Montreal, QC (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said before and during Thursday's first round of the 2022 NHL Draft they talked to every team in front of them about moving up. It didn’t work out, and Adams was ecstatic with their three first-round picks.
With the ninth overall selection, the Sabres grabbed forward Matthew Savoie. At No. 16, Buffalo selected Swedish forward Noah Östlund. Then with the 28th overall pick, they took forward Jiri Kulich from Czechia.
“It was a very good day for our organization," said Adams looking back on his Round 1. "I feel really strongly that we got players that we believe in. They all have different attributes, but very, very competitive players with speed. But guys that we think are Sabres, and they’re going to help us.”
All three players can play both center and wing and that wasn't by accident."
"All three of them played all different positions," Adams said. "Östlund has primarily been a center, but the other guys have played center, and we’ll see how it plays out.”
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Adams stressed that all three players are high compete, and everything matters to them. He also sounded like he was surprised that Kulich was still there at No. 28.
“You look at where we got him in the draft. He was the MVP of the [IIHF U18 World Championship], and he has an elite shot, one of the top-end that we’ve seen in a while,” Adams said.
Kulich led the tournament with nine goals, and registered 11 points in six games for Czechia.
“Where we got him wasn’t where we had him ranked, so I’ll just leave it at that,” Adams said without saying where Kulich was on their board.
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Kulich has no shortage of confidence, which I think is a good thing,
“I hope next season I play in the NHL,” said Kulich shortly after he was the Sabres' pick at No. 28.
When asked about what his Plan B would be, Kulich wasn't sure of that quite yet.
“I don’t know that. I hope to play in the NHL, so I don’t have any other plans,” he said.
Kulich was also asked who he compares to at the NHL level. The Hockey News said his best-case scenario is being a player like Martin Necas of the Carolina Hurricanes. He shoots bigger than that.
“Maybe like David Pastrnak or Auston Matthews,” Kulich said.
Many scouts think Savoie has the best offensive skill in this draft.
“Elite Hockey sense, elite skater, he can score. He’s a finisher. Highly, highly competitive, high motor. For me, that’s a big deal,” Adams said of his first pick of the 2022 draft.
Savoie was teammate for a short time with Peyton Krebs when they were with the Winnipeg Ice. Adams says he definitely used that resource.
“I made a phone call recently to Peyton Krebs, and I believe in that," he said. "When someone is in the locker room with someone and they know him every day and they're on the ice with them in practice, it goes a long way.”
Savoie says Krebs wasn’t there for a long time, but he got to know him pretty well.
“I got a few games in with 'Krebsy' at 15, and roomed on the road with him a few times," Savoie said shortly after being the ninth overall pick. "So I’m pretty familiar with him, and I’m really ecstatic to reconnect with him.”
The Sabres are short on young defenseive depth, but they took three forwards on Day 1. Adams isn’t worried about that though.
“We have a lot of picks [Friday], and there’s opportunity," he said. "But honestly, you also look at our D right now that we have in Buffalo, and they’re young. So I do think about that, but it didn’t come into play as far as making the picks, because we were going with the guys we had.”
In the early afternoon on Thursday, Adams had finalized a trade with the Ottawa Senators that hinged on goalie Matt Murray waiving his list of 10 teams he couldn’t be traded to and he refused the Sabres. The trade was, at that point, called off.
“I don’t know if disappointed is the right word. It’s hard," Adams said. "I don’t want to get too much into specifics, but the reality is we worked hard on a deal, but players have the ability in their contract to make those decisions. We want players that want to be here.”
Adams confirmed that he was going to send qualifying offers to all their restricted free agents. That includes Victor Olofsson, Jacob Bryson, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Arttu Ruotsalainen, Brett Murray and Brandon Biro.
Rounds 2-7 will take place Friday in Montreal, starting at 11 a.m. ET.
