NHL Draft Rumors: Sabres want left handed defenseman for eighth overall pick
If other NHL teams want the eighth overall pick, the Sabres are willing to listen but they are being oddly specific about what they want in return.
The Edmonton Oilers aren’t the only team that is shopping its first round pick if they can get a return that would improve their team. You can now add the Buffalo Sabres to that list. General manager Tim Murray was quite specific when he discussed what it would take for Buffalo to trade the eighth overall pick at the 2016 NHL Draft.
“If we can trade a couple picks and improve our team, we’ll continue to do that,” Murray said, via Buffalo News. “If somebody offers us a top-end, young, left-shot ” defenseman “and they demand our eighth overall pick and we feel it makes us better, we’ll do the trade.”
Should they not get a good enough offer, it’s very likely that Buffalo will target a defenseman with their eighth overall pick. But who could feasibly be on the market that matches Murray’s very detailed explanation?
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Hampus Lindholm of the Anaheim Ducks could make sense for the Sabres. He’s left-handed and he’s young. Depending on what one’s definition of “top-end” is, Lindholm most likely falls under that definition. While his offense hasn’t quite developed as expected, there are very few defensemen who made a more positive effect on their team in terms of puck possession than Lindholm while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per game. He would be a perfect complement to right handed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.