The Buffalo Sabres has served as host of the annual NHL Draft Combine for over a decade and has hosted three NHL Drafts in the last 35 years. According to a report from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News, the club is putting in a bid to host the draft again.
The Sabres last hosted the NHL Draft in 2016, when the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Auston Matthews with the first overall selection, and hosted the annual event twice in the 90’s; at the Marine Midland Arena (KeyBank Center) in 1998, and at the Memorial Auditorium in 1991, when Hall-of-Famer Eric Lindros was selected by the Quebec Nordiques and refused to put on their jersey.
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The decentralized 2025 Draft last June in Los Angeles was widely considered a fiasco by fans, media, and reportedly by some in the NHL hierarchy, but National Hockey League GM’s pushed back on the criticism and doubled-down on the format that has team representatives staying at their home cities– similar to the structure of the NBA and NFL – instead of the 32 clubs sending their management to the host city to serve as a yearly convention.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last month that a host city, which is normally announced right after the previous draft, had yet to be decided, but that three or four cities were in the mix, including Montreal, which hosted every draft from 1963 to 1984, and five times from 1986 to 2022.
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