NHL Draft: Sabres fail in transfers, add Konsta Helenius to crowded talent pool

LAS VEGAS — In the moments before the Buffalo Sabres’ turn in the first round of the NHL Draft, the atmosphere at their table at the Sphere was tense. General manager Kevyn Adams was deep in conversation with assistant general manager Jerry Forton. Coach Lindy Ruff got up from his seat and walked around the table to sit with them.

Adams began this offseason by saying that “now is the time” for the Sabres to take the next step and end their league-record playoff drought. He said the Sabres are in a different phase of their rebuild where they can afford to make a move now, even if it means spending future assets.

So the draft, an event that focuses on the delayed gratification that comes with selecting 18-year-olds, did not bring the usual excitement among Sabres fans. The question on most people’s minds was not which young player Adams would draft, but whether he could trade the pick for a proven NHL player.

But Adams’ efforts to negotiate a deal were unsuccessful, and the Sabres’ leadership stepped up to the plate and drafted Finnish center Konsta Helenius with the No. 14 pick. Helenius is a player the Sabres’ scouting department is excited about (they had him ranked in the top 10 of the class). Adams is, too. But he also made it clear that he was trying to make a trade to improve Buffalo’s roster at the moment. That didn’t happen in a first round that didn’t feature a single player trade in the entire league.

“We were aggressive and couldn’t get the other teams to agree to the trades,” Adams said.

In the run-up to the draft, Adams had the feeling that no deals would be made.

“I thought we had put together some really good deals, but when that didn’t work out in the end,” Adams said, “I just thought to myself at the draft, ‘OK, this is the year that teams aren’t going to be willing to give up a player for a pick or a package.'”

He said some of those potential trades involved picks made Friday, so those negotiations could fizzle out. But Adams expects to continue talks on other potential trades throughout the weekend. The Sabres now have a surplus of young players, and signing Helenius should make it even easier to part with a top young player when an influential veteran comes on the other side.

Helenius has a lot of good things going for him. He has 42 points in 57 games in Liiga, Finland’s top professional league. He is 6’1″ and 185 lbs, but he also plays bigger. He is strong on the forecheck, forces turnovers in the offensive zone and plays smart without the puck. His coach in Finland, former NHL player Olli Jokinen, believes he could earn a spot on the NHL roster as early as next season. Adams hasn’t necessarily shied away from the idea either. He believes Helenius could have a quicker path to the NHL because he played against men and then played for Team Finland at the World Championships.

“We’re open to things like that,” Adams said, referring to the fact that Zach Benson was added to Buffalo’s roster last season as an 18-year-old rookie. “We always look at balance and make sure we give a player a position where he can be successful. But this is a player we have really high expectations for, and we think he’s closer rather than further away… That’s a player we want to get here as soon as possible.”

The Sabres also can’t count on Helenius to help their NHL roster this season. They have too many holes in their forward group and already have a young roster, so Adams will be under scrutiny in the coming days. The draft and free agency are two prime opportunities to add experienced players to the roster. The Sabres have two second-round picks after trading down from No. 11 to No. 14. Do they really need to make both picks when they’ve already selected 31 players since the 2021 draft began?

Adams traded his pick to San Jose on Thursday before seeing how the board would shake out. As it turned out, Sam Dickinson and Zeev Buium, two highly regarded defensemen, were available at No. 11. That will make the trade even more skeptical unless Adams can use that extra second-round pick to pull off a deal that helps Buffalo’s roster.

But are these deals really possible? The first round of the draft was a spectacle at the Sphere. The team’s employees stared at the giant screen. Céline Dion and Michael Buffer were among the celebrities who announced their draft picks. The league even had flashy graphics and sound effects for the trades. The trades, however, were just pick swaps. The league’s activities couldn’t keep up with the excitement of the scene.

Maybe Adams can make a move with one or more of his eight picks on Saturday. Or maybe it’s time for him to part ways with some of these top prospects. It’s not worth judging the Sabres’ offseason in one night. The only significant trade this week that would have made sense for Buffalo was Washington’s signing of Calgary forward Andrew Mangiapane for a 2025 second-round pick. But Mangiapane had a no-trade clause, as did other potential trade targets like Nikolaj Ehlers and Pavel Buchnevich. That will continue to be a barrier to trades for the Sabres until they restore their franchise reputation.

Until then, Adams needs to target other players and find creative ways to improve the roster. No one is saying it’s easy, but that’s the job. And it will continue to be that way in the coming week. Because as exciting as it is to add more young talent to the roster, the Sabres need help now.

“We will continue to work on it, but it takes two to make a deal,” Adams said.

(Photo by Konsta Helenius: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)