The Buffalo Sabres weren't the active sellers ahead of Monday's trade deadline many around the NHL expected them to be. In fact, the only deal that Sabres general manager Tim Murray enacted that even slightly moved the needle was the one that saw big winger and Ryan O'Reilly buddy Jamie McGinn shipped to the Anaheim Ducks for a conditional third-round pick that can become a second depending on the Ducks' playoff performance.
Really, it wasn't Murray's fault that the expected trade deadline fireworks turned out to be a dud - the sagging Canadian dollar and the closely packed Western Conference meant too many teams trying to add and unwilling to pay top dollar (or top assets, as it were) for rental players. But with his group again kicking rocks near the NHL basement and the 2016 NHL Draft set to take place in Buffalo this summer, Murray's lack of action Monday may mean an explosive move or three come July.
With the deals that added Evander Kane, O'Reilly and Jack Eichel this past offseason, Murray can't be happy that the team is again one of the least-effective in the league. The Sabres seem to come together in specific moments, gathering their collective talents for short stretches of games, giving fans and Murray a glimpse of what could be to come. But all too often those stretches are followed by even longer periods without goals or really any offensive firepower to speak of.
But with the Canadian dollar doing so poorly and with his arsenal of draft picks this summer, Murray should be ready to make some serious noise and, in the process, expedite the Sabres' rebuild.
And the fact that the 2016 NHL Draft is to be held in Buffalo can't be ignored. Teams know the importance of making good in front of the hometown crowd. Just take the Chicago Blackhawks for example. The team that has been willing, each of the past few trade deadlines, to ship out picks and/or prospects in exchange for win-now pieces like Andrew Ladd, have made a conspicuous effort to hold onto their early picks in the 2017 NHL Draft, which is to be held in Chicago. They don't have any first- or second-rounders this year, and they don't have second0 or third-rounders in 2018.
But the top of the Blackhawks' 2017 draft remains intact.
Which brings us to Murray and the Sabres. As of now, Buffalo has 12 picks in the 2016 NHL Draft - one each in the first and second rounds, four in the third, and six picks in the final four rounds.
With all those picks and a pool of players like Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno whom he can use as trade bait - and considering the recent trend of big draft day moves - Murray's well equipped to make a statement to the fans in Buffalo and the rest of the league that the Sabres are ready to compete next season and beyond.
