GASabresIUFAN

The are only 2 legit prospects (Johnson and Novikov) on that list and two very maybes (Komarov and Lindgren). That’s it. The new Strbak pick instantly is our 2nd best D prospect

Don’t count on it.

Need both. Need D in the pipeline.

Sabres are allergic to defense apparently

Sabres next up Wahlberg? Seriously?

Gajan first goalie to Chicago. Interesting.

Myatovic drafted a little early.

Lousy news. Thanks. Opens an opportunity for Savoie, Benson or Kulich?

I missed Sawchyn when I typed in the op. He’s right after Perron. Akey, on the other hand, is right where he belongs. He’s 47th on the consensus list. His average ranking is 54. McKenzie’s survey has him 61. 10 of the 17 rankings I used have him 57 to 95. This doesn’t mean some team doesn’t love him, like Toronto loved Cowen, but it’s a great indication that there is disagreement on his game. I personally think Akey will go in the top half of the second and at 39 or 45 he’d be a reasonable pick. That said he is an excellent skater who is smart at preventing zone entry. However the critics say he struggles with in zone physical play. He does have O. Seems like a smaller version of Willander without the strength yet.

I guess we should have projected Benson to the Sabres given Patrick as coach and he was Savoie's linemate.

Top forwards available: 1st rd grades: Cristall, Brindley and Heidt. Forward with high 2nd rd grades: Gauthier, Molgaard, then Haltunnen, Perron and Sawcyn. Gap to Ziemmer and Hameenaho. Other forwards of note: Lardis, Nelson, Wahlberg and Whitelaw. Top D available: Near 1st rd grade: Dragicevic (RD). Next group: Brzustewicz, Morin, Cagnoni, Akey, Minnetian, Price and Strbak. (all players have a similar grade) Top g available: High 2nd rd grades: Hrabel and Augustine I'm hoping for 2 of the "next group" D at 39 and 45 or one of the D and a goalie.

Why are some teams bad? Well just looking at the 1st rd results and it's clear again why the Yotes are bad. Two lay-up picks and they reached for both. I like both players, but to take But over Honzek and Wood is simply stupid. Simashev is a solid player, but isn't close to the 6th best player in this draft. I'd argue that he isn't in the top 3 of D in this draft. Also what the heck is Toronto thinking? Talk about a reach. Cowan is a late 2nd rd player at best. G-d I love to watch Toronto implode. I think the consensus board did alright this year. The top 21 players on the consensus board were all taken in the first 26 picks. Of the top 28 (the only 28 with an average 1st rd grade), 25 went in the 1st rd. The 3 guys with 1st rd average grades that didn't get drafted were guys whose stock seemed to fall over the last few months in Cristall (22), Brindley (23), Heidt (28). My guess is all 3 go early tomorrow. Guys 29-32 on the consensus board actually had an average ranking of 35 to 38. Of this group only Nadeau (30) and Edstrom (32) got drafted in the first, with Edstrom receiving much more hype in recent weeks. I'm disappointed Lindstein and Bonk are already gone, but not overly surprised either. McKenzie had Lindstein at 26 and Bonk at 28. Overall I'm happy with Benson, although it maybe time to trade a young forward or two to bolster the D.

This is probably the player they had scouted the most in the this draft. Not a huge surprise he fell because of his height, but he is a great hockey player. Better bargain than Savoie.

At the Cure, but Simashev 6th. Nuts!

It was the Crossroads. The team made the wrong turn.

Didn't KA talk today about Mitts' leadership inside the room?

I have said for weeks that this draft is at least 22 players deep with legit excellent to high-end talent. That said we got Kulich last year at 28. Snuggerud went 23rd last year. Those guys would easily project into the top 20 this year as well. The top 8 or so of this draft look better, but the depth in the first seems very similar.

Of the guys who may be available at 13, Danielson, Willander, Honzek, Simashev and Moore seem like the best organizational fit. Willander is the one player, if available, that I think is a perfect fit for the Sabres.

Hall was an inflection point. It was the straw that broke the camel's back on the TM build-out. This is also an inflection point. I honestly believe that the Sabres are 2 players from Cup contention( @Taro T is probably glad to hear that 🙂 ). If KA gets a top-4 caliber D and a vet to mentor Levi this team has the horses to go deep into the playoffs. I'll be so bold as to say if we get those two players, we might even be good enough to win the division.

He is playing NCAA hockey in the fall for BU. https://www.nhl.com/news/tom-willander-turns-down-sweden-pro-league-for-ncaa-before-2023-nhl-draft/c-344874284

1 CHI - C. Bedard 2 ANA - A. Fantilli 3 CBJ - W. Smith 4 SJS - L. Carlsson 5 MON - Leonard 6 AZ - Reinbacher 7 PHI - Dvorsky 8 WASH - Michkov 9 Det - Sandin-Pellikka 10 STL - Danielson 11 VAN - Willander 12 AZ - Benson 13 SABRES - Simachev (although hard to pass on Moore or Wood or Honzek)

It's a pipe dream to think KA is going to make a major move at forward. He is going to re-sign Jost and after that, trading VO is the most likely move and that isn't a sure thing. Even if VO is traded, all that does is either open a 3rd line wing or a 4th line center position. Either job will most likely be filled with some like Rousek or Kulich or Savoie. The team scored 300 goals last year. KA is expecting further improvement from JJP, Quinn, Krebs, and Greenway. I agree with him that not much needs to done upfront after the vets were re-signed. The defense and goaltending are another matter and this is where he should be concentrating his efforts. I admit though that I'd love to see him move up and grab Michkov in the draft. He is a franchise-level talent. Sign Orlov, Sign Fred Andersen or Korpisalo or Varlamov, re-sign Dahlin and Power and trade up for Michkov. If he does all that KA will have had an amazing off-season and the Sabres will be contenders for years to come because of those efforts.

I'd love to see such a bold move from KA. We certainly have the assets to make such a move. My guess is we'd have to get in front of Det and Wash for it to be a realistic possibility.

Exactly. Getting a veteran goalie should be on KA’s to do list right after getting a partner for Power. I do think UPL is tradeable and Comrie waived (he’ll likely clear) to Rochester as the no. 3.

And starts singing “won’t you be my neighbor?”