The Buffalo Sabres are 10-4-3 since March 2nd. And while many in the Sabres faithful are glad to see the team playing their best hockey, others are worried about draft status.
The Buffalo Sabres need to focus on winning, not worrying about their draft status for the 2022 NHL Draft. Seriously, some in the Sabres faithful can’t be serious when they’re rooting against their favorite team for the possibility to achieve a higher draft pick.
So, in other words, they want to see the team get even more demoralized than they’d been between November 2021 and February 2022 and keep losing. To sacrifice growth and building chemistry in exchange for a high draft pick that may or may not pan out?
High draft picks have yet to help the Buffalo Sabres win
This team has been drafting in the top ten for the past decade. It’s what usually happens to bad hockey teams. They get a high pick. And if they keep playing uninspiring hockey, general managers get fired, coaches get fired, rosters face a mass turnover, and the franchise is set back another half-decade.
High draft picks have done what for this team, exactly? Jack Eichel’s greatest contribution to the Sabres involved bringing over two potential franchise cornerstones in Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch. But I don’t remember Eichel exactly “bringing fans out of their seats” unless Tuch snatches the puck from him.
Did Sam Reinhart help the Sabres secure a playoff berth? Casey Mittelstadt? Rasmus Ristolainen? Rasmus Dahlin? Tell me again how securing another high draft pick via perpetual losing is going to help this franchise?
In case you haven’t noticed, all the above names were selected in the top eight. Three of them are no longer with the Sabres. Mittelstadt has yet to live up to his draft status. Dahlin made his first All-Star Game, but he’s still growing into a leadership role.
If you’re thinking the Sabres need to tank to secure a higher draft pick, you’ve not done your research. The Sabres have been losing and securing top ten picks for years. Yet as the old saying goes: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Now, the Sabres are winning games in March and April. They’re coming together as a team. But rather than seeing them head into the offseason with momentum and hope for the future, it’s better to see them tank in April to secure a higher draft pick when the strategy has never worked?
Want your voice heard? Join the Sabre Noise team!
Really, you need to take a look at recent history. Top ten picks haven’t dug the Sabres out of this massive hole. So why not try something different? Top ten picks didn’t change the team’s fortunes.