Buffalo Sabres top prospect
Casey Mittelstadt had an impressive development camp earlier this month culminating with his Team White winning the French Connection 3-on-3 tournament. Buffalo's 2017 first-round selection (8th-overall) provided a little razzle-dazzle and displayed some snipe as
"he stole the show", according to Jourdan LaBarber of Sabres.com, at the tournament.
Mittelstadt is continuing to roll, this time at the 2017 World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Michigan. The 6' 0" 199 lb. Edina, Minnesota native is on USA White for that tournament and
he started out strong by notching a goal and adding an assist against Team Finland and goalie
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen whom Buffalo selected with the 54th overall pick this year. Mittlestadt's goal came with 7:52 left in the third period as he jumped on a turnover at the Finn blueline, went in all alone on Luukkonen and calmly roofed a back-hander to put the Americans up 4-2.
It's not surprising that Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com/Sabres.com has the 18 yr. old Mittelstadt on top of his
2017 Summer Prospect Rankings. Baker had a tough time selecting between Mittelstadt and 2016 first round pick
Alexander Nylander, who was also taken eighth overall. "You can argue that the hands, vision, sense and overall offensive upside of Mittelstadt and Nylander are comparable," wrote Baker. "Both are superior stickhandlers and playmakers that bring the ability to string together electrifying shifts in the offensive zone.
"In the end," he concluded, "Mittlestadt's battle skills, construction of a complete 200-foot game and competence playing the center position give the stocky Minnesotan the edge in settling the top overall spot."
The good part about Baker having a tough time deciding upon his top prospect is that the Sabres have some top prospects to debate about. While Mittelstadt and Nylander are clearly at the top of the food chain right now the Sabres have prospects in the pool that are filling out the system rather nicely.
When Buffalo went nuclear with their rebuild, which included former GM Tim Murray decimating the Rochester Americans, there was a huge void in the system. The Amerks have had some first-year players entering the pro ranks, but had a support system that was generally turned over twice in the past two years. Yet some of those rookies from 2015-16 will now be entering their third professional season and if they don't make the big club, Rochester will be better for it.
Two picks from the 2013 NHL Draft--forwards
Justin Bailey (52nd) and
Nick Baptiste (69th)--have two professional seasons under their belts and have shown strong year-over-year growth despite playing on poor Amerks' teams. Bailey went from 20 goals in 70 games his first year in Rochester to 23 goals in 52 games last season. Baptiste went from 13 goals in 62 games to 25 goals in 59 games. And both also saw extended looks from the Sabres in 2016-17.
Joining them on the development growth chart is 2015 free agent forward
Evan Rodrigues, who just signed a two-year contract extension with Buffalo. Rodrigues rode shotgun on
Jack Eichel's wing in college and proved that he's not a product of playing wing with a franchise player. He had the exact same stat-line of 30 points (9+21) the last two seasons but did it in 24 less games last year. He also got an extended stay in Buffalo matching Bailey with 30 appearances for the Sabres.
Goalie
Linus Ullmark has had a lot of reps in his first two North American pro seasons. In his first year he was summoned to the Sabres and played in 20 NHL games producing a very respectable stat-line of a 2.60 GAA and .913 Sv%. Ullmark was Rochester's No. 1 goalie last season and he went 26-27-2 with a 2.87 GAA and .909 Sv%. He looks to be getting another full year of seasoning with the Amerks in 2017-18 as well.
That would be the first wave of youngins making their way through the ranks. Last year that group was joined by Nylander,
Casey Nelson (2016, FA,)
Hudson Fasching (2013, 118th, LAK,) and
Vaclav Karabacek (2014, 49th,) among others.
This year we'll see defenseman
Brendan Guhle as a first year pro. Guhle was selected 51st-overall in the 2015 draft and has had tastes of both Rochester and Buffalo. Back in 2015 it looked as if he was poised to make the club out of camp, but a "welcome to the NHL, boy" hit by Dion Phaneuf ended Guhle's preseason with the Sabres and he was sent back to junior. Last year he was summoned to Buffalo on an emergency basis and played three strong games for the Sabres leaving some angry that he wasn't on the club to begin with.
However, it's all about development, as new GM Jason Botterill will attest to. Guhle finished his junior career with a strong WHL season and will take the next step as a full-time pro with the Amerks even though he could probably hang with the big boys in Buffalo.
Guhle leads the next wave of prospects working their way through the system. Defenseman
Devante Stephens (2015, 122nd) will be joining him on the Amerks blueline after three years in junior and two college players will also be joining the Amerks--winger
C.J. Smith and center
Sean Malone. Murray signed Smith signed in March out of UMASS-Lowell after the junior decided to forgo his senior season. Smith had 51 points (23+28) in 41 games for the River Hawks in a tough Hockey-East division. Malone was selected in the sixth round (159th) in 2013 and graduated from Harvard. He signed a pro contract on April 8th and played for the Sabres that night.
You could say that there are no superstars in the system from those first two waves post-rebuild, and it would be accurate, as the Sabres already have their first round picks from 2013-15 playing in the NHL. Defenseman
Rasmus Ristolainen (2013, 8th) is on the top-pairing for Buffalo and 2014 second-overall pick
Sam Reinhart is a part of the top-six forward group. Eichel, who was selected second-overall in 2015, is on the cusp of being the franchise player he was drafted for.
Despite Eichel jumping right from college to pro and Reinhart skipping the AHL save for three games, the prospect pool still has potential stars (or even superstars) in it like Mittelstadt, Nylander and even Guhle. The rest will be allowed to develop at their own pace and become what they will. Having superstars with the big club is a great thing but having a prospect pool that can yield stars and quality role players is just as important, which is something Botterill saw first-hand in Pittsburgh with the Penguins organization. And despite some claims that the prospect pool is weak, former GM Murray didn't leave an empty cupboard.
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