Buffalo Sabres Pick 2nd, Trade Eichel To Hurricanes

Buffalo Sabres fans hope at the end of two years of the worst hockey the NHL has ever seen record-wise, the payoff is Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel. By now you’ve heard finishing dead last guarantees a team will get one of these two world-class players. That opportunity is valuable to more teams than the Buffalo Sabres.

Which is exactly why the Buffalo Sabres should trade the pick. Not to just any team but to a franchise that can pay price and has shown they are willing to look towards the future much like the Buffalo Sabres did. A team that may be thinking about 2016 already. Where would GM Tim Murray find a partner like that?

How about the city some fans argue are holding the Buffalo Sabres Stanley Cup banner?

If one of the top two picks is traded the return must be massive and appear unbalanced, as this potential trade is. The Buffalo Sabres would be parting with one of two sure-fire NHL stars in this scenario. Murray would need a package with huge upside. Hey, if someone can suggest Sidney Crosby can be traded for the top pick, this surely is possible.

Look at the deal he made with the Winnipeg Jets involving Evander Kane. A young player with proven NHL ability and term on his contract. If that’s what the Buffalo Sabres want in return the Carolina Hurricanes can pay that price in spades.

Jeff Skinner was the seventh overall pick in 2010 and is under contract at a manageable cap hit of $5.725 million until 2019, while Justin Faulk is a second round choice from the same draft class at a cap hit of just over $4.8 million until 2020 according to spotrac.com.

Victor Rask has one more year on his entry-level deal before becoming a restricted free agent. Already the young center is showing promise with 31 points in his rookie season, including eleven goals. In this proposal the Buffalo Sabres would receive three of the top five players from the Hurricanes in terms of point production. For a team setting all the wrong records for goal scoring this would be welcomed help.

The Buffalo Sabres would still maintain plenty of salary cap room after a trade like this. Adding nearly $11 million to the players under contract next season, against a projected cap of $71 million, still leaves room to sign a goaltender. Murray could bring back Michal Neuvirth or Jhonas Enroth, or look at another UFA in Antti Niemi. There are plenty of options.

What Carolina receives is Jack Eichel, one of the supreme building blocks teams have tanked all season for. The Hurricanes also receive Mike Weber, often the seventh defensemen with the Buffalo Sabres whom would get an opportunity to finally play every game ahead of his UFA year.

What makes this work is where the Buffalo Sabres would pick in this scenario. I thought about trades with the Los Angeles Kings considering the desperation some have about missing the playoffs, forgetting the two Stanley Cups. I also looked at the Philadelphia Flyers with Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds as pieces but one thing kept sticking out.

In both of those proposals the Buffalo Sabres would pick outside of the top five. After the top two picks, the next three selections get grouped together. In one mock draft scenario the Buffalo Sabres would wind up with Mitch Marner, a player whose production in the CHL per sixty minutes was second to only Connor McDavid. Pretty good company to keep.

After this trade the Carolina Hurricanes would still be in rebuilding mode with the Buffalo Sabres first pick in 2016. Pair that with a realistic chance at Auston Matthews, the likely top pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, and the Hurricanes are building toward the future in much the same way the Buffalo Sabres have. Yes, other teams can tank too.

But those days are over for the Buffalo Sabres. The 2015 season is about being competitive again, maybe playoff berth competitive. Murray is on record with his thoughts about McDavid so if the Buffalo Sabres win the lottery, you can forget about that pick being on the trade block.

The second overall pick brings with it no such guarantee. Murray has made the Buffalo Sabres unpredictable heading into the 2015 draft. Expect the Buffalo Sabres to be active at the draft. If it’s as active as I’ve suggested, Stanley Cup aspirations will come sooner than later.

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