“Konsta Was In Our Top Ten” | Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams | 2024 NHL Draft Round 1

“Konsta Was In Our Top Ten” | Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams | 2024 NHL Draft Round 1

e know e e e n e e do e e e e e B years e e e e do I get to drink these or is this just for show oh thirsty perfect yeah there’s a lot to like he’s a uh obviously we feel natural Center um really good two-way game very competitive I mean he’s been playing with men for a year and a half in the Liga which is um not easy to do been a productive player and playing in the world championships at that age I mean just a just a really likable player we see a we see a winning hockey player someone that’s going to play center for us um and help us Win Hockey games so um that’s someone that um you know as we put our list together uh we were pretty excited if we were going to be able to call his name very unique you know that’s something you don’t see very often and um you know certainly his underage year and um just the production at that age like you said is is very unique but there’s just a lot to like he’s a very um very competitive player that’s got a skill set that we think will translate really well to the National Hockey League and like I said I mean you never know the timeline of when when a player like this will be ready to play and help you but when you have already the experience that he’s gained it through the men’s league through the World Championships um that certainly expedites things so this is a this is a really likable player yeah I mean go back 12 months ago and uh we’re open to these things um you know you always balance we want to uh make sure we’re putting a player in a position to succeed but um you know this is a player that we have really high expectations for and we think is uh you know closer rather than further away yeah I mean he’s a player that could he could be there he could be in Buffalo Rochester um really anything’s on the table so obviously it’s only been a a little little bit of time here since the draft but uh draft was announced our pick was announced but certainly something we’ll get into right away um with his agent and um start that conversation you know we’re always we’re always open to things um we want to hear what the player has to say and the agent in terms of what they feel is the best for their development but this is a player we’d like to get over here as fast as possible yeah I mean well we we traded down um I’m going to try to explain this without giving away names um we felt there was potentially one player that we would be really really nervous about fall if we moved out of 11 and that if he if he was there and we we didn’t have the chance to take him so we we had to weigh that um that player wasn’t there and then the uh the next kind of as you get to 14 we believe and Jerry for’s very very good at this um over the years we believe that there was a group of players that would be available at 14 and we would take the the one that was high bi us on our list which um you know we had we had constant inside our our our top 10 um and that’s a great thing when I look back at the last few drafts when we’ve when we’ve had that situation it’s worked out well for us so that was the strategy also knowing that you gain a second round pick which is another asset we’re not necessarily trying to accumulate picks we’re trying to get assets to be able to make trades or make our roster better do whatever we can do to help our team now um which we’ll continue to explore and do I mean as soon as I leave here so um but that’s that’s part of the strategy too not just that not just the first round pick part but the asset yeah it got it got really uh really busy there for a stretch right before our pick there was I think uh three or four calls within a minute there um of where with we could have traded down again but um we didn’t feel that moving down um made sense with const on the board you know that was that was the guy we we wanted so um you know like I said before we’re always open to those things but could if it had fallen different then maybe we would have done that um but that just didn’t make sense with with with uh with him available for us to take not surprised because um we were aggressive and there weren’t trades to that we could um get other teams to agree to and I think if I was to sum it up I don’t believe unless something happened you know right at the end that there was a trade this year in the first round that involved the NHL player um and uh we were certainly aggressive um so that’s just the way these things go but that’s why you still do the work and make sure um you’re prepared on the you know with your list but we’re going to do everything we can to make a roster better that was what I was making clear to uh teams around the league um we were open to anything um but yeah just wasn’t uh wasn’t the way the draft fell this year I’d say uh late late in the day’s wrong word because the draft was earlier as we got closer the afternoon went on um we I thought we put together uh some really strong offers um and when that didn’t end up happening as we got um into the draft here I just thought okay it’s it’s a year that teams aren’t going to be willing to move a pick um or sorry move a player you know for a pick or a package that type of thing so yeah I didn’t know how it would affect other teams I mean I can only I only know what we’re trying to do um in our our opportunities but um yeah so I’d say probably midafternoon I think there’s things that are still going to continue into tonight conversations um yeah I mean some of them that we were having different conversations about involved picks that could have been happening tonight um whether it was our own or if we moved back and then we would use that pick to do something else you know so those go away um but we have other assets and we have ongoing conversations right now um that we’ll keep working at um but takes two to make a trade uh yeah strong I mean I think that’s a great thing because it speaks to our Prospect pool teams checking in um are you willing to do this and and you know if the right trade’s there we’re going to we’re going to make it to make our team better uh including our prospects and I’ve made every team aware of that um you know some of them some of the conversations or people asking about our prospects has been a little bit more focused on maybe the prospect they have or a draft pick and that’s really not what we’re focused on doing we really like our Prospect group but we want to make our team better so if we’re going to move a prospect especially a top prospect it’s with the goal of of us improving our roster right now and that just hasn’t been available yet yeah I think so I mean I think that’s a little bit of what I’ve talked about the last week you know you build a you build a pipeline um and it’s great to have a lot of prospects and we believe in these guys but you’re also always balancing how do you make your team better and I’m absolutely opening to move moving a prospect or two or however it would work if we think it’s the right decision to help our roster and we’ve we’ve made those um a push to to do that it just um you know it hasn’t been willingness the other side to to uh to agree to it yeah I know oie well from from we were teammates you know me personally I didn’t spend you know much time talking to him but our guys did um he was you know really really spoke highly of constant just his belief in him and the path he’s on and just so much due diligence goes into these players before you make your pick and everything came back just character well-liked by teammates coaches love them work ethic so all the stuff that we look for um so you know it’s a it’s an exciting player to add into our organization there’s some similarities for sure I think he’s a little stronger and just um maybe more physically prepared um that you’ll notice probably in a few days at development Camp than where Noah um was when we first drafted them um you know Noah’s still growing and getting stronger um but this is this isn’t uh this isn’t a fully developed player for sure but this is a guy you don’t play in the in the men’s league in Finland and you know 16 or whatever he was um for the last year and a half without being able to be you know handle yourself so I’d say that but there’s some similarities in the game for sure um and I like the fact I mean he is a to me a true Center there’s sometimes where you draft guys and they playing Center but maybe they’re Tendencies you’re not 100% solder or Center um we believe 100% he’s a centerman and will be in the National Hockey League uh other than a sore neck right now um uh awesome I mean really really impressive place um I can actually right outside my hotel room see it um lighting up all day so I was kind of anticipating what it would be like to uh to walk inside but really cool neat that the NHL did this I think it’s great for us I mean it was a little hard to see standing up there but it looked like it was completely full too which is awesome um but I guess this is the last one like this so they’re going out in style I love this for the record I think the the draft’s amazing everybody together um but yeah it Brandon Bean believes the other way is pretty good too so good I’m taking this don’t tell anyone for

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