Should the Sabres trade the top pick if they win the draft lottery?

With the NHL draft lottery tomorrow, the Sabres still have a good chance at winning and getting the first overall pick. If the Sabres do win, should they trade the number one overall pick to strengthen the team now?

If Kevyn Adams is still the GM at the time of the draft, then I think he will make a big move to try and keep his job. It's been rumored that Adams will be moving to a new role sometime this offseason. Whether or not he is the GM, I think the Sabres would benefit more from trading that top pick, and here is why.

With the offense the Sabres have built, this would be the time to make a trade for a defensive player and build a contender. With the Sabres having around 10-12 million in cap space, they will need to re-sign their key free agents. This includes Ryan McLeod, Bowen Byram, and JJ Peterka.

If the Sabres DFA Sam Lafferty and Beck Malenstyn to clear up 3.5 million, it will be assured that they will sign those three players. From there, you trade for a solid defensive piece.

With your top line set with Rasmus Dahlin and Byram, you can now find a good top-6 pairing for Owen Power. I don’t see Mattias Samuelsson cutting it on the second line, as he has been constantly injured over the last years.

Could Adam Larsson be the missing piece?

The Sabres could trade the first overall pick to the Kraken. The Kraken have struggled the last few years and could use a big player to change their franchise. The Sabres would exchange first-round picks with the Kraken, who will also have a lottery pick, and acquire Adam Larsson. This trade would also involve sending Samuelsson to the Kraken, so the cap hits are the same.

Larsson is coming off a solid season where he played all 82 games, finished with 28 total points, and had an impressive plus-minus of +22. Larsson is a defensive defenseman who could be a great fit next to Power, as he is a veteran presence with playoff experience. The Sabres, to put it lightly, were horribly defensively last year and Larsson could help solve that issue.

This would solidify the Sabres' defence and make things easier on UPL and possibly Devon Levi as the goalies next year.

The lines would look as follows;

Dahlin-Byram

Power-Larsson

Clifton-Bernard-Docker

This would be a solid top-6 for the Sabres on the defensive side of things as they look to grow into a playoff contender next year.

I think the Sabres could also make this kind of a trade with the Minnesota Wild. A playoff team that needs that extra spark, after being eliminated in the first round for eight straight playoff appearances.

The Sabres would acquire a top-20 pick from the Wild as well as defenseman Jacob Middleton as another player to pair with Power. As Middleton brings the same kind of game as Larsson, and could fill into the same role on the second line defensive pairing.

Whatever the trade may be, the Sabres desperately need another top-6 defenseman. If they can acquire one and shed Samuelsson’s contract in the process, this would be more than a win. The Sabres are just a few pieces away from being contenders, and getting a defenseman like Larsson could help set them in the right direction.