Rumor: Buffalo Sabres to host 2016 entry draft

It looks like the Buffalo Sabres will be hosting the 2016 early entry draft

According to NBC Pro Hockey Talk, multiple sources have confirmed that yet another landmark even is headed to Buffalo.

Here’s one source:

Oh, and here’s the other:

More from Buffalo Sabres

No NHL confirmation has come of this- unsurprising, since it seems that the league isn’t expected to officially announce the decision until Monday morning.

Should this be the case, the Sabres will host three of the next four major draft events. It has already been announced that both the 2015 and 2016 NHL Scouting Combines will be held in Buffalo, as well.

The Sabres may be getting all the press for these draft events, but it could just be rubbing salt in the wound for a struggling Atlantic Division team. The franchise finished dead last in the regular season standings for the 2013-2014 season, coming in a full fourteen points behind the Florida Panthers. Due to the league’s increased competitiveness in recent years, though, they have implemented a gradual lottery overhaul for the first overall pick- meaning that with every subsequent year, Buffalo will be less likely to earn that golden ticket to players like Connor McDavid.

The last time the Sabres hosted the draft was in 1998, when Vincent Lecavalier was selected first overall. The Sabres picked Dmitri Kalinin with their own first-round pick that year, eighteenth overall. He currently plays in the KHL, leaving the league at the end of the 2008-2009 season.

It looks like the Buffalo Sabres will be hosting the 2016 early entry draft

More from FanSided