NHL Draft: Sabres cancel trades, add Konsta Helenius to crowded prospect pool

LAS VEGAS — Moments before the Buffalo Sabres were to be selected in the first round of the NHL draft, the tension was palpable at their table at the Sphere. General manager Kevyn Adams was deep in conversation with assistant general manager Jerry Forton. Coach Lindy Ruff got up from his seat and walked around the table to join them.

Adams began the offseason by saying “the time has come” for the Sabres to take the next step and end their league-record playoff drought. He said the Sabres are in a different phase of their development, one where they can afford to make moves right now, even if it means spending future assets.

The draft, an event designed around the delayed gratification that comes with selecting 18-year-olds, didn’t generate the usual excitement among Sabres fans. The question most people were asking wasn’t which prospect Adams would draft, but whether he’d be able to trade that pick for a proven NHL player.

But Adams’s efforts to secure a trade failed and the Sabers took the stage and drafted Finnish center Konsta Helenius with the 14th pick. Helenius is a player that Sabers scouts are excited about (they had him ranked in the top 10 in the class). Adams is too. But he also made it clear that he was trying to make a trade to improve Buffalo’s roster right now. That didn’t come to fruition in a first round that didn’t include any player trades across the league.

“We were aggressive and couldn’t get other teams to agree to trades,” Adams said.

As the draft approached, Adams began to feel like deals weren’t going to happen.

“I thought we made some really good offers and when that didn’t come through,” Adams said, “as we were going into the draft here, I just thought, ‘OK, this is the year where teams will not be willing to trade a player for a pick or package. »

He said some of those possible trades involved selections made Friday, so those negotiations could fall through. But Adams hopes to continue the dialogue on other potential trades throughout the weekend. The Sabers now have a surplus of prospects, and the addition of Helenius should make it even easier to part with a top prospect if an influential veteran comes the other way.

Because there are many things that please Helenius. He had 42 points in 57 games in Liiga, Finland’s top professional league. He’s 5-foot-11 and 189 pounds, and he plays with a bigger frame than that. He is strong on the forecheck, creates turnovers in the offensive zone and plays intelligently away from the puck. His coach in Finland, former NHLer Olli Jokinen, thinks he could push for a spot on the NHL roster as early as next season. Adams didn’t necessarily shy away from the idea, either. He thinks that because Helenius played against men and then played for Team Finland at the World Championship, he might have a quicker path to the NHL.

“We’re open to those things,” Adams said, referring to the fact that Zach Benson joined Buffalo’s roster as an 18-year-old rookie last season. “We always balance and make sure we put a player in a position to succeed. But he’s a player we have very high expectations for, and we think he’s closer rather than further away… He’s a player we’d like to have here as soon as possible. »

The Sabers also can’t count on Helenius to help their NHL team this season. They have too many holes in their attacking group and already have a young squad to begin with. That’s why Adams will come under intense scrutiny over the coming days. The draft and free agency are two great opportunities to add veteran players to the roster. The Sabers have two second-round picks after moving from No. 11 to No. 14. Do they really need to make these two picks when they have already selected 31 players since the start of the 2021 draft?

Adams made that pick swap with San Jose on Thursday before seeing how the board would shake out. It turned out that Sam Dickinson and Zeev Buium, two highly regarded defensemen, were available at No. 11. That will add even more skepticism to the trade unless Adams can use that extra second-round pick to make a deal that helps Buffalo’s roster.

But are these agreements feasible? The first round of the draft was a spectacle at the Sphere. The team’s staff members were speechless in front of the giant screen. Celine Dion and Michael Buffer were among the celebrities who announced their draft picks. The league even had a garish graphic and sound effect for the exchanges. However, the transactions were only selection swaps. The activity of the league did not correspond to the excitement of the scene.

Maybe Adams can make a move with one or more of his eight picks on Saturday. Or maybe it’s time for him to part ways with some of those top prospects. It’s not worth judging the Sabres’ offseason on a single night. The only major trade this week that would have made sense for Buffalo was Washington acquiring Calgary forward Andrew Mangiapane for a 2025 second-round pick. But Mangiapane had a no-trade clause, as did other potential trade targets like Nikolaj Ehlers and Pavel Buchnevich. That will continue to be a trade hurdle for the Sabres until they restore the reputation they have as a franchise.

In the meantime, Adams needs to target different players and find creative ways to improve the roster. Nobody says it’s easy, but it’s work. And it’s going to continue over the coming week. Because while it’s exciting to add more young talent to the reserve, the Sabres need help now.

“We’ll continue to work on it, but it takes two to make a trade,” Adams said.

(Photo by Konsta Helenius: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)