Sabres Prospect Pool 2025-26

[Flashsabre]

On 7/11/2025 at 9:41 AM, LGR4GM said:

Luke Osburn is probably our best LHD prospect and might be our best D prospect outside of Mrtka. I think he makes team USA. 

I remember a few online prospect guys who were really high on Osborn when the Sabres drafted him and really sung his praises 

[USMCSnyper]

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.

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.

Mark Mancari 2.0

[inkman]

1 hour ago, USMCSnyper said:

Mark Mancari 2.0

I mean career trajectory, probably but these two couldn’t be much more different.  Mancari reminded me of a guy who’d slam 15 beers at night choke down a bunch of heaters and be back at it at the rink the next day as he had some sweet mitts with no foot speed. 
 

Rosen has all the tools but is probably not quite good enough to be an NHLer.  

[Flashsabre]

Wow Rosen written off already. The guy needs a legit chance on an NHL roster. If it’s not here trade him somewhere where he gets a shot

[kas23]

18 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Wow Rosen written off already. The guy needs a legit chance on an NHL roster. If it’s not here trade him somewhere where he gets a shot

Yeah, I’ll give him this coming year. He really needs to pull together and soon. 

[Ctaeth]

6 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Wow Rosen written off already. The guy needs a legit chance on an NHL roster. If it’s not here trade him somewhere where he gets a shot

underrated, for sure.  he's got all the tools.  fast, good shot, decent passer, alright on the powerplay.  if i remember correctly, i think the amerks were even using him on the penalty kill as well.  played well in the playoffs and seems to do pretty good when it matters the most.  he's had a lot of game winning goals over the last 2 years.  bunch of injury prone forwards, maybe he gets a real shot this year?  him and/or Östlund will definitely be the first forward call ups

[dudacek]

US has a split squad at the Summer showcase, which functions a little as a training/tryout camp for the WJC.

Zeimer is alongside Hagens on the 1st line of one team, Osburn and Kleber are the 1st pair on the other.

Edited Sunday at 11:09 PM by dudacek

[sabremike]

Imagine having lottery picks for over a decade and ending up with a prospect pool as unremarkable and underwhelming as ours. 

[shrader]

1 hour ago, sabremike said:

Imagine having lottery picks for over a decade and ending up with a prospect pool as unremarkable and underwhelming as ours. 

You mean all of those lottery picks currently in the NHL other than Nylander? Lottery picks aren’t the ones who fill out prospect pools. 

[sabremike]

51 minutes ago, shrader said:

You mean all of those lottery picks currently in the NHL other than Nylander? Lottery picks aren’t the ones who fill out prospect pools. 

Multiple ones are no longer in the organization and Jack Quinn looks like a huge bust. And you are correct: our prospect pool is crap because we haven't found ***** outside of the first two rounds since God knows when. Our drafting and development completely sucks which is why we are the biggest disaster of an organization in hockey history with no end in sight.

[dudacek]

What the current Sabres have to show for the past 12 years of their own first-round picks:

Kulich, Levi, Tuch, Krebs, Östlund, Greenway, Byram, Dahlin, Norris, Quinn, Power, McLeod, Benson, Malenstyn, Helenius, Mrtka and a 2026 4th-rounder. 

What they have to show from the rest of the draft over those 12 years:

Timmins, Kozak, Kesselring, Doan, Bryson, Luukkonen, Samuelsson, various prospects

What they have to show from various signings and trades not directly involving those 12 years of picks:

Lyon, Danforth, Jones, Zucker, Thompson, Johnson

Edited Monday at 04:04 PM by dudacek

[GASabresIUFAN]

10 hours ago, dudacek said:

Thompson, Johnson

Isn’t Thompson part of the Compher, Grigorenko - ROR - trade tree?  Last I looked Compher (2013)was a 2nd rd pick from the tank era and Grigorenko (2012) was a 1st.  

Isn’t Johnson, a 1st in 2019, part of the same trade tree?

 

[Taro T]

36 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Isn’t Thompson part of the Compher, Grigorenko - ROR - trade tree?  Last I looked Compher (2013)was a 2nd rd pick from the tank era and Grigorenko (2012) was a 1st.  

Isn’t Johnson, a 1st in 2019, part of the same trade tree?

 

The Grigorenko pick would've been outside the 12 year window he's looking at.

And, he did state the last batch of players were those that weren't DIRECTLY stemming from any of those picks.  So, can see why he didn't include guys that came into the organization a trade later wouldn't be counted as stemming directly from Compher and the pick that went out for O'Reilly.

[dudacek]

43 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Isn’t Thompson part of the Compher, Grigorenko - ROR - trade tree?  Last I looked Compher (2013)was a 2nd rd pick from the tank era and Grigorenko (2012) was a 1st.  

Isn’t Johnson, a 1st in 2019, part of the same trade tree?

 

Taro has it.

[LGR4GM]

 

 

[dudacek]

I think I’m starting to get sucked in by Ziemwr.

[LGR4GM]

13 hours ago, dudacek said:

I think I’m starting to get sucked in by Ziemwr.

The Sabres would have been better served if Forton was smart enough to draft Ziemer's in the 2nd and 3rd round more often. 

[dudacek]

Interesting to hear Marty Biron talking about how Topias Leinonen has caught his eye.

He didn’t go as far as to say he’s high on him, but he was raving about his elite size and his ability to fill the net.

Says he’s looking forward to to watching how he does in Rochester this year.

Leinonen fascinates me because I have never seen a 2nd-round pick dismissed as quickly as he was.

In terms of goalie development curves, Rochester backup is pretty much where he should be right now.

Nobody is convinced yet however, that he belongs there.

His progress this year will be one of the more fascinating prospect stories to follow.

Edited 16 hours ago by dudacek

[Flashsabre]

44 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Interesting to hear Marty Biron talking about how Topias Leinonen has caught his eye.

He didn’t go as far as to say he’s high on him, but he was raving about his elite size and his ability to fill the net.

Says he’s looking forward to to watching how he does in Rochester this year.

Leinonen fascinates me because I have never seen a 2nd-round pick dismissed as quickly as he was.

In terms of goalie development curves, Rochester backup is pretty much where he should be right now.

Nobody is convinced yet however, that he belongs there.

His progress this year will be one of the more fascinating prospect stories to follow.

Yeah some have completely written him off because they wanted other players in the 2nd round.

Goalies are complete voodoo and he could easily turn into something.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Interesting to hear Marty Biron talking about how Topias Leinonen has caught his eye.

He didn’t go as far as to say he’s high on him, but he was raving about his elite size and his ability to fill the net.

Says he’s looking forward to to watching how he does in Rochester this year.

Leinonen fascinates me because I have never seen a 2nd-round pick dismissed as quickly as he was.

In terms of goalie development curves, Rochester backup is pretty much where he should be right now.

Nobody is convinced yet however, that he belongs there.

His progress this year will be one of the more fascinating prospect stories to follow.

God for once I just want Forton to prove me wrong, just once. 

[DarthEbriate]

13 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Yeah some have completely written him off because they wanted other players in the 2nd round.

Goalies are complete voodoo and he could easily turn into something.

For starters, and I'll say it even when he's winning Vezinas for the Sabres...  it's right there in his surname.

 

But the reason he's been poorly regarded as a product is that his performance was awful and he had some injuries along the way. If you look at Leinonen's years in the lower Liiga circuits, he's never dominating. There are a few blips of .900+, but it's rare. Ullmark (in SHL, but a 6th round pick) by comparison got into the .900s early in his J18-J20 life and stayed there, whether playing for Modo in the SHL or at the lower levels.

Leinonen finally had a good (not great) season last year, but it was in Allsvenskan - 2nd tier level. His Liiga career thus far is an awful 1-10-4 with .844 sv% and 3.90 GAA.

Leinonen could still become great, but he has a long way to go.

For direct comparison, Niklas Kokko - the 2nd goalie taken in the 2022 draft (17 picks later by SEA) has +.900 % in almost every league he's been in (Mestis, Liiga - in 34 games, and .913 in 33 AHL games last season). His performance is that of a top goalie chosen in a draft.

[LGR4GM]

56 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

For starters, and I'll say it even when he's winning Vezinas for the Sabres...  it's right there in his surname.

 

But the reason he's been poorly regarded as a product is that his performance was awful and he had some injuries along the way. If you look at Leinonen's years in the lower Liiga circuits, he's never dominating. There are a few blips of .900+, but it's rare. Ullmark (in SHL, but a 6th round pick) by comparison got into the .900s early in his J18-J20 life and stayed there, whether playing for Modo in the SHL or at the lower levels.

Leinonen finally had a good (not great) season last year, but it was in Allsvenskan - 2nd tier level. His Liiga career thus far is an awful 1-10-4 with .844 sv% and 3.90 GAA.

Leinonen could still become great, but he has a long way to go.

For direct comparison, Niklas Kokko - the 2nd goalie taken in the 2022 draft (17 picks later by SEA) has +.900 % in almost every league he's been in (Mestis, Liiga - in 34 games, and .913 in 33 AHL games last season). His performance is that of a top goalie chosen in a draft.