ORCHARD PARK – Winning has a funny way of changing things, doesn’t it?
In his dealings this offseason, Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said a couple of agents told him players have removed Buffalo from their no-trade list.
“That’s great news for us,” Kekalainen said Wednesday at One Bills Drive, where the Sabres are headquartered for the NHL Draft, which begins Friday with the first round. “I think we can be a destination.”
The Sabres, of course, won the Atlantic Division and advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
Throughout their 14-year postseason drought, they were rumored to be on most no-trade lists.
Kekalainen believes the Sabres’ success can make them “a destination.”
“Everybody saw the passion in this hockey market last spring and in the playoffs, and it was incredible,” he said. “People have taken notice of that, and they also see that we have a really good team. So winning helps, I always say that.”
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Kekalainen, who’s in charge of his first draft with the Sabres, said he selects the “best player available.”
“The needs can change,” he said. “By the time they get ready to play, our needs can be completely different, so I think you always go with the best player available.”
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Count Kekalainen among those who would like to see the NHL gather in one location again instead of the decentralized draft that began last season.
Teams now make their picks from their headquarters instead of the floor of the rink.
Kekalainen, who spent about 11 years in various scouting roles, said the old way “was sort of a celebration for the year that you grinded on the road.”
“I liked that format a lot because I think it rewards the scouts and scouting staff for their hard work and it’s a bit of their show, their game night,” he said. “So I’ve always been in favor of that one. But as in any decision, I’ll go with the consensus around the league.”
Still, the NHL stages a smaller event, bringing most of the top prospects together. They’ll be at KeyBank Center this weekend.
This marks the fourth time the Sabres have hosted the draft. It was also held in Buffalo in 1991, 1998 and 2016.
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Some star players, most recently former Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, have essentially been forcing trades by telling their team they won’t be re-signing when their contract ends.
Tkachuk joined his brother, Matthew, with the Florida Panthers.
Kekalainen said those types of situations force you “to adapt and create new strategies.”
“We’re fortunate,” he said. “A lot of our core players, key players, are locked up for a good amount of term. This happened in the NBA long before it happened in the NHL, so now we’ve just got to find better ways to get around it.
“The core players need to be locked up early enough so that you know where your core is going to be for the next five, seven, maybe eight years in some cases. But, yeah, it’s an interesting power move that this is happening right now.”