Sabres 2026-27 Prospect List

[GASabresIUFAN]

PRE DRAFT LIST - As always - players 24 and under that are still waivers exempt

FYI:  The list does not include every player in the system just the guys tracking toward a possible NHL future.  

Forwards

1. Helenius -C/W - Likely to make the Sabres next season - his speed is off the charts 

2. Östlund - C/W - Likely to make the Sabres next season - Elite hockey IQ

3. Kulich - C/W - Recovering from blood clots. Health status unclear, but if healthy should also compete for a Sabres roster spot next season. Remember he beat Östlund to the NHL despite being in the same draft class and playing a similar position.  

4. Zeimer - RW - high energy forward that had a strong 2nd college season.  In the mold of Doan and Benny. Key piece of US World Jr Team.  

5. Richard - F - 2022 6th rd pick.  Breakout season at UConn in 2024-25, but struggled to repeat last year. Recently signed his ELC.

6. Wahlberg - C - 2023 2nd rd pick showing some progress in AHL, but not sure what his future is with the Sabres

Honorable Mention - Ryan Rucinski - 2025 7th rd pick had a strong USHL season with 27g 35a in 59 games.

Defense

1. Mrtka - 6’6” RHD - 2025 1st rd pick. Likely a few years from the NHL

not sure of order but an interesting group of size and skill

2. Osburn - 4th rd pick 2024 - US World Jr - 21 pts in 33 NCAA games

3. Bedkowski - 3rd in 2025 - 6’6” 220; 39 pts in 68 games

4. McCarthy - 3rd in 2023 - signed ElC after strong 3rd season at BU

5. Kleber - 2nd in 2024 - US World Jr - 6’5” 209 - showed improvement in 2nd college season

6. Strbak - 2nd in 2023 - signed ELC - Physical stay at home D.

7. Laberge - 5th rd in 2025 - 56 pts in 62 games in the Q. 

Honorable Mention - Komarov - 2022 5th with 2 seasons in the AHL under his belt. Not sure his skating is good enough

Goalies 

1. Levi - RFA - Key piece of Reinhart trade struggled behind a porous Amerks D.  Likely to be moved this offseason

2. Ratzlaff - 2023 5th - spent time in ECHL and AHL

3. Leinonen - 2nd in 2022 - spent time in ECHL and AHL

4. Prokhorov - 7th in 2025 - had a stellar season in the MHL (Russian Jrs)

5. Meloche - 4th in 2025 - Decent season in the Q.

Edited 4 hours ago by GASabresIUFAN

[...]

Brilliant! Thank you. Have been wondering about this and, lo!, an excellent summary appears.

[LGR4GM]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

PRE DRAFT LIST - As always - players 24 and under that are still waivers exempt

Forwards

1. Helenius -C/W - Likely to make the Sabres next season - his speed is off the charts 

2. Östlund - C/W - Likely to make the Sabres next season - Elite hockey IQ

3. Kulich - C/W - Recovering from blood clots. Health status unclear, but if healthy should also compete for a Sabres roster spot next season. Remember he beat Östlund to the NHL despite being in the same draft class and playing a similar position.  

4. Zeimer - RW - high energy forward that had a strong 2nd college season.  In the mold of Doan and Benny. Key piece of US World Jr Team.  

5. Richard - F - 2022 6th rd pick.  Breakout season at UConn in 2024-25, but struggled to repeat last year. Recently signed his ELC.

6. Wahlberg - C - 2023 2nd rd pick showing some progress in AHL, but not sure what his future is with the Sabres

Honorable Mention - Ryan Rucinski - 2025 7th rd pick had a strong USHL season with 27g 35a in 59 games.

Defense

1. Mrtka - 6’6” RHD - 2025 1st rd pick. Likely a few years from the NHL

not sure of order but aninteresting group of size and skill

2. Osburn - 4th rd pick 2024 - US World Jr - 21 pts in 33 NCAA games

3. Bedkowski - 3rd in 2025 - 6’6” 220; 39 pts in 68 games

4. McCarthy - 3rd in 2023 - signed ElC after strong 3rd season at BU

5. Kleber - 2nd in 2024 - US World Jr - 6’5” 209 - showed improvement in 2nd college season

6. Strbak - 2nd in 2023 - signed ELC - Physical stay at home D.

7. Laberge - 5th rd in 2025 - 56 pts in 62 games in the Q. 

Honorable Mention - Komarov - 2022 5th with 2 seasons in the AHL under his belt. Not sure his skating is good enough

Goalies 

1. Levi - RFA - Key piece of Reinhart trade struggled behind a porous Amerks D.  Likely to be moved this offseason

2. Ratzlaff - 2023 5th - spent time in ECHL and AHL

3. Leinonen - 2nd in 2022 - spent time in ECHL and AHL

4. Prokhorov - 7th in 2025 - had a stellar season in the MHL (Russian Jrs)

5. Meloche - 4th in 2025 - Decent season in the Q.

Bedkowski is not better than Strbak, McCarthy, or Kleber. In fact it's not even close. 

Edited Wednesday at 10:38 AM by LGR4GM

[French Collection]

Looks thin at forward, especially if the big 3 graduate or are moved.

Lots of D prospects, trading from that pool (Mrtka), Östlund, 1st and Quinn/Norris is where I could go for Thomas. I am thinking more and more that a playmaking 1C could get the Sabres to the next level. I would prefer keeping Östlund and subbing in a goalie.

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

Bedkowski is not better than Strbak, McCarthy, or Kleber. In fact isn't not even close. 

He might be better than Geertsen, lol.

[_Q_]

19 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Looks thin at forward, especially if the big 3 graduate or are moved.

Lots of D prospects, trading from that pool (Mrtka), Östlund, 1st and Quinn/Norris is where I could go for Thomas. I am thinking more and more that a playmaking 1C could get the Sabres to the next level. I would prefer keeping Östlund and subbing in a goalie.

He might be better than Geertsen, lol.

El Paso on that.

[Flashsabre]

I’m actually higher on Kleber than Mrtka

[St. Pete Gogolak]

Has Poltokov (sp?) aged out? Has the Russian Dman with the Amerks aged out?

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Bedkowski is not better than Strbak, McCarthy, or Kleber. In fact it's not even close. 

You didn’t read the post.  I said in the list that I didn’t know how to rank the D group after Mrtka. You are also comparing older players to Bedkowski.  

Edited Wednesday at 12:08 PM by GASabresIUFAN

[GASabresIUFAN]

9 minutes ago, St. Pete Gogolak said:

Has Poltokov (sp?) aged out? Has the Russian Dman with the Amerks aged out?

The big Russian D is no longer in the Sabres plans.  He was lent to another AHL team last season.  

Poltapov is 23 and has another year on his KHL contract.  It will be a bonus if he shows up after next season, but will be aged out by then.

FYI:  The list above does not include every player in the system just the guys tracking toward a possible NHL future.  

[inkman]

Right now, the path for Rucinski is wide open.  Zeimer is the only forward between him and the NHL.  

[LGR4GM]

30 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

You didn’t read the post.  I said in the list that I didn’t know how to rank the D group after Mrtka. You are also comparing older players to Bedkowski.  

No I am comparing better players to Bedkowski. Bedkoswki is big and hits stuff. He has good skating. That's it. Age doesn't matter much when the runway is already short. Bedkowski might be a depth defender in 5 years if it all breaks his way. 

[inkman]

19 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

No I am comparing better players to Bedkowski. Bedkoswki is big and hits stuff. He has good skating. That's it. Age doesn't matter much when the runway is already short. Bedkowski might be a depth defender in 5 years if it all breaks his way. 

Hell hath no flurry like a liger after a draft pick he loathes. 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, inkman said:

Hell hath no flurry like a liger after a draft pick he loathes. 

Charlie Trethewey and Luca Romano went right after Bedkowski and I will predict here and now that at the very least Trethewey is better. They also passed on overager Kristian Epperson and I have feels about that ***** up too. Truthfully I did not like the Sabres 2025 NHL draft. I think they reached on their 1st two picks and for reasons only god knows they yet again decided to go after defenders. Kleber, McCarthy, Strbak are all RHD but yea sure lets add Mrtka and Bedkowski. Why would we want Carbonneau and Epperson? 

Let's check in Justin Carbonneau. 51g, 80pts, 60games. He also had 9g, 20pts in 17 playoff games. All in the QMJHL which he doesn't have to play in anymore because he has 4 accrued seasons. Man sure would be nice to a have 6'1" 200lb winger who destroyed jrs with his goal scoring and is physical as ***** who could play RW maybe as soon as this year or next year in the NHL. But nope, I have Radim Mrtka. A guy that's a #3 defender maybe in another 3-4 years. 

[inkman]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Charlie Trethewey and Luca Romano went right after Bedkowski and I will predict here and now that at the very least Trethewey is better. They also passed on overager Kristian Epperson and I have feels about that ***** up too. Truthfully I did not like the Sabres 2025 NHL draft. I think they reached on their 1st two picks and for reasons only god knows they yet again decided to go after defenders. Kleber, McCarthy, Strbak are all RHD but yea sure lets add Mrtka and Bedkowski. Why would we want Carbonneau and Epperson? 

Let's check in Justin Carbonneau. 51g, 80pts, 60games. He also had 9g, 20pts in 17 playoff games. All in the QMJHL which he doesn't have to play in anymore because he has 4 accrued seasons. Man sure would be nice to a have 6'1" 200lb winger who destroyed jrs with his goal scoring and is physical as ***** who could play RW maybe as soon as this year or next year in the NHL. But nope, I have Radim Mrtka. A guy that's a #3 defender maybe in another 3-4 years. 

Tell us how you really feel. 😂 

[Jorcus]

1 hour ago, St. Pete Gogolak said:

Has Poltokov (sp?) aged out? Has the Russian Dman with the Amerks aged out?

We still have rights to Polpatove. We don't lose them by length of time like a college player. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Charlie Trethewey and Luca Romano went right after Bedkowski and I will predict here and now that at the very least Trethewey is better. They also passed on overager Kristian Epperson and I have feels about that ***** up too. Truthfully I did not like the Sabres 2025 NHL draft. I think they reached on their 1st two picks and for reasons only god knows they yet again decided to go after defenders. Kleber, McCarthy, Strbak are all RHD but yea sure lets add Mrtka and Bedkowski. Why would we want Carbonneau and Epperson? 

Let's check in Justin Carbonneau. 51g, 80pts, 60games. He also had 9g, 20pts in 17 playoff games. All in the QMJHL which he doesn't have to play in anymore because he has 4 accrued seasons. Man sure would be nice to a have 6'1" 200lb winger who destroyed jrs with his goal scoring and is physical as ***** who could play RW maybe as soon as this year or next year in the NHL. But nope, I have Radim Mrtka. A guy that's a #3 defender maybe in another 3-4 years. 

Good news, Adams won’t be drafting this year.  Bad news, Forton is still here.

[tom webster]

13 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Good news, Adams won’t be drafting this year.  Bad news, Forton is still here.

Yes let’s condemn the guy’s responsible for Östlund, Kulich and Helenius not to mention some pretty good defensive depth based on one way too early to tell draft. As much as I respect LGRM’s opinion, right now Forton has the track record.

[#freejame]

Is Kleber the one that Hamsammich is super high on? I swear on deadline day that he said he rated one of our D-men above Mrtka

[Flashsabre]

7 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Is Kleber the one that Hamsammich is super high on? I swear on deadline day that he said he rated one of our D-men above Mrtka

I do. Kleber is a 6’6 right handed Muel. Mrtka is all potential at this point. He might be a star he might not ever put it together.

[LGR4GM]

16 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Yes let’s condemn the guy’s responsible for Östlund, Kulich and Helenius not to mention some pretty good defensive depth based on one way too early to tell draft. As much as I respect LGRM’s opinion, right now Forton has the track record.

Forton has a mixed bag of a record. Outside of Peterka, they miss a lot on rnds 2-7.

[inkman]

28 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

I do. Kleber is a 6’6 right handed Muel. Mrtka is all potential at this point. He might be a star he might not ever put it together.

Mrtka’s value will never be higher (unless he turns into Victor Hedman, which I can’t see happening).  Unloaded him this off season to upgrade the roster, whether it’s Thomas, a goalie or whatever. He’s not making this team for 3 years so move him out for someone who can play an important role on the roster. Especially with the ridiculous amount of dmen now in the Sabres org. 

[Taro T]

48 minutes ago, inkman said:

Mrtka’s value will never be higher (unless he turns into Victor Hedman, which I can’t see happening).  Unloaded him this off season to upgrade the roster, whether it’s Thomas, a goalie or whatever. He’s not making this team for 3 years so move him out for someone who can play an important role on the roster. Especially with the ridiculous amount of dmen now in the Sabres org. 

And considering how good the Sabres D is, with the bulk of the Big 4 being homegrown, could see a team that isn't particularly good at drafting D to be willing to part with something good for one of the Sabres prospect D-men coming back in a package.  Sort of like how for a while SJ was really good at obtaining goalies and the Otters had serious C depth.

[DarthEbriate]

8 minutes ago, Taro T said:

And considering how good the Sabres D is, with the bulk of the Big 4 being homegrown, could see a team that isn't particularly good at drafting D to be willing to part with something good for one of the Sabres prospect D-men coming back in a package.  Sort of like how for a while SJ was really good at obtaining goalies and the Otters had serious C depth.

The key on Mrtka is Byram. If you extend Byram long-term you have no need of Mrtka: he'll never see the powerplay until he's 30. If you time things correctly, you trade Mrtka going into the draft where he is part of a Thomas package, but then immediately afterward on 7/1 announce the Byram extension. (And you don't need Parayko. Byram has way more upside and has proven himself capable in 40 playoff games.)

[tom webster]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Forton has a mixed bag of a record. Outside of Peterka, they miss a lot on rnds 2-7.

As do most, as I know you know. 
 

[GASabresIUFAN]

12 minutes ago, tom webster said:

As do most, as I know you know. 
 

JJP is the only NHL regular drafted and developed by the Sabres during the Adams administration drafted after the 1st rd.  JJP also had a 1st rd grade and was drafted 34th.  So far Forton is 1 for 43 after the 1st rd. That’s a terrible track record. 

Edited Wednesday at 05:29 PM by GASabresIUFAN