Post-NHL Draft Lottery: Buffalo at #7 plus a quick look who may be availalable there

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-10-2019


The general consensus concerning the prospect rankings in the upcoming 2019 NHL Draft is that it starts at the top with two players, C, Jack Hughes and RW Kaapo Kakko, who are considered to be the only two NHL-ready players. The next tier of players stretches from No. 3 to picks past the Buffalo Sabres who now sit at No. 7 after the NHL Draft Lottery last night. Buffalo, who finished 27th in the league, went into the lottery in the five hole but after the ping pong balls settled, two teams who finished ahead of the Sabres in the standings made the jump into the top-three and pushed the Sabres down.

The Chicago Blackhawks made the big move going from 12th-overall to No. 3 while two Eastern Conference teams moved up in the draft after the lottery was complete. The NY Rangers, finished one spot ahead of the Sabres in the standings (26th,) but moved up to the second-overall pick and the New Jersey Devils ended up going from third to first-overall.

The immediate impact of the lottery on the Sabres means that they'll have a pool containing two less players to choose from when the draft rolls around on June 21st in Vancouver, British Columbia. Sure, who wouldn't want to be in the top two or three spots in any draft but Buffalo landed in a spot where close to where the initial odds projected them to be. Prior to the lottery, the Sabres had the best odds (34.7%) of drafting sixth-overall with the next highest odds being seventh-overall (26.7%.) None of the remaining possibilities went beyond 8.7%, which was for the second-overall pick.

It's NHL Draft Lottery Day

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-9-2019


It's NHL Draft Lottery Day today, something the Buffalo Sabres are all too familiar with as of late. Yeah, it's been rough these past six seasons, but the good news is that the Sabres will be at or near the top of the draft again adding more talent, which is something they need.

Buffalo finished in 27th place this season giving them the fifth-best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. They can land anywhere in the top-three through the lottery, can pick fifth, or drop down to as low as eighth if other teams jump them. The only spot they won't be drafting is fourth-overall.

Here are the odds for where the Sabres land after all the ping pong balls are counted:

1st:  8.5%
2nd:  8.7%
3rd:  8.9%
4th:  XX
5th:  8.4%
6th:  34.5%
7th:  26.7%
8th:  4.3%

As the odds indicate, there seems to be a good chance that at least one or two teams will jump ahead of them.

There are a couple of sites where you can spin the draft lottery wheel for fun.

nhlnumbers.com has one and after a spin there, this is what we came up with:

LA Kings
Anaheim Ducks
Buffalo Sabres


tankathon.com also has a simulator and after one spin, we got this:

NY Rangers
Edmonton Oilers
LA Kings
Colorado Avalanche (via Ottawa)
New Jersey Devils
Detroit Red Wings
Buffalo Sabres


The lottery event will be held in Toronto tonight beginning at 8 P.M. ET and broadcast live on NBCSN in the States, Sportsnet and TVA.

It's our favorite time of year in Sabreland plus, BUF 2-0 vs. PIT

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-14-2019


It seems to be our favorite time of year in Sabreland as the NHL announced that their annual draft lottery will take place on April 9. The hourlong event to determine the top three picks in the 2019 NHL Draft will take place in Toronto, Ontario with all 15 non-playoff teams, or the clubs who own the pick of a non-playoff team, will be in the drawing for a top-three draft pick.

Here are the odds for landing one of the top three picks in the draft this year (odds are recalculated after each draw):

31st place--18.5%  16.5  14.4
30th--13.5  13.0  12.4
29th--11.5  11.3  11.1
28th--9.5  9.6  9.7
27th--8.5  8.7  8.9
26th--7.5  7.8  8.0
25th--6.5  6.8  7.1
24th--6.0  6.3  6.7
23rd--5.0  5.3  5.7
22nd--3.5  3.8  4.1
21st--3.0  3.3  3.6
20th--2.5  2.7  3.0
19th--2.0  2.0  2.4
18th--1.5  1.7  1.5
17th--1.0  1.1  1.2