Sabres Development Camp June 30th Harbor Center

[Thorny]

 

[kas23]

On 7/1/2025 at 9:39 PM, Taro T said:

Pretty sure you're thinking of the Prospects Challenge which happens right before TC opens in September.  Expect they'll still be doing that again.  Last year IIRC there were 5 teams partaking.

That’s our Stanley Cup. 

[The Jokeman]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

The Sabres have almost no forwards in the pipeline of note. It's basically 3 guys. They've spent almost all their 2nd and 3rd round picks on defense, goalie, or trade. The Sabres RHD pool is deeper than their forwards pool. 

Should drafted Roger McQueen over Radim Mrtka.

[Flashsabre]

3 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

Should drafted Roger McQueen over Radim Mrtka.

Don’t know that yet. McQueen has the health issues and Mrtka has a ton of upside. Kid is very young for the draft and hasn’t played a ton of high level, coached up hockey and still was Seattle’s go to dman when he came over during the season.

 

Wait a couple years and see.

[dudacek]

44 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Don’t know that yet. McQueen has the health issues and Mrtka has a ton of upside. Kid is very young for the draft and hasn’t played a ton of high level, coached up hockey and still was Seattle’s go to dman when he came over during the season.

 

Wait a couple years and see.

It will be interesting.

People talked a lot about McQueen’s back injury, but setting that aside, as a player he reminded me of Kirby Dach.

I preferred Mrtka.

[LGR4GM]

Y'all keep spelling Bear wrong but yes Mrtka has a lot of upside. 

[The Jokeman]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Y'all keep spelling Bear wrong but yes Mrtka has a lot of upside. 

I wanted Bear too but didn't expect McQueen to fall to 9.

[LGR4GM]

 

 

[JoeSchmoe]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

I wish I could tell who's who. There's some pretty nice plays being made there.

[PromoTheRobot]

5 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

I wish I could tell who's who. There's some pretty nice plays being made there.

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-2025-development-camp-roster

[PromoTheRobot]

14 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

The Sabres have almost no forwards in the pipeline of note. It's basically 3 guys. They've spent almost all their 2nd and 3rd round picks on defense, goalie, or trade. The Sabres RHD pool is deeper than their forwards pool. 

They have 20 forwards in the pipeline, 16 defenders, 5 goalies.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/53/buffalo-sabres/in-the-system

[LGR4GM]

2 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

They have 20 forwards in the pipeline, 16 defenders, 5 goalies.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/53/buffalo-sabres/in-the-system

Not all draft picks are created equal. 

[JoeSchmoe]

18 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-2025-development-camp-roster

Thanks. It's just kind hard to see in that fast paced video without an announcer.

[Thorny]

17 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Not all draft picks are created equal. 

Also 2x the forwards play so 20-16 isn’t a good ratio anyways 

[dudacek]

I think what we are feeling is the hangover of having such a rich selection of prospects this time three years ago and few of them hitting the way we had hoped.

We now have a more typical group of prospects and wonder if the previous group didn't do anything how the hell will these guys?

[PromoTheRobot]

59 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Not all draft picks are created equal. 

Did you scout them all?

[Thorny]

27 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I think what we are feeling is the hangover of having such a rich selection of prospects this time three years ago and few of them hitting the way we had hoped.

We now have a more typical group of prospects and wonder if the previous group didn't do anything how the hell will these guys?

Our strength was in futures and we cashed it out to near-non existent results and a below-average roster. What we are left with is like you say an average pipeline, with various strengths and weaknesses, with almost no confidence in their ability to turn that into much of anything this go around when it’s a worse overall organization starting point than last time.

My solution? I’m converting the strength to where it should be: converting the below average roster and average pipeline into an average roster with a below average pipeline.

1) winning needs to be the focus, in the now (even just for the sake of salvaging the future!)

2) we will be wanting to work on rehabilitating our pipeline anyways so weakening it some before we do so isn’t the end of the world and if we are better in the now we’ll have the time to do so 

like I said, keeps coming back to one thing: this team is woefully short at LEAST one futures for current trade. Reconfigure. Bump the roster up to average. Be 16th/32: make the playoffs 

Edited 18 hours ago by Thorny

[...]

Watched for offense, ignored the D. If @LGR4GM says we only have three, then these three stood out to me.

Kopff - I think we should expect to stand out in this.
Richard - who doesn't look like a 6th round pick at least in this short video.
Ziemer - has some skillz at or near the tier of the above two.

Looking at the roster, though, nice to see some local kids on D. If anyone should desire to play the game with a little aggression, local kids should after watching, and being disappointed by, the Sabres during their formative years.

[LabattBlue]

I saw a msg somewhere else that the Sabres gave up the rights to Sardarian.   Had a pretty damn good year in college. 

[Two or less]

On 7/3/2025 at 7:34 AM, LGR4GM said:

The Sabres have almost no forwards in the pipeline of note. It's basically 3 guys. They've spent almost all their 2nd and 3rd round picks on defense, goalie, or trade. The Sabres RHD pool is deeper than their forwards pool. 

It looks worse then what it is. Kulich and Benson are not considered prospects because they're on the main club but most teams don't have a 20 and 19 year old play a full season for them. 

Helenius, Wahlberg, Östlund, Rosen all look promising. Neuchev also did until his injury. 

[Two or less]

9 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

I saw a msg somewhere else that the Sabres gave up the rights to Sardarian.   Had a pretty damn good year in college. 

I forget who said it but there was recently some talk that maybe Sardarian was leaving college to play pro in Europe (presumably in Russia) but i can't find it now.

[Two or less]

9 hours ago, ... said:

Kopff - I think we should expect to stand out in this.
Richard - who doesn't look like a 6th round pick at least in this short video.
Ziemer - has some skillz at or near the tier of the above two.

 

I'm not as down on our forward prospects as some here are, and i like Richard a lot, but he seems like a easy candidate to play it out and leave. I believe he can become a UFA in August 2026, similarly like Jimmy Vesey was.

[SwampD]

On 6/30/2025 at 3:14 PM, DarthEbriate said:

The sentiment of the tweet is fine, but the execution is a failure. The photo on the right is the first practice. The poster needs to wait until 7/3 and take the photo. It will still be a stark contrast because it'll be in Harborcenter and about half the players. But it will at least be an apples to apples comparison.

On 7/3/2025 at 9:35 AM, Derrico said:

There were some years I had to buy tickets and/or sit in the very corner for this scrimmage because it was so packed. 

How do you like them apples?

There were more people at that scrimmage than most games this year.

It’s just disgustingly depressing what has been done to this team.

[Brawndo]

45 minutes ago, Two or less said:

 

I'm not as down on our forward prospects as some here are, and i like Richard a lot, but he seems like an easy candidate to play it out and leave. I believe he can become a UFA in August 2026, similarly like Jimmy Vesey was.

Counter point, Jake Richard has been in Buffalo the past month training at the Academy of Hockey. He is training and staying with Gavin McCarthy (who is Kevyn Adams Neighbor)  He has another local connection who I believe is also training with them in Joey Muldowney (a SJ Draft Pick). Richard and Muldowney are roommates at UCONN and both are receiving NIL deals next season.  As of now the plan is to sign an ELC with Buffalo in the Spring. 
 

 

[Two or less]

Just now, Brawndo said:

Counter point, Jake Richard has been in Buffalo the past month training at the Academy of Hockey. He is training and staying with Gavin McCarthy (who is Kevyn Adams Neighbor)  He has another local connection who I believe is also training with them in Joey Muldowney (a SJ Draft Pick). Richard and Muldowney are roommates at UCONN and both are receiving NIL deals next season.  As of now the plan is to sign an ELC with Buffalo in the Spring. 
 

 

 

Well..... wish i knew that tidbit before i posted. LOL 

Thank you for the insight. Im no longer worried.