Buffalo Sabres acquire Jimmy Vesey from Predators

The Buffalo Sabres acquired the rights to Jimmy Vesey from the Nashville Predators.

The Buffalo Sabres now have the last two winners of the Hobey Baker trophy when they acquired the rights to highly touted winger Jimmy Vesey from the Nashville Predators. Vesey was drafted by the Predators in the third round back in 2012, but sent shockwaves around the NHL when he announced he wouldn’t sign with Nashville.

While it was highly expected that he would get dealt to the Boston Bruins, his hometown team, they ended up striking a deal with the Buffalo Sabres.

His primary motivation behind the Sabres is likely the prospect of teaming up with last year’s second overall pick Jack Eichel, whom he’s very close with. They are both Massachusetts natives who have played together at the World Juniors, and work out together in Boston.

Even though they have yet to sign him, and could still become a free agent, ESPN’s John Buccigross believes that the Sabres have a great chance to eventually sign Vesey, if only because of Eichel:

Even though Eichel put up outstanding numbers in his lone season at the collegiate level, 71 points in 40 games, Vesey strung together impressive totals at Harvard University. He scored 58 and 46 points in his two seasons, and won the Hobey Baker award as the best player in college hockey.

The Sabres are practically stockpiling the best players at the collegiate level at this point. Not only do they have the last two winners of the Hobey Baker Award, they also have Eichel’s BU teammate Evan Rodrigues and Hudson Fasching coming up through the ranks.

With this move, the Sabres are clearly on the right path of their rebuild, and they pick up a player who will instantly gel with Eichel. But the hard part is still getting him to put pen to paper.

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