Sabres Prospect Pool 2025-26

[GASabresIUFAN]

Who are our current prospects?  My general rule is as long as the player is 24 and under and is waivers exempt he is considered a prospect.

In that context Benson (he is still waivers exempt despite 2 years in the NHL), Kulich, Kozak and Doan are still prospects.  Kulich, Doan and Kozak all also spent time in Rochester next season.   

I'm also going to restrict myself to guys I think have a legit shot at the NHL or at least being AAAA players. (Bold = 2025 draft pick)

Group 1:  Guys likely to (or should) start the year in the NHL - Levi, Doan, Kulich and Kozak

Group 2:  High end picks - Rosen, Helenius, Mrtka, Östlund,

Group 3: Maturing guys close to NHL ready - Novikov & Komarov

Group 4: early and middle round picks showing potential - Kleber, Ziemer, Osburn, Wahlberg, Strbak, McCarthy, Neuchev, Leinonen, Sardarian, Bedkowski, Kucharcik

Group 5: FA or Late round picks who have potential - Brunet, Leenders, Richard, Geary, Ratzlaff, Kopff, Meloche, Laberge, & Prokhorov

I'll add guys once drafted today.

Others Still in the system:  Ryan Johnson (31st - 2019), Kisakov (53rd - 2021), Polatpov (33rd  - 2021 - signed in RUS through 26/27), Miedema (109th in 2023), Nadeau (97th in 2021).

Edited Sunday at 03:04 AM by GASabresIUFAN

[St. Pete Gogolak]

Rosen is going to be five years out and still not a sniff of the big league?  

[bob_sauve28]

31 minutes ago, St. Pete Gogolak said:

Rosen is going to be five years out and still not a sniff of the big league?  

He doesn't really check any of the boxes making us harder to play against and better on defense 

[dudacek]

34 minutes ago, St. Pete Gogolak said:

Rosen is going to be five years out and still not a sniff of the big league?  

I think if Rosen is in the countdown to the end of his Sabre career.

If he isn’t thrown in to a trade this summer, he will go back to Europe next summer.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Rosen is the one obvious trade piece.  Östlund is next on the trade watch.  

[Turbo44]

2 hours ago, St. Pete Gogolak said:

Rosen is going to be five years out and still not a sniff of the big league?  

Not when your stat line in 15 nhl games is 0 goals, 1 assist, -6. Some guys are just AHL guys unfortunately....bad pick

[Big Guava]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Who are our current prospects?  My general rule is as long as the player is 24 and under and is waivers exempt he is considered a prospect.

In that context Benson (he is still waivers exempt despite 2 years in the NHL), Kulich, Kozak and Doan are still prospects.  Kulich, Doan and Kozak all also spent time in Rochester next season.   

I'm also going to restrict myself to guys I think have a legit shot at the NHL or at least being AAAA players. 

Group 1:  Guys likely to (or should) start the year in the NHL - Levi, Doan, Kulich and Kozak

Group 2:  High end picks - Rosen, Helenius, Mrtka, Östlund,

Group 3: Maturing guys close to NHL ready - Novikov & Komarov

Group 4: early and middle round picks showing potential - Kleber, Ziemer, Osburn, Wahlberg, Strbak, McCarthy, Neuchev, Leinonen, Sardarian

Group 5: FA or Late round picks who have potential - Brunet, Leenders, Richard, Geary, Ratzlaff & Kopff

I'll add guys once drafted today.

Others Still in the system:  Ryan Johnson (31st - 2019), Kisakov (53rd - 2021), Polatpov (33rd  - 2021 - signed in RUS through 26/27), Miedema (109th in 2023), Nadeau (97th in 2021).

Johnson would likely be in group 1 or 2...he played quite a few games for the Sabres and looked decent most times.

5 hours ago, St. Pete Gogolak said:

Rosen is going to be five years out and still not a sniff of the big league?  

Someone they had on WGR talking hockey described Rosen as a "tweener". A player too good for the AHL but not good enough for the NHL.

[GASabresIUFAN]

On 6/28/2025 at 5:19 PM, Big Guava said:

Johnson would likely be in group 1 or 2...he played quite a few games for the Sabres and looked decent most times.

I don't think Johnson is in the Sabres plans.  Even with our terrible D last season, the Sabres only gave him 3 games.  To make matters worse for him the Sabres have acquired since the deadline JBD, Kesselring and Timmins, re-sign Byron and have Dahlin, Power and Samuelsson under big contracts.  At best he's 8th D, but I think Novikov and Komarov are ahead of him on the Sabres internal depth chart.  

 

Edited 6 hours ago by GASabresIUFAN

[GASabresIUFAN]

I've update the op to reflect the 2025 draft.  

 

[Taro T]

On 6/28/2025 at 12:13 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

Rosen is the one obvious trade piece.  Östlund is next on the trade watch.  

Would say Östlund is the obvious trade piece.  He still likely has value around the league but Helenius is the better prospect now and the Sabres would be loathe to part with him; Noah not as much IMHO.  (And Noah still might pan out as an NHLer.)

Rosen only gets added as a trade piece if somebody needs SOMETHING, ANYTHING else other than a 6th or 7th round draft pick coming back.  Yes, Buffalo would love to deal him; but somebody has to actually WANT him using up one of their 50 slots in order for them to successfully do so.

Hope for his sake, somebody really doesn't want Adams throwing in a 7th to balance everything out.

[Turbo44]

Rosen and his 0G, 1A -6 in 25 nhl games doesn’t have gm’s salivating

his AHL numbers are okay but nothing great

he’s just a partial wiff of a 1st rd pick ….it happens

[Archie Lee]

15 hours ago, Turbo44 said:

Rosen and his 0G, 1A -6 in 25 nhl games doesn’t have gm’s salivating

his AHL numbers are okay but nothing great

he’s just a partial wiff of a 1st rd pick ….it happens

15 games, not 25. Rosen’s most common linemates in the NHL?  The likes of Tyson Jost, Brandon Biro, fellow rookies Kozak and Östlund. 

Contrast that with Mackie Samoskevich in Florida. Same draft as Rosen. Similar AHL #’s. Similar size. He breaks in with Florida last year because the panthers are up against the cap and NEED a rookie on an entry level contract. He gets 31 points in 72 games this past year. His most common linemate? Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett. 

If they Sabres were a serious NHL team, Rosen would play on the 3rd line this year with McLeod and Zucker or Greenway.  And he would put up 30-35 points and nobody would think he was a complete bust. But, the Sabres are not a serious NHL team and they are failing Rosen, who is likely to rot on the vine. 
 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Archie Lee

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Sad that Johnson seemed to fall through the Sabres cracks. He played well when called up and held his own defensively! He could be a good trade piece.

[Mr. MVP]

23 hours ago, Taro T said:

Would say Östlund is the obvious trade piece.  He still likely has value around the league but Helenius is the better prospect now and the Sabres would be loathe to part with him; Noah not as much IMHO.  (And Noah still might pan out as an NHLer.)

Rosen only gets added as a trade piece if somebody needs SOMETHING, ANYTHING else other than a 6th or 7th round draft pick coming back.  Yes, Buffalo would love to deal him; but somebody has to actually WANT him using up one of their 50 slots in order for them to successfully do so.

Hope for his sake, somebody really doesn't want Adams throwing in a 7th to balance everything out.

Rosen has to be worth more than a 6th round pick.  You’re underestimating his value. 
And I don’t think Östlund is that far behind Helenius.  I think those two are going to battle it out the next two years to see who will get what spot on the Sabres. 

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Mr. MVP said:

Rosen has to be worth more than a 6th round pick.  You’re underestimating his value. 
And I don’t think Östlund is that far behind Helenius.  I think those two are going to battle it out the next two years to see who will get what spot on the Sabres. 

Personally like Östlund (not as much as Helenius, but like him), but if a team is looking for an F prospect either he or Wahlberg is the guy I'd expect the Sabres to be willing to reluctantly part with that would actually be asked for by another team.  Want the Sabres to treat Helenius like the Blues treated Thomas.  You aren't offering us a good enough player for us to let you pry him from our clutches.  (Now if you'd offer us X instead, for that exact same package but with Helenius included instead of other prospect THEN we might be able to find a deal; but X better be who's coming back to us.)

Can't see anybody targeting Rosen.  And he could surprise and become a legit middle 6er.  But based when he's done so far, don't see anybody clamboring for him.