Rd 1, Pick 13: Zach Benson

[TRIP65]

12 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

I get it. It's a good pick based on compete and hockey IQ and skill. It's just that he makes Savoie obsolete. Benson is better than Savoie.

They were paired together in the WHL Final and were overpowered by good defense and their contemporary WHLers in Seattle. And if you've got two top-13 NHL Draft picks on the same WHL line... they shouldn't disappear for entire games in the Final.

Size and yes now you can trade Savoie or Benson. Wouldn't expect this till after camp. Sabres wouldn't ship out Prospects before. Ship out Olofsson, Middlestat, Krebs, next years picks. You can sign UFA's or Jost back too.

Personally, rather have Musty cause he is more like Tuch. Those are the players I covet. Plus we have Rosen and Quinn which are Basically Benson already in Majors. But if your a gambling man your odds of getting a great player out of Savoie or Benson, just went WAY UP!

[inkman]

5 minutes ago, TRIP65 said:

Size and yes now you can trade Savoie or Benson. Wouldn't expect this till after camp. Sabres wouldn't ship out Prospects before. Ship out Olofsson, Middlestat, Krebs, next years picks. You can sign UFA's or Jost back too.

Personally, rather have Musty cause he is more like Tuch. Those are the players I covet. Plus we have Rosen and Quinn which are Basically Benson already in Majors. But if you’re a gambling man your odds of getting a great player out of Savoie or Benson, just went WAY UP!

Maybe Kevyn is more ruthless than I think but trading one of the former teammates right after they reunite them seems fairly cold.  

[LGR4GM]

33 minutes ago, nucci said:

Why is it a steal?

 

28 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Because most people had him rated higher than 13.  The only reason he dropped was size.  Some list him at 5'-9", others at 5'-10".  I tend to think the 5'-9" figure is out of date and he's grown a bit.  If he squeaks out another inch (he just turned 18 last month; it could happen) I think the "small" tag could disappear.

 

22 minutes ago, Curt said:

He measured 5’9.75” 170 lbs at the draft combine.

@Curt has the combine height and weight nailed. I'll also add that with a May birthday, he theoretically should still grow an inch or so. If it was an October bday I would be a little more worried about that but even if he ends up at 5'10", there is a lot of high end traits he displays. 

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole... here is his highlight package, all 30mins of it. One more note, he started in the WHL at 15 where he was almost a ppg guy with 20pts in 24 games. Last year at 16 he dropped 63 in 68games and this year he outproduced our boy Matt Savoie with 98 in 60. Last year he actually lead the Ice in playoff points. This year Savoie did and Benson was 4th in playoff points (17 in 15 games). Not that +/- is excedeedingly useful but he lead the team in it with a +68. 

 

[TRIP65]

12 hours ago, Eleven said:

Certainly not.  But How many of Quinn, Savoie, Kulich, Östlund, Rosen, Rousek, Weissbach, Kisakov, Peterka, and Benson can the team realistically use?

It has nothing to do with size and everything to do with overstock.

Trade baby trade

12 hours ago, Radar said:

Well I hope you're here and cut down on the drink.

Blue Light has never killed anyone

[LGR4GM]

7 minutes ago, TRIP65 said:

Size and yes now you can trade Savoie or Benson. Wouldn't expect this till after camp. Sabres wouldn't ship out Prospects before. Ship out Olofsson, Middlestat, Krebs, next years picks. You can sign UFA's or Jost back too.

Personally, rather have Musty cause he is more like Tuch. Those are the players I covet. Plus we have Rosen and Quinn which are Basically Benson already in Majors. But if your a gambling man your odds of getting a great player out of Savoie or Benson, just went WAY UP!

 Jack Quinn plays a 1,000,000% different game than Isak Rosen. Benson actually does have some similar defensive attributes but Quinn has more size and a better shot where Benson has I would say a bit higher revved motor. I will never understand how Jack Quinn gets repeatedly underrated at times around the internets, kid is already one the Sabres best defensive forwards and Quinn is actually very physical, he just does it in more subtle ways. 

I would keep both Benson and Savoie at this point. I might look to trade Rosen or Östlund if it would get me a good RHD prospect (in a package)

[TRIP65]

12 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

It gives a nice bit of redundancy and allows us to move a guy like Rosen or Östlund without worry

Rosen is going nowhere, might be better than any of these other players and Sabres can own him for quite awhile. Rosen is also NHL ready

[Scottysabres]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

 Jack Quinn plays a 1,000,000% different game than Isak Rosen. Benson actually does have some similar defensive attributes but Quinn has more size and a better shot where Benson has I would say a bit higher revved motor. I will never understand how Jack Quinn gets repeatedly underrated at times around the internets, kid is already one the Sabres best defensive forwards and Quinn is actually very physical, he just does it in more subtle ways. 

I would keep both Benson and Savoie at this point. I might look to trade Rosen or Östlund if it would get me a good RHD prospect (in a package)

Logical, reasonable post. 👏 

[Curt]

1 minute ago, TRIP65 said:

Rosen is going nowhere, might be better than any of these other players and Sabres can own him for quite awhile. Rosen is also NHL ready

I don’t understand this player evaluation.  You are going to need to go into more detail to convince me.

[TRIP65]

12 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

Hard to tell with 17 year olds... 

Kid could be 6' 200#'s in 1-2 years

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, TRIP65 said:

Rosen is going nowhere, might be better than any of these other players and Sabres can own him for quite awhile. Rosen is also NHL ready

Negative. 

[TRIP65]

12 hours ago, Pimlach said:

I like the pick.  Everything says good value at 13 

KA has about 6 forward blocking him.  Time to make a trade soon to help areas in need today.  

Guys I keep are Kulich, Rosen, Rousek and Savoie or Benson. I expect 1-2 of these guys to be on Sabres for Playoffs. Can trade anyone else not on top 2 lines.

[Curt]

You know, I was reminded of something this morning.  NHL GMs just flat out overthink the draft a lot of the time.

If you just told a computer to select the highest scoring CHL forward available at every draft pick, it would find more players that go on to have successful NHL careers than a lot of GMs.

Sometimes it’s as simple as picking the best junior players.  Chances are that they will go on to have the best NHL careers.

Edited June 29, 2023 by Curt

[FrenchConnection44]

12 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

Sorry, is there a rule that you can’t have 2 guys under 5’10 on your team? 

We are building our own set of Kucherov, Point, Stamkos type forwards. I’ll take that. 

[TRIP65]

12 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

Might be Skinners replacement down the line as mentioned.

Skinner - Thompson - Tuch 

Mittelstadt - Cozens - Quinn

Benson- Östlund - Savoie

Rousek - Krebs - Kulich

Rosen/weissbach fall out of this for me, but never know what will happen 2 years down the line.

 

No playoffs with two Rookie lines

[LGR4GM]

Elite Prospects wrote the following: 

Quote

Much has been made of the Big Four in this year’s draft, but Zach Benson’s play this season was such that we couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t more of a Big Five at the top of this class. Certainly, his quality was more closely aligned with the players in front of him on our board than anyone from the No. 6 spot onward. He’s that damn good. And he’s been that damn good for a while now.

 

[TRIP65]

11 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

I think the pipeline is critical. You've got Dahlin and Power and you're going to pay them. You're going to need a continual flow of guys because you're going to lose them in UFA after good playoff runs where they look really good next to Dahlin or Power. Right now they've only got 4 D prospects (Johnson, Novikov, Lindgren, Komarov). They need defensemen. And this should be the last season for awhile that the Sabres draft in the top 16 or have a bunch of picks vs. shipping off 2nds at the deadline for rentals.

Not going to lose in UFA. By that time you will trade young players 26-28 for Draft picks again. Continuous flow of Talent if you don't miss on too many. Benson was BEST AVAILABLE pick, need would have been Sandin Pellikka or Quentin Musty.

[LGR4GM]

More fun quotes this one from Benson himself:

Quote

“I’ve worked on my skating a ton. Ever since I was little, I was in power skating camps. Still to this day, this summer, I worked with Barb Aidelbaum and just wanted to get a quicker first step and lengthen my stride a bit. Whenever you can work on it, it’s the most important thing in today’s game. Absolutely, you can never be too good at it. Every summer I try and improve every facet of my game.” – Zach Benson, October 2022

 

[TRIP65]

1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:

I looked it up. It’s a word. Awesome to learn a new and cool word today. 

Have to be able to spell it close for spell check to work

 

AWESOME

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

More fun quotes this one from Benson himself:

 

This stuff comes from the mouths of most of the Sabres top prospects.

Adams has a type. Put a bunch of players of that type together and you create an atmosphere of constant improvement.

And you get the types of jumps we saw last year.

[FrenchConnection44]

14 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

So many great plays. Love that he is so tenacious on D.

Two of the plays I loved:

When he dives to one knee, poke checks the puck, pops up, skips past the defender then passes behind him for a goal. 

Then the back check at center ice, turns and skates all the way in on goal and scores!

Edited June 29, 2023 by FrenchConnection44

[kas23]

2 hours ago, Kr632 said:

Alex Tuch with Vegas. 

But, knowing that the Sabres haven’t been to the playoffs in years, despite not wanting to be disputatious, he was clearly being disputatious. 

[TRIP65]

1 hour ago, Stormcloudmember66 said:

Love this pick! He was a steal at 13!!! Ok, smallish, but watch his highlight reels. This kid is smart as hell and gets a ton of props from all the damn scouts! Passing sense second to only McJesus? Yes Please!!!! Plays solid defense....uhhh hell yea!!! Hockey sense through the roof???? WTH, can i have another please!! Ok we have a full cabinet of talent in the forward Dept..... time to address some defense and a young minder!!! 

5' 10" isn't small but you have my attention at 6'  Benson's skills make him a Much better player then Musty at 6'2" right now

Personally I would still take Musty cause you just can't create Size and skill. Take 6 - Tuch's for top 2 lines and beat everyone not name 6 - Crosby, McDavid.

 

[kas23]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

If that's a word, I love it.

He gave the word and then basically gave its definition in the same sentence. 

[TRIP65]

38 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 Jack Quinn plays a 1,000,000% different game than Isak Rosen. Benson actually does have some similar defensive attributes but Quinn has more size and a better shot where Benson has I would say a bit higher revved motor. I will never understand how Jack Quinn gets repeatedly underrated at times around the internets, kid is already one the Sabres best defensive forwards and Quinn is actually very physical, he just does it in more subtle ways. 

I would keep both Benson and Savoie at this point. I might look to trade Rosen or Östlund if it would get me a good RHD prospect (in a package)

Rosen is ready and needed, he is going nowhere. Just by admitting he is different than Quinn makes him useful for Sabres. Savoie/Benson are NOT NHL ready right now, Rosen is. Savoie or Benson can develop on Sabres but that is NOT what Sabres are doing now. Rochester is up to speed now and the perfect place to develop, hour down the road.

There are 3 players who have some trade value that if moved creates space for three player. Move Krebs, Olofsson, Middlestat at some point and bring up Rousek, Kulich and Rosen at some point this year Permanently.

[FrenchConnection44]

Hard to believe all the complaining about too much forward talent.

And he’s a two way forward. Which is lacking on this team.

He’s been comp’d to Kucherov, Point, Marner, Marc Savard. Give me a 30/60-80 guy who defends any day. 

Not all our talent in the lower levels will pan out. And what exactly is wrong with having 12 top-6 talent players? Just means our 3-4 lines will be that much more deadly. 

He was the 3rd leading scorer in the WHL at age 17 most of the year. Turned 18 in May. He’s still super young. He’s 5’9.75, 170. When he gets to 180-185 (and he could still get taller), with his defensive stick skills and quick feet - plus added speed - he will be a pesky player opponents will hate and who will just make plays up and down the ice. 

We went BPA on our board, no doubt. In the NHL you have to go BPA. Too many players drafted in the first don’t pan out. 

In 2-3-4 years, odds are high we will be real happy the board fell as it did.