Is taking a Boqvist/Bouchard at #4 when there is a guy like Tkachuk still around going to bite us in the butt? If this was the NFL I’d say definitely go for defense but the NHL is so much different. You could draft Tkachuk and then look o trade a Nylander/Reinhart or someone to get your young defender in here. Just a thought!

Tkachuk definitely has the name value and can be that gritty winger, but Boqvist is a stud who is probably as close to NHL ready as you're going to get (apart from Dahlin). With such a premium on puck moving right handed dmen, if you get the chance to take him you've have to do it.

Quite or quiet

Sabres should go best available, they need a LWer just as bad or worse than a D man

Boqvist has dropped to the edge of or out of the top 10 in a bunch of mock drafts, and has been supplanted by other Dmen. I think its a reach to call him a stud

That’s sort of what I have seen with Boqvist too, idk why. We need talent at practically every position so that’s why I’d be wary against passing up a surefire guy like Tkachuk

Nice realistic signings and draft choices. I guess I’m in the minority here, but I don’t think Tkachuk is anything special. It’d be cool to get him as he has chemistry with Mittelstadt, but I don’t know if he really is the best player available at that spot. I’d take Boqvist or Hughes over Tkachuk at 4.

That’s nonsense
1) good defensemen are much harder to find than good wingers
2) Tkachuk isn’t a sure thing, there’s a question as to whether he will score goals in the NHL (he’s struggling to do so in college)
3) we have a lot of wingers coming (most are able to switch sides if necessary), some of them will work out...
we don’t have much coming in defense though
Guhle & Nelson & Borgen are all nice, but choosing a defenseman at #4 would give us a guy with top pair upside,
which we desperately need

Finally...
a top defenseman is sooooooo much more important than a top LW
At pick 4, i think that talent & risk/reward is definitely close enough to choose one of the defensemen over Tkachuk
(I would take Zadina or Svechnikov if we picked 2 or 3 though)

With all the young forwards we have ready to break into the lineup...
i see no need for guys like Pouliot or Nolan to be re-signed.
Would much rather go with young guys who are showing they’re ready, like Bailey & Baptiste.
Griffith & Criscuolo back ONLY for Rochester
Josefson would be ok as our 13th forward

Time to start infusing youth into the lineup though
Even trading Girgensons &/or Larsson so that C.J. Smith, Fasching, Asplund, Olofsson, etc can get a chance is ok by me

We aren’t going to the playoffs next year unless some big moves are made...
so if this is where we are at,
then out with guys who aren’t part of the future,
and in with young players that are ready

I said best available not Tkachuk, and as i was stating before outside Dahlin, no Dman is expected to be in the NHL next year, let alone be an immediate top guy. If you've been watching the scouting, every other dman in this draft has fluctuated. Boqvist was top 4 at one point, has been outside the top ten while others have been gaining. None are stable, all of them will need time. Boqvist is about on par with Risto, at this point. On that timeline Borgen will already be in the NHL. The forwards there, too, may need a year or 2, but they are all better than the Sabres current crop. I've been vocal about not investing too much in Nylander, and after that they have Smith and Olofsson. Baptiste and Bailey are nothing but depth players, just like Girgensons and Larsson. Fasching looks to be the same at this point. The Sabres can signed a mature, good, stop gap (till Borgen becomes fulltime) RHD that will stabilize the D, which could be expected to be Scandella, Guhle, McCabe, Risto, Nelson (he's earned bottom pair minutes next year), and Bogo at 7th (hopefully). Daniel Brickley could be signed as well adding to Beaulieu in the depth, as well as Antipin if they see a fit for him. I dont think the Sabres D is in as bad shape as everyone else wants to believe. This year it looks bad but Antipin is basically a rookie (though i dont know if hes much more than a depth player), Guhle is not there, and they planned on having Bogo (for some reason) so they've been running AHLers in their 2nd and 3rd pairing. Theirs not many forwards available that are good stop gaps nor are their any that are good long term solutions, outside of Tavares. So its not nonsense, they need to go with the best available.

Borgen isn’t even signed yet,
and you’re talking like he’s gonna be a difference maker for us
For comparison...
he’s not better than McCabe was in college
Maybe he ends up being better,
but we really have no idea at this point

U keep saying “best available”
But after the top3, everyone has question marks
Tkachuk isn’t significantly better than all these guys on defense
When it’s close like that, you can pick for position
Especially when you’re in such dire need at the spot

When did I say that about Borgen i projected him to be in the AHL for the next 2 years, how is that me saying he's going to be a difference maker. Also I dont think you understand, I'm not calling Tkachuk best available. I'm also saying they take the best available player regardless of position because their is no 'stud' dman there and they have needs everywhere. Its all moot though, if the Sabres pick outside the top 3, I'll be livid.

Tkachuk would give you guys the kind of skill and sandpaper on the wings you haven't had since Evander Kane.

On a more serious note, if all things scouting wise are somewhat equal, I agree you go D over a winger.