The Buffalo Sabres currently have the ninth-overall pick in the 2025 NHL entry draft. But not every team above the Sabres in the draft order is fully intent on holding onto it. Does that mean Buffalo should be inquiring about trading up?
From this writer’s perspective, Sabres GM Kevyn Adams should certainly be testing the waters when it comes to moving higher in the draft. A team like the Utah Mammoth — who we wrote about as a potential trade partner for Buffalo in this column — might be persuaded to give up the fourth-overall pick. But it would take quite the offer from the Sabres to get that kind of deal consummated. The Mammoth would likely want a proven NHL talent who is in the early stages of their career, and Buffalo certainly has many of those types of assets. So there’s definitely a potential hook-up trade situation between the two teams.
But the bigger question is this: why would the Sabres want to get even younger? Buffalo’s only goal has to be to make the playoffs, and while adding a long-term piece of the puzzle through the draft would make sense in some respects, the player the Sabres would get at the fourth slot wouldn’t be much different than the one they’re going to get at the ninth slot — at least, when it comes to contributing meaningfully next season.
The Sabres definitely should be making trades this summer, but they should be looking at the same type of players as the Mammoth are looking at — experienced NHLers with a playoff pedigree, So while it does make sense for Buffalo and Utah to collaborate on a trade, we’d guess that trade would feature players like Utah’s Lawson Crouse and Buffalo’s Bowen Byram. A draft pick trade between the Mammoth and Sabres doesn’t make sense.
Other than Utah, we suspect most, if not all of the teams ahead of Buffalo are going to hold onto their pick. Adams may decide to tempt one or many of them by offering up an excellent trade package featuring the ninth-overall pick and a current Sabres player or two, but again, Buffalo’s prime need at this point in its competitive trajectory is not another player who won’t be hitting his prime for many a year.
So no, the Sabres probably shouldn’t be trading up in the draft. If they hang onto the ninth pick, and if their draft and development team finds a gem at that slot, Buffalo’s management will have done its job. And the Sabres would still have all the assets necessary to swing a major deal that will address their true needs.
It’s always tempting on draft day to imagine what it takes to trade up and land a prospect who could be a difference-maker for many years. But the Sabres have to stay focused on their central goal, and that goal is ending their 14-year playoff-less streak.
Anyone they get at the ninth pick — and anyone they’d get at a pick higher than that — probably won’t get them there next season. So the trades Adams needs to make shoudn’t be draft-related. The Sabres need veteran help, right here and right now, and any failure on that part may lead to Buffalo drafting just as high, if not higher next summer. And that’s not where the Sabres or Sabres fans should want them to be.
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