BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Sabres Prospects Challenge in September is a great event in my mind because it gives fans over at Harborcenter a chance to see the youngest Buffalo Sabres play games against the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Sabres took Matt Savoie and Zach Benson in the first round of the NHL Draft for the past two seasons and fans should be excited that they might be able to see the two linemates from the Winnipeg Ice possibly play on the same line during the Challenge.
Savoie was taken ninth overall in 2022 while Benson was 13th overall in 2023, but from the little bit I’ve seen of both players, my first impression of Benson is better. This season with the Ice the two linemates produced. Benson was James Patrick’s leading scorer with 36 goals and 62 assists for 98 points. Savoie in 62 games which was two more than Benson produced 38 goals and 57 assists for 95 points.
The season before, Savoie was Winnipeg’s leading scorer with 35 goals and 55 assists for 90 points in 65 games. His winger Benson had 25 goals and 38 assists for 63 points in 58 games.
In 2021 and 22, the Sabres drafted six Russians that we really didn’t know much about. I think it’s going to be great to see what kind of talent Buffalo has in Nikita Novikov, Viktor Neuchev, Aleksandr Kisakov, and Vsevolod Komarov.
Players in college won’t be playing in this tournament because their semester will have already started so we won’t get to see Clarence Center’s Gavin McCarthy, Maxim Strbak, Jake Richard, or Stiven Sardarian.
If you’re looking for guys that can put the puck in the net, it’ll be interesting to see if Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen will be there. Olivier Nadeau was a fourth-round pick because of poor foot speed, but in junior, he scored goals. Last season he had 35 goals in 65 games with the Shawinigan Cataractes and this year he had 22 goals in 34 games with the Gatineau Olympiques.
I’m interested to see what the Sabres have in fifth-round pick goalie Scott Ratzlaff. He looked pretty good in Prospects Camp.
I’ve always liked this tournament because it gives fans a chance to see what’s coming in the pipeline and to see some of their high-end prospects in game situations.
You also get a look at other high-end prospects. Montreal drafted David Reinbacher fifth overall, and Pittsburgh grabbed Brayden Yager right after the Sabres took Benson.
Last year the top two overall picks showed up with the Habs and Devils in Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec.