BUFFALO, N.Y. — Make the pick or trade the pick?
The Buffalo Sabres have the 11th overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft on June 28-29 in Las Vegas, and yet General Manager Kevyn Adams said during Thursday morning’s pre-draft news conference that the team is feeling pretty flexible when it comes to their first-round pick.
“I’ve told every team in the league that we are wide open to considering moving pick 11,” Adams said. “We are wide open to consider anything, to be honest with you, prospects, if we think it's going to help our team. We’re having those conversations right now. I’ve talked to every team around us that we’re open to. Hey, we’d even look to move up.
"That’s not always easy to do but I think we have the assets to do that. We’re very open to moving back depending how the draft slides and where the guys are going.”
Adams also agreed to the fact that although it is never easy to trade a pick, for the first time since becoming the Sabres general manager in June 2020, he feels that the organization is in a spot where if the right opportunity comes along, they would be ready to take it.
“Pick 11 is a very valuable asset,” Adams said. “We are going to get a good player with pick 11 if we stay in that position and make the pick, we are very confident in that. There guys have worked all year to help us and be prepared for that pick.
"In saying that, I think you take in all the information. Where are you as an organization? What are your needs? Where is your prospect pool because if you are really thin in terms of your depth of prospects and you're sitting at pick 11, that even makes it more challenging to make a move.”
The 2024 NHL Draft gets underway next week with round one on Friday, June 28 at 7 p.m. and rounds two through seven on Saturday, June 29 at 11:30 a.m. at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
“I think we’ve been disciplined,” Adams said. “We’ve stuck to our plan but I think we’ve moved into another phase now that we have to be really open and looking to make these types of decisions. You still have to have the right opportunity to make them so if we end up making pick 11, we’ll be excited about it, but it won’t be from lack of effort seeing what else was out there to do.
2 On Your Side sports reporter Lindsey Moppert will be in Las Vegas with extended draft coverage starting on Thursday afternoon through the end of the draft on Saturday.