MONTREAL, QC — Thursday night's NHL draft in Montreal has become a reunion of sorts for a growing number of members of the 2005-06 Buffalo Sabres, who reached the Eastern Conference final before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games and now work in management.
Among those expected to be on the draft floor are general managers Chris Drury from the New York Rangers and Mike Grier of the San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers special assistant to the GM Danny Briere, and new Chicago Blackhawks development coach Brian Campbell. Retired goalie Ryan Miller is also in town, attending the draft as part of his job in the league’s hockey operations department.
Grier, who this week became the NHL’s first Black GM, doesn’t believe the connections are a coincidence, and credits then-Sabres GM Darcy Regier for bringing them together.
“I think that’s why our team was successful,” said Grier said, who was hired by the Sharks after working under Drury in New York. “We worked hard. We enjoyed the game. But I think we all thought the game at a pretty good level.”
Grier added: “We were probably better than the sum of our parts, just because of that. We were all in the same place together at the same time. Picked each other’s brains and it kind of went from there.”
RUSSIAN INFLUENCE
A year after drafting four Russians, Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams isn’t ruling out the possibility of selecting more this year. In putting together the Sabres' draft board, Adams told his staff to rank each player as usual before placing an asterisk next to the Russian prospects to allow for further discussion.
“If we get to a spot in the draft where we feel that there’s real value there, then we’re going to talk about that,” Adams said, referring to selecting a Russian player. “So, we’re open to that.”
With three first-round selections and four in the top 41, Adams acknowledged the Sabres have more draft capital than other teams to take a risk on a Russian player.
“I think it’s a unique spot for us,” Adams said.