Buffalo Sabres Draft Recap
Thursday, April 10, 2014
BUFFALO, NY – The 2014 NHL Entry Draft is near its end, and for the Buffalo Sabres, it has reached its conclusion.
On Thursday, the Buffalo Sabres concluded their drafting for this year with a total of ten selections: 3 Centers, 2 Left Wingers, one Right Winger, 3 Defensemen, and one Goaltender. Find out more about the newest Buffalo Sabres below, courtesy of the Sabres General Manager himself.
1st Round, 1st Overall: Aaron Ekblad (D) – We took a long time to determine who we were going to take with the 1st overall pick. We contemplated taking a few different forwards named Sam, but ultimately we decided to take the player who we felt could step in and be most effective immediately. Aaron is a solid, two-way defenseman with tremendous versatility. He can put the puck in the net and can use his body when called upon to do so.
1st Round, 26th Overall: Nikita Scherbak (LW) – When we traded up to this pick, we actually planned on taking another player because we didn’t think Nikita was going to be available. When he fell to us, we didn’t hesitate to pick him up. His offensive ability goes without saying but he can also play gritty when necessary.
2nd Round, 49th Overall: John Quenneville (C) – Coming into the Draft we had John 36th overall. To get him at 49 was, in our opinion, a miracle. John brings a strong two-way game, much like Nikita, but with more physicality and a little less offense.
2nd Round, 59th Overall: Vaclav Karabacek (RW) – Much like John, we had Vaclav going several spots higher than he did; 45th overall. We’ve been looking closely at him since his move to Canada, and have been very impressed with his play. He has great vision on the ice and makes crisp passes nine times out of ten.
3rd Round, 60th Overall: Alex Nedeljkovic (G) – We thought more goalies were going to be taken in the 2nd round, and really in the entire Draft. We drafted Alex here because we felt we needed a goaltender with a higher initial upside than this organization has, and he was 2nd on our list of netminders.
3rd Round, 61st Overall: Johnathan MacLeod (D) – Coming into the Draft having these three picks in a row we took a long look at Johnathan. We figured he would go around here, maybe a few picks higher. His size and physicality are going to make our already strong defensive core even stronger and tougher to play against. He is committed to Boston University for Fall 2015.
6th Round, 150th Overall: Dylan Sadowy (LW) – Dylan probably slipped the most of all our selections, as we had him at 105th on our list. We are glad we were able to get him here as he brings a bottom-6 presence to a predominantly top-6 prospect pool.
6th Round, 179th Overall: Dominic Turgeon (C) – Drafting Dominic was a privilege. His father, the great Oo-la-la Pierre Turgeon was drafted 1st Overall by this franchise years ago. While his lineage did influence our selection a bit, we really drafted Dominic for his abilities as a hockey player. He brings good size and simplicity to the organization.
7th Round, 180th Overall: Kelly Summers (D) – Kelly was an interesting pick here. We had him somewhere in the 160 range, so falling here was a good deal for us. Kelly brings us play-making ability on the blue line. He is committed to play at Clarkson University in the Fall.
Overall, TSN analysts Craig Button and Bob McKenzie rated the Sabres with an A- in their post-draft analysis. They felt it would have been an A+ if Buffalo had drafted a forward at #1.
Picks
