It's not just a horrible idea. It should be a fireable offense...

Yes, yes it is a bad idea

Rossi and Perfetti are not going to be available at 8 unless some teams go well off the board, at least 2 teams. Lundell is over rated. Probably will be a good player down the road (5 years), i dont think hes worth the pedestal hes been given and would be a stretch to take him at 8. 8OA is a garbage pick. The best overall players available are not going to be in positions of need for Buffalo, and the players they need can probably be picked up in the teens. If they arent trading for an NHLer I think they should at least trade down and get a couple of prospects instead of 1 or maybe 2

Finally someone speaks out about these awful domi Deals for 8OA

From a BUF perspective, I think you should keep the pick no matter what is left on the board. But I don't agree with your description, yes Dom's had one great season and the rest was pretty average but he always had some real bad teams to play with, I think he can be a consistent 50-60 center. He made it to 72pts because of how well the team played together overall and I think he can easily do the same or close to it with a good team. That said, buffalo do t have the condition to make him repeat that kind of production anytime soon and MTL is in a place where they need to add to an already young core, not trading a player part of this core for an obscure pick that COULD become good in 2-3 years. So yeah, this trade is a bad idea for both team no matter how it looks value wise. BUF should keep accumulating blue chips prospects and continue to build slowly and MTL should look to fill an immediate need if they trade Domi and try to add to an already ok core and a more than satisfying prospect pool.

If you look at numbers, they are decent. But if you look with your eyes him play, you’ll say Yes he is worth more than Lundell Quinn because Rossi Perfetti will be gone before 8th OA

This years draft could be unpredictable, I do believe Lundell will be available at 8.

Either one of them could be there.

The four best prospects are Laf, Byfied, Stützle and Raymond

Then there is Perfetti, Drysdale, Sanderson, Holtz and Rossi. I think Detroit could go with Perfetti instead of Raymond because they probably select a centre, then Raymond is available at 5, New Jersey would probably go with a winger and will probably select Holtz. So chances are high that Anaheim would pick Drysdale leaving Rossi to Buffalo

So wrong here, Perfetti is a LW and the best prospects are Laf Byfield Stutzle after Rossi Perfetti Drysdale after Holtz Raymond after it drops to Sanderson Askarov Lundell Quinn

Lundell isn’t going before 11 IMO like Shibbal said he IS overrated. Is probably going to Minnesota at 11

The guy you're getting at 8 is Holtz unless you guys go off the board after firing your scouting staff.

Personally I think the 8th OA pick is a pretty big drop off from the 7th OA pick where you get whoever's is left of Raymond, Rossi, Perfetti and Drysdale.

Regardless of this pick being overrated I wouldn't give any top 10 pick for Domi in this year's draft.

I mean its not like Eichels so unhappy he's lashed out in the Media , o wait ...

BUF doesnt have a choice but to deal the pick for help today.
Yes you might draft a Rossi,Lundell ,ext who will take BUF 2-3 years to develop based on their systems history.

By that time Eichel will have left for a team that can give him a playoffs even in a frigged up season like this where 8 extra teams got in.

Domi may not be the fit but BUF has no choice .
Firing management and coaches to pretend you're making change kept him happy twice now
i dont see it working a 3rd time

I very much disagree. Raymond is the 4th best prospect in this draft. He plays agianst much better competiton than the others and also plays for one of the best teams outside the NHL which limits his ice time, but he can be very good against his age group. I am sure you remeber the U18 WC when he dominated. goa ahed goal, equalizer in the 3rd as well as the goal in OT. Raymond is a great player and no one should be shocked if he goes 4th overall. He could fall a bit because he is no centre or D

The Devis should select Holtz, best SHL scorer since Markus Naslund and Peter Forsberg at that age (he is not quite as good as Raymond, but gets more ice time because Djurgardens is not Frölunda, but he is a great shooter)

He will be perfect on the wing of Hischer

Raymond was basically the undisputed #2 before the year started
as each month passed he dropped to the rank of #4 among EU skaters and #6th-8th OA
The Pandemic was kind of a blessing for Raymond as it stopped the free fall he's faced this year after a stellar year before that.

Raymonds good but MTL was looking at him with their 9th OA pick as a real option because he's ranked behind Centers ,D and a German who pushed him aside for top Winger position. i say Raymond ends up in BUF 7th OA at best given the teams needs that have the 2-7th picks

So what you are saying is that everything is fine in Buffalo, no need for a gritty top 6 center.

just building through top 10 draft picks, waiting 3-4 years for their development through losing culture and hoping for the best...How did that go for ya so far?

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results."

That is only central scouting. Many still have him between 4 and 6. He is almost a year younger than Rossi, which should not be forgotten, as Rossi and Laf are the oldest top prosects. It is also likely that he has two full month to play in Sweden before the NHL draft. I am not so sure when the CHL is going to start.

That would make 3 wingers in the top 4 draft spots , is that what you're saying ?
Based on History , Teams needs with those picks ... i just cant see this .

Unless you're suggesting Raymond will go higher then the German Strutzle which is confusing given his stand out play

6th is really a hard sell but i guess is semi believable if you ignore the team at 6th OA's needs entirely but any higher is just not logical

I mean Raymonds good , they all are but outside Lafreniere ,Strutzle and Drysdale IMO the other top 10 ranked players are all similarly projects as top 6 players leaning more towards 2nd line or pair players who long term will likely rise. I believe if you looked at who owns those picks factoring in what they need you'll find Raymond falls to 7th at the earliest as well

I think team needs are like that:
Detroit: everything expect RHD, because they really suck everywhere else
Ottawa: best player available
Anaheim: D or winger
New Jersey: D or winger (They are solid down the middle)
Buffalo: C or winger

It all depends how they see those prospects.

Raymond is not a concensus top for pick, Detroit will take Perfetti or Drysdale, Ottawa takes Perfetti, Drysdale, or Rossi, leaving one of Perfetti, Drysadale, or Rossi for Anaheim Raymond or Holtz goes to NJ. One of those teams would have to buy into Sanderson and thats wouldnt even guarantee Perfetti or Rossi makes it to 8

This excuse is played out and ignorant. Its only used to justify bad takes

Lundell won't be "game changing good" either though. And you'll have to wait a couple of years just to get anything out of him. By then Eichel will be gone.

Adams has to improve the team significantly before next training camp and trading the 8OA pick is the easiest way of doing that.

Lundell is easily there at 8, he should be there in the teens but a team will get desperate and take him early

You are WAY overvaluing the draft pick and WAY overestimating the Sabres ability to get that pick right.

Between 2001 and 2015 there were 27 forwards taken with picks 8-10. If we rearrange them by P/GP performance we can see the odds of getting a difference-maker:

Superstar (1.00+ P/GP): 0/27 = 0%
Elite (0.75 - 0.99): 2/27 = 7.4%
Top-6 (0.50 - 0.74): 11/27 = 40.7%
Bottom-6 (< 0.50): 14/27 = 51.9%

High picks are great, but (cap aside) if you have a chance to trade your #8 pick for an established player in his early 20's who scores 0.67 P/GP you shouldn't be so dismissive of the idea. Only 2 of the players in the Top-6 range matched or exceeded 0.67 P/GP, meaning that you typically have a 14.8% chance of getting a player equal to or better (offensively) than Domi with that pick. Never mind that you'll have to wait 2-3 years for that player to make an impact whereas Domi will show up at training camp in December, ready to go.

I'm only using Domi as an example because you mentioned him. 8OA could land you Cirelli or another young center. It doesn't have to be Domi.

Of course, it depends on who is available there and whether the Sabres scouting staff (lol) feel that player can be a 1 in 7 hole shot, but to dismiss the notion of trading the pick so hastily is foolish.

^THIS GUY GETS IT!

OMG thank you so much for explaining, in a far better way that I could ever do, how first round draft picks are not all equal and generally far less valued than an established NHL player. This notion is generaly not understood on Capfriendly.

Where did you take your stats? I might steal them.