Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
The hockey world is in for a "treat" tonight as the 30th place Buffalo Sabres welcome the 29th place Arizona Coyotes. The numbers for both teams are ugly and while the Sabres have been pretty horrendous on the whole all season, the Coyotes have joined the fray at the bottom with some staggering results over the past six weeks which leads us to this intriguing "Battle for the Basement" matchup tonight (thx to hockeybuzz commenter, Buffalo-Sabres for finding that.)
The tanking aspect of all this has been rehashed mercilessly since the season began. Morals and ethics are the centerpieces of the great debate. Is it right for a team to adopt the philosophy of losing now to win later? Does a franchise have an ethical responsibility to ice the best team it can year-in/year-out? If sports represents a moral compass for society in general, what does tanking say about our moral fabric?
Would Mother Theresa approve?
Back on November 10, 2014, I asked the question, "should the Sabres apologize?" as the team was barreling down a path to a top-two pick in this year's draft. The piece was in response to a "thumbs down" from TSN's Dave Hodge when he accused the team of having an unhealthy "lust for (Connor) McDavid." He was trumpeting an ethical approach to the season under the "Let's get Connor with honor" banner.
Hodge is an esteemed voice in hockey, but the path the Sabres are on is unique to their situation. All-in-all it's not that far removed from the path that legendary Canadians GM Sam Pollock took for decades with the Montreal Canadiens, or the one Peter Pocklington took in Edmonton with the help of Wayne Gretzky, or the whole 1983-84 Pittsburgh Penguins season leading up to the drafting of Mario Lemieux. They all did what was in the best interest of their franchises and to my knowledge, I've never heard anyone associated with those organizations apologize for what might be construed as questionable ethics. The goal in sports, especially these days, is to build a championship. How that team is built is up to the organization, as long as it's within the rules.
There's not a team in the NHL that wouldn't want either McDavid or Jack Eichel, the "consolation prize" in this year's draft. All 14 non-playoff teams have a shot getting the top overall pick via the lottery, but the last place team is guaranteed to land one of the two as they'll drop no lower than one spot should they not win the lottery. In this year's draft the difference between finishing 29th and 30th is magnified thousands and thousands times more because of the two up-top and because the lottery rules will change next season. It's one of the reasons why we've seen the Coyotes plummet the way they have. It's the last train to Tankville.
Rest assured, haters, there are no guarantees that either McDavid or Eichel will have Hall of Fame careers, and while invoking the names of Gord Kluzak and Alexander Daigle may help relieve the pressure of harboring ill-will, note that the Buffalo Sabres are in a strong position to, at the very least, weather a bust of epic proportions.
It all goes back to the 2012 draft when former GM Darcy Regier engineered a trade for an extra first round and second round pick. With their first pick they landed center Mikhail Grigorenko. And with the help of the extra second-rounder they were able to move up and land center Zemgus Girgensons, "One who eats lions." In the second round they picked defenseman Jake McCabe.
Buffalo waltzed into a very strong 2013 draft class with two first-rounders once again as well as three second-rounders. Their first pick in that draft, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, is already logging top-pairing minutes while defenseman Nikita Zadorov, their other first-rounder, will either be in a top-four role or will be used to land a top-six forward in a trade.
GM Tim Murray has already traded from a position of strength on the blueline to bolster the top-six when he sent former first round pick Tyler Myers to Winnipeg for top-line winger Evander Kane. In that same deal he sent an extra 2015 first rounder (of which they had three) and two prospects to land a different kind of top-pairing defenseman in Zach Bogosian.
Murray still has two first round picks in this draft and word on the street is that he has Colorado's Ryan O'Reilly in his sights. That extra first rounder will come in handy if they try to land a bonafide top-six player like O'Reilly.
The Sabres still have last year's 2nd-overall pick in the hopper as center Sam Reinhart is ready to turn pro next season. Joining McCabe in a group prospects drafted outside the first round is Nicolas Baptiste, JT Compher and Justin Bailey and all of them look to be NHL'ers. Dark horses in the mix at this point in time include Vaclav Karabacek, Victor Olofsson and Anthony Florentino.
Although most their NHL talent was purged over the course of the last two-plus years the Sabres still have some good players on the roster as well as a player that's really coming into his own in former first round pick Tyler Ennis. Ennis has been a consistent scorer and playmaker even during these last two bottom-feeding seasons. He's a proven top-six forward who has enough skill and upside to challenge for, and probably succeed in, a top-line role.
By my count, the Sabres will have six first-rounders on the roster next season (Kane, Girgensons, Ennis, Ristolainen, Bogosian and Mark Pysyk) with three other first-rounders (Grigorenko, Reinhart and Cody Hodgson) in the mix as well. At 26 yrs. old in October, 2015, Ennis will be the elder statesman of the group.
The next group of role players drafted outside the first round consists of second-rounder, Johan Larsson, third round pick Deslauriers and fourth round pick Marcus Foligno. None are over the age of 24 right now.
As laid out, as many as 12 of the 18 starter positions could be inhabited by players on the team right now who are 26 yrs. old or younger with as many as half of them first-rounders. And of the five top-line/top-pairing positions, as many as four may be filled already with Kane, Ennis, Bogosian and Ristolainen.
The only thing missing is that bonafide top-line center, which is what this draft is all about.
McDavid or Eichel, should they live up to their billing, will fill that spot and barring injury they'll do so for a long time. Take them out of the equation and the Sabres will not collapse. Reinhart was a second-overall pick while Girgensons may continue to prove doubters wrong by moving up the depth chart. And if Murray were to land O'Reilly, top-line minutes isn't all that far-fetched for him either.
Make no mistake, this Sabres team, or any NHL team for that matter, will be much better off with the addition of a "generational player." One of McDavid or Eichel is right there, right now and even the most ardent opponent of tanking can see that the team is well beyond the point of no return and they should simply finish the job.
If somehow disaster were to strike and things eventually don't turn out the way it was planned with one of those two franchise players, there's still a lot of young talent on the roster now as well as a lot of younger talent already in the system.
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