I've been saying that i think the sabres are going to trade some picks for a marque player from a team that was built to win but didn't get it done this year.
1. the sabres are way under cap for next year
2. the sabres need some cache. Fans know its a long rebuild, but are they going to pay in the interim before the results show?
That being said, wouldn't ovechkin be a guy to look at? he's being scapegoated, and perhaps fairly (he's not exactly mr clutch), but DC seems to maybe be at end of rope. we have a weak draft class in terms of depth. so perhaps a couple picks in the second round, someone like Stafford (ideally from buffalo's standpoint) or ennis (who i think has done ok considering how little support he has) or hodgson (who seems to be in the doghouse but has upside) gets dc thinking, "let's move in a different direction."
i realize this is a hard sell, but if you agree that you kind of see that as a possibility, would you want that for the sabres, or do you just want to go draft only? to me, the NHL draft isn't a short term game like the NFL. in the top 10, you might get a few NHL ready players. Everyone else is at least 1-2 years away. I also think the pipeline looks pretty good thus far. So adding all these picks to develop is a really long time to develop.
So go ahead, flame me or say you can maybe see how it'd happen. curious on the board's take.