It has been a busy week for the Buffalo Sabres. Trades have seen stars and role players leave the organization. But in order for the Sabres to stay relevant their work is not done. General manager Jarmo Kekäläinen has an important draft coming up this weekend.
The Sabres' leader in the front office is not new to the NHL Draft. He earned extensive experience while general manager with the Columbus Blue Jackets (2013-24).
In 2013, Kekäläinen focused heavily on forwards to help build the Blue Jackets. This did help the Blue Jackets become one of the strongest teams in terms of depth, especially on the wings. This led to modest success as the youthful forwards, including Alexander Wennberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand, played a key role in the organization reaching the postseason.
Now, the Sabres GM may look to old habits in his first NHL draft since 2023. During his time with Columbus, he was good at finding talent which became centerpieces for the team like Zach Werenski, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli.
Now with some players having left, the Sabres are at crossroads looking for that type of talent.
His philosophy seems to be based on finding the best player available earlier on. But his approach later on has been to get positional value out of picks outside the first few rounds. Bjorkstrand and Elvis Merzlikins are among the notable players who were picked between Rounds 3-7.
Jarmo Kekäläinen has a history of trading draft picks and using it as capital
Despite the strong history of drafting, his biggest approach may be the wheeling and dealing and finding the most bargains. The Blue Jackets under Kekäläinen made a lot of trades around the draft and dealt many picks.
From the seasons of 2019 to 2021, he dealt all three of the team's second round picks. That give some insight into his plans come Friday night. It also may show why draft picks were an important part of the deals, which saw Alex Tuch, Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway all traded.
The Sabres no doubt had a historical year. But now they can only hope to find ways to get even farther and be a playoff contender for more than just one season. This is Kekäläinen's first chance to prove the investment in him is worth it.
Buffalo now has some holes in terms of scoring and aggressive play. But if he can find a goal-scorer and a physical prospect in the later rounds it may be a great sign for the years ahead.
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