Buffalo Sabres: What if they drafted Leon Draisaitl in 2014?
Back in 2014, the Buffalo Sabres made drafted Sam Reinhart over Leon Draisaitl with the second overall pick. What if the Sabres had two elite players instead of one?
With no hockey being played right now, it’s time to once again break out our DeLoreans and go back in time to change hockey history. The year is 2014. It’s the NHL Draft. The Buffalo Sabres had just finished their first tank, notching the second overall pick. With that pick, the Sabres went with Sam Reinhart. Leon Draisaitl went just one pick later.
While Reinhart has been a very solid player for the Sabres and is probably a little bit underrated, it’s safe to say Draisaitl would have been the better pick. Yes, the Edmonton Oilers were bold to draft him that high. But it has paid off significantly for them.
For this exercise, I put Draisaitl onto the 2014-15 Sabres using Hockey Franchise Manager 6. It’s made by Out Of The Park Development, the same company that makes OOTP Baseball. While their hockey version isn’t quite as extensive as their baseball version, it’s still a great game.
What If The Sabres Drafted Draisaitl?
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This decision wouldn’t have affected a darn thing for the 2014-15 Sabres. That team was deliberately built to be as awful as possible. I made sure the Sabres kept Draisaitl out of the NHL until the end of the season because even the Sabres wouldn’t be dumb enough to light an ELC year on fire like the Edmonton Oilers did.
Though they weren’t the worst team in the NHL, they were the second worst, just behind the Arizona Coyotes. The draft lottery still didn’t give the Sabres the first overall pick, but they managed to get the second overall pick, so they have a nice core of Jack Eichel and Draisaitl to build around.
The 2015-16 season was a rough one for the Sabres in this simulation, as they narrowly missed the playoffs by one point. However, Draisaitl wound up winning the Calder Trophy after finishing the season with 75 points in 82 games. He also played over 20 minutes per game.
In the 2016-17 season, the Sabres finally made the playoffs and even managed to upset the Boston Bruins in the first round. However, the Tampa Bay Lightning make quick work of them in the second round, eliminating them in five games. But still, with Eichel and Draisaitl both on entry level deals and both pushing a point per game, the Sabres future is extremely bright.
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They built on their success in 2017-18, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Washington Capitals in overtime in Game 7. Of course, this simulation didn’t make the same moves as the Sabres did. It was notoriously more aggressive than the Sabres. But it worked.