BUFFALO, N.Y. — The most recently picked Buffalo Sabres from last week’s NHL Draft in Nashville were in town on Sunday to start Development Camp.
Buffalo’s top two picks, forwards Zach Benson and Anton Wahlberg, were both on the ice at Harborcenter, but it took a little luck for Buffalo to select both players.
The Sabres had the 13th pick and did want a chance to draft the nifty winger, but most felt Benson would be taken higher. Most thought defensemen may go later in the draft, but thanks to the Montreal Canadiens, Arizona Coyotes, and Vancouver Canucks, three D-men went in the top 11, which dropped Benson to Buffalo.
Benson played on Matt Savoie’s line last season with the Winnipeg Ice and he actually had three more points than the Sabres ninth overall pick last season. I’m really not concerned at how small Benson is because he’s 18 years old and is going to grow and if you watch tape of this kid, he’s not afraid to go into the areas where goals are scored. He also does well on battles and takes care of his own end of the ice.
Kevyn Adams tried to trade back into the first round and move up in the second round to get Wahlberg, but again, he was still there at No. 39. If you’re one of those that are obsessed with size, Wahlberg has it as he’s already 6 feet, 3 inches, 194 pounds, and he doesn’t turn 18 until Tuesday.
I think it’s important to look at the Sabres pipeline that they took four defensemen in this year’s draft and two in last year’s draft. Those two, Vsevolod Komarov and Mats Lindgren as well as sixth-round pick Nikita Novikov from the 2021 draft are all well thought of.
Buffalo took Ryan Johnson 31st over in the 2019 draft and he was here for Development Camp last year, but decided not to sign and go back to school at Minnesota for his senior season. He could’ve become an unrestricted free agent in August, but more evidence that things are finally changing for this franchise is he chose the Sabres and not the chance to sign anywhere. That gives Buffalo another first-round pick and defenseman in the pipeline.
The Sabres now have six first-round picks that have not even gotten to the big club yet, Johnson, Isak Rosen, Savoie, Benson, Jiri Kulich and Noah Ostlund who is here but still nursing a shoulder injury so he won’t skate.
It looks like the Sabres are through for the time being in free agency. I was very surprised that for the first time in my career, teams were able to sign some good free agents to reasonable term and reasonable dollars. That allowed Kevyn Adams to ink two defensemen, Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton to contracts that make sense and Buffalo didn’t have to give up any of their young talent to get them.
I really like getting the 35-year-old Johnson on a one-year, $3.25 million contract. Buffalo is so young on defense and they get a guy that can still play well and has won the Stanley Cup. Johnson gives the Sabres three first overall picks on their blue line and Johnson can help Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power with the pressures of that.
Clifton will only be on the cap for three years which is about the time Jack Quinn, Devon Levi and JJ Peterka could get big contracts. Clifton is very hard to play against which is something the Sabres need. Riley Stillman and Ilya Lyubushkin have that element, but with these signings, neither one is in Buffalo’s top six anymore.
Clifton had never had more than 10 points in a season. But last year with the Boston Bruins, he had 23 points and he feels being with his former coach Don Granato, he can even do better than that. In past years, both those players would’ve cost the Sabres twice as much money and twice as much term. This year, the cap hardly went up and for many teams, the money isn’t there to spend.
With nine defensemen here, the Sabres can’t go into the season with that, but there’s way too much fuss being made over one-way contracts. All that means is if they get sent down, they must pass through waivers and they’ll still receive their full NHL salary. With that being said, I’d expect one of them to be traded.
I’ve been saying all along that I didn’t think Adams was actively looking for a goalie and he hasn’t been. As he said on Sunday, “You can go sign a veteran goalie that’s played a lot of games, but if you don’t think he’s better than the ones you have, then why would you do that? So you can walk in here and say we got someone that’s played a lot of games? So we have confidence in the guys we have.”
One way to make your goaltending better is not be one of the worst teams in the league at turning the puck over and not be so sloppy with constantly leaving the middle of the ice open. An improved penalty kill would also help the goalies a lot too. I would also expect that Adams will try to move Eric Comrie too because carrying three goalies just isn't ideal.