Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres had five picks in the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo. The Sabres had two selections in the first round followed by one pick in the fourth, fifth and six rounds.
The two biggest picks came fourth overall in Daxon Rudolph and Ilya Morozov with the 20th overall selection. Many felt either or both picks would be traded for players that can help this season, but those trades were just too rich and not made on Friday or Saturday.
Rudolph was the first defenseman off the board. He’s a guy that can play in both ends of the ice and and also has an edge to him. He played for the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL and scored 28 goals and 50 assists for 78 points in 68 games. Sabres assistant general manager Jerry Forton was in charge of the draft and he said,
“It was talked about quite a bit how strong this draft was for D-men, we had a good group of the D-men ranked close together, but everyone on our staff had Rudolph in the top three or four on their list, our analytics department had him in their top four, we think very highly of him as a person, the hockey sense comboed with the compete and character, made an impression on us and he was the top defenseman in the draft for us.”
When the Sabres made the trade with San Jose which took them from 27th to 20th, we knew there was a group of players that would be available at 20, but not 27. Forton said Ilya Morozov from Miami University was one of them. Forton said he felt very strongly about this group of players,
“It was almost a drop off for us and I was concerned at what would happen in the next group of players in terms of our passion for the players, and Morozov was the last one that was available for us in that upper tier of players.
“We valued the size, (6’3, 200) the natural center qualities, the two-way game, high character.”
This was Jarmo Kekalainen’s first draft as the general manager of the Sabres and Forton said,
“Very unique, I wouldn’t say the preparation wasn’t much different for us, we go through the same process, especially to top 60 or 70 names. Jarmo and I talked about this an awful lot, if there were trades that were available to make our team better, to either move down or trade the pick, there would’ve been zero hesitation and we would’ve been very excited about that.”
When Adam Kleber was taken in the second round of the 2024 draft, he was the 42nd overall pick. He was a true freshman at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and has excelled by leaps and bounds since being drafted. Forton is very excited at the prospect of of what Kleber is becoming,
“He was the first sophomore ever in the NCHC to win the defensive defenseman in that league, he played on two World Junior teams and a gold medal a year ago, so we’ve been thrilled with his development and if he wanted to come out this year, he would’ve had an NHL contract waiting for him. I think he felt like another year in that league would suit him well and we’re never going to push a kid to make that decision one way or another, he knows what’s best for himself, but we view him as a high end NHL prospect.”
Prokhor Poltapov was taken in the second round of the 2023 Draft. He has played four seasons in the KHL with CSKA Moscow and has one more year left on his contract. Last year the 23-year-old had 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points in 68 games and Forton believes he will step right in,
“We consider him almost a plug and play prospect, when he’s ready to come over which I think should be next year, has middle six qualities which I think will be pretty unique for our organization and I think he’s very much a guy that can come in and make an impact from the day he gets over here.”
The Sabres will have Development Camp next week starting on Tuesday at Harborcenter and ending on Thursday with the 3-on-3 tournament.
Daxon Rudolph was the first defenseman off the board taken by Buffalo
Daxon Rudolph was the first defenseman off the board taken by Buffalo
