleeve for the second overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. [Bleacher Report].

With all the hype and build up by the organization and what information that Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray has revealed – has a lot of excitement and buzz surrounding not only this draft, but next years as well.

If you put any stock in mock drafts at all – the Buffalo Sabres could be targetting Sam Reinhart. The organization seems to have built up this prospect and offered more praise than any other of the candidates. On WGR Assistant GM Kevin Devine said he hasn’t seen such playmaking ability in 10-15 fifteen years.

That is all well and good if the Buffalo Sabres know who is picking ahead of them. It is likely that the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs (rumored to be in on the first overall pick) would be interested in defenseman Aaron Ekblad. However there are teams that want in on the number one pick that don’t think Ekblad is the right choice. In fact, we could be looking at another Seth Jones situation, with Ekblad falling to the Edmonton Oilers.

Could be an interesting first round of the draft.

More from Draft

Should the second overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft play in Buffalo this year? [WGR550].

I have mixed feelings on this one. The Buffalo Sabres don’t want to be good this year so they have the best chance at number one in the 2015 draft. At the same time you have to give your fans something to look forward to.

But as a business, why would you burn a year of the entry level deal on a guy that still has junior eligibility? If you tell the kid straight up that he is going to be in junior until the 2015 prospects are ready to play in Buffalo – and don’t jerk him around like the team has done with Mikhail Grigorenko -what is the harm?

Of course, if the Buffalo Sabres were smart – they would stagger the contracts of the 2014 top picks and the 2015 top picks. You are going to have more top draft picks than ever before, and you aren’t going to want to go through a summer where all their contracts are do in the same year.

Tim Murray wants to remind you not to forget about day two of the NHL Draft. [TWC News].

I don’t think Tim Murray wants to be known as the Buffalo Sabres general manager who hit on a couple of first round picks, high first round picks that turned the team around. Tim Murray wants to establish himself as the guy, by finding talent late in the draft to solidify his team.

It is something the Buffalo Sabres have long been good at – and Tim Murray would like to keep up that trend.

I think there is talent in all drafts. If you go back, you’ll see that good guys are taken in the 4th round, 5th, round, 6th round and our job is to find those guys – Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray.

Speaking of Aaron Ekblad falling to the Edmonton Oilers, Sam Bennett’s failure at the Combine could call into question his ability. [Buffalo News].

Is it part of the smear campaign so the Buffalo Sabres can pick up both Reinhart and Bennett? It would be a long shot but an impressive feat if a) Bennett fell that far in the draft and b) that the Buffalo Sabres can get back into the draft and pick high enough to get both Bennett and Reinhart.

I don’t think that Sam Bennett falls below the fifth spot.

Switching gears to the Buffalo Bills, can Seantrel Henderson be a late round diamond in the rough for the Buffalo Bills? [Buffalowdown].

He went from highly coveted to having some substance abuse issues – and he dropped from the first round to the 7th round. Has this worked in the Buffalo Bills favor – or will going pro exasperate his off field issues?