BUFFALO, N.Y. — With Development Camp over, the Buffalo Sabres are off the ice until the Prospects Challenge in September. When we talk about the Sabres bright young prospects we immediately start talking about Jiri Kulich, Matt Savoie, Zach Benson, Isak Rosen, Noah Ostlund and Ryan Johnson. All six players are first-round picks that haven’t even played for the Sabres.
Youngsters like Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Peyton Krebs, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi are already with the big club, but there seems to be some good young talent beyond these players.
Buffalo drafted six Russians in the 2021 and the 2022 drafts. Last season we got our first look at one of them in Aleksandr Kisakov. He’s a talented but small kid that needs to gain quite a bit more strength to be able to play in the NHL. You could even see it in this camp, he couldn’t compete in battles, but if you get him in open ice, he’s very creative offensively. Having spent one year in Rochester should help him improve this year.
Viktor Neuchev and Nikita Novikov got to Buffalo for the first time. Neuchev is a winger with a big shot and showed why the Sabres spent a third-round pick on him. In the 3-on-3 against players his own age, he seemed to be ahead of the curve. Novikov lasted until the sixth-round of the 2021 Draft and folks, early returns say this guy is a player. He’s already 6 feet, 3 inches, 207 pounds, and he loves to use his size to his advantage.
In addition, the defenseman seems to have great skills to skate, pass, and put some good moves on the opponent. We still have to see him in 5-on-5 to see if he has the full package, but strap yourselves in Amerks fans, I think this kid is going to be fun to watch.
You might be wondering, why he lasted until the sixth round? There was a huge question on if you could ever get him over to North America. Very few sixth-round picks ever play in the NHL, so the Sabres knew they were drafting a second or third-round talent, so why not take the risk? Sure enough, Buffalo did get him to sign, and I think he will someday play in the NHL.
Stiven Sardarian was in camp and scored the shootout winner in one of the games. He has taken a different route than the other Russian players. He played one season in the USHL and then last year played at the University of New Hampshire. He didn’t put up great numbers, but the Sabres are looking for a bigger sophomore season from him.
Vsevolod Komarov is a defenseman that wasn’t at camp because his Quebec Remparts team just finished winning the Memorial Cup. He has spent two seasons in Quebec with Patrick Roy as his coach, and he’s another big defenseman who was in training camp last year and will be this year.
The only Russian that is still playing over there is 2021 second-round pick Prokhor Poltapov. This is a guy that can play anywhere in your lineup. He’s not going to be a big scorer, but he always seems to be in the battle and if given the chance, he can put the puck in the net. His current contract in the KHL keeps him there through the 2024-25 season. Poltapov is 20 years old.
Tyson Kozak is a seventh-round pick and he showed us in this year’s Calder Cup playoffs with Rochester that he has what it takes to be a NHL player. He’s just the player you want on the ice when you’re protecting the lead in the final minutes of a game. He blocks shots, his motor never stops when it comes to being hard on pucks, and he’s an excellent penalty killer. I will be very surprised if he isn’t in the NHL in two years. Any championship team needs some players like Kozak.
With Jack Quinn injured and out for the start of the season, don’t be surprised if it’s a sixth-round pick that makes the team. Lukas Rousek was Rochester’s leading scorer last year and is an excellent two-way player. He showed well in his two NHL games this season scoring a goal and an assist. In 14 playoff games with the Amerks, he had five goals and seven assists for 12 points.
It just doesn’t appear that Kulich and Savoie are ready to make the jump to the NHL, but I think the older Rousek is ready.
Some lower picks did very well offensively in the 3-on-3 tournament, especially Jake Richard who will play at UConn this season and Joel Ratkovic-Berndtsson who played on three different teams in Sweden this year. I'm very interested to see where the development comes with these two.
The guy that Adams was trying to trade back into the first round to get, Anton Wahlberg showed why in this camp. He has excellent reach, put some sick moves on a couple of defensemen during the 3-on-3, he battles hard and already has good size. Getting to see him this week showed me why the Sabres thought so much of him.
These guys who weren’t as highly thought of until now and it just brings up the same thought, there’s not enough room for all of these players. That’s why Kevyn Adams has to start shifting his focus to the next phase where he can start using these players as currency in trades to make this team better. Of course not all these players are going to pan out, some that you thought would never make it are going to pan out. The next few years are going to be interesting.