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Sabres, Avalanche talking about top pick

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Could the Colorado Avalanche send the first overall pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft to the Buffalo Sabres? The two sides have at the very least talked about it, according to Sabres director of amateur scouting Kevin Devine.

“We have had conversations with Colorado... I think it’s how far they want to move back,” Devine told WGR 550. “And you take the situation in Colorado and where there’s a new regime in there with Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy.

“I don’t think Patrick came in there with the idea of a long rebuild. So I think they might be willing to listen to a few things.”

Devine added that he thinks the Avalanche are engaged in internal meetings this week and that talks will resume “at some point.”

Although discussing a trade and actually pulling the trigger on one are two very different things, this isn’t out of the realm of possibilities. After all, new Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy did raise the possibility of Colorado moving the pick.

The Sabres currently control the eighth and 16th overall picks. The 2013 NHL Entry Draft is believed to be unusually deep, so those selections could turn into a pair of very good players.

Meanwhile, the team that controls the top pick will get to choose between defenseman Seth Jones and forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin. Each of those three has the potential to develop into the kind of guy you can build a franchise around.