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Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill inherited a broken hockey department when he took the job in 2017. Consecutive tank seasons from 2013-15 yielded consecutive top-two picks but it came at a steep cost as the farm system was bankrupt. That system included a prospect pool that had plenty of players but, as it turned out, very little quality. In his two seasons as general manger Botterill was able to correct the problems at the lower levels of the hockey department and in three drafts he's been able to stabilize his feeder system.
Last season, due in large part to the selection of defenseman Rasmus Dahlin first overall at the 2018 NHL Draft as well as drafting center Casey Mittelstadt eighth-overall in 2017, most observers rightfully felt that the Sabres had the best prospect pool in the NHL. A year later, things have changed a bit. "Any team that loses multiple premier prospects to graduation is going to take a fall in the preseasons rankings," wrote The Sportsnet's Steve Kournianos in his just released NHL farm rankings, "so it helps to look at Buffalo's talented pool with perspective."
Kournianos points out that "each of Buffalo's five first-round picks since 2014 are either full-time with the Sabres or were traded for quality help."
Here's the breakdown:
2014--C, Sam Reinhart (second-overall) is still with the team playing a predominant role
2015--C, Jack Eichel (second-overall) is Buffalo's captain
2016--LW, Alexander Nylander (eighth-overall) traded to Chicago for defenseman Henri Jokiharju
2017--C, Casey Mittelstadt (eighth-overall) just completed his first full NHL season
2018--D, Rasmus Dahlin (first-overall) just completed his first full season
Kournianos ranked Buffalo's prospect pool 19th this season, which is a significant drop regardless of the number of graduates and one only need look a the 2014-2016 drafts to find out why. The Sabres had a total of 25 picks those years with only a handful outside of Reinhart and Eichel on the radar as being legit for Sabres duty.
Outside of Reinhart, Buffalo's 2014 class was saved from being a bust with the emergence of winger Victor Olofsson, who was selected in the seventh round (181st) with goalie Jonas Johansson (61st) being the only other player who has a shot at making the NHL. The Sabres 2015 draft class was smaller (six players selected) but looks to be better as they did some good work in the two rounds after selecting Eichel. Defenseman Brendan Guhle (51st,) who was part of a trade for Anaheim Ducks defenseman Brandon Montour while defenseman Will Borgen (92nd) is carving out a spot as a solid NHL prospect.
Buffalo selected 10 players in the 2016 draft and as mentioned first round pick Alexander Nylander was dealt while the Sabres also traded third rounder Cliff Pu (to Carolina in the Jeff Skinner deal.) As for the rest of the class, Rasmus Asplund (33rd) looks legit and defenseman Casey Fitzgerald (86th) finished college last season and had an impressive cup of coffee with the Rochester Americans to finish his hockey season off (4 games, one goal, two assists.) The jury's still out on LW Brett Murray (99th) and RHD, Philp Nyberg (129th) who left the University of Connecticut program a year early and will be playing pro hockey in his native Sweden this year.
Botterill came in and began working on his feeder system when he solidified the Amerks. Although he's only drafted six players in each of his three drafts, there looks to be plenty of promise. "The addition of two young stars (from the 2019 draft) in power forward Dylan Cozens (seventh) and smooth puck rusher Ryan Johnson (31st,)" wrote Kournianos, "are acceptable consolation prizes for the aforementioned promotions. Buffalo also has in it's possession one of the league's top goaltending prospects in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2017, 54th.)
In addition to Luukkonen, that 2017 class looks as if it has some players with Kournianos mentioning "speedy winger" Linus Weissbach (192nd) and defenseman Jacob Bryson (99th) whom he described as "a powerplay specialist." Still on the radar and making significant progress in their native countries are center Marcus Davidsson (37th) in Sweden and defenseman Oskari Laaksonen (89th) in Finland.
Other names to watch for come from the 2018 draft class. Hulking defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (32nd) is on the radar as he should be looking at a World Junior nod for Team USA and center Matej Pekar (94th) looks as if he'll be in Rochester as a 19 yr. old.
Kournianos makes it a point to say that Cozens is the only forward prospect of that group with "star potential" and duly notes that "the system as a whole is well balanced and offers the parent club immediate relief when necessary."
In all, even though the big club has sputtered these last two seasons, Botterill has done and outstanding job of rebuilding the Rochester Americans and replenishing the prospect pool. With the way it all went down during the tank and the following years, and with all the draft picks they once had, it could have been a lot better. However, Botterill looks to be taking the quality over quantity approach and right now he seems to be on to something. Where it all takes the Sabres remains to be seen, but it would seem as if they're headed in the right direction.
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In addition to Kournianos, The Athletic's Corey Pronman ranked Buffalo's prospect pool at No. 18.
"The Sabres' system saw a significant change from last season, with numerous graduations, trades and draft picks fundamentally changing the pipeline," wrote Pronman. "What's left is a thinner pipeline than one year ago (where he had them ranked No. 1,) but one with a true top prospect in Cozens and some impressive players behind him at defense and in net."
Pronman ranked Buffalo's prospects:
1. C, Dylan Cozens
2. D, Oskari Laaksonen
3. D, Ryan Johnson
4. G, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
5. LW, Victor Olofsson
6. D, Mattias Samuelsson
7. G, Erik Portillo
8. RW, Aaron Huglen
9. C, Matej Pekar
10. C, Rasmus Asplund
11. LW, Arttu Ruotsalainen
12. D, Will Borgen
13. C, C.J. Smith
14. D, Jacob Bryson
15. C, Marcus Davidsson
16. RW, Lukas Rousek
17. Linus Weissbach
Here's a
link to what Pronman had to say about these players and a
link to Kournianos' piece.
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