Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – I think the biggest thing that came from the Buffalo Sabres at the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville this week was how they were able to select a couple of players they didn’t think would get to them.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams compared it to last year when they tried to move up after taking Noah Ostlund at 16th overall, because they wanted the opportunity to select Jiri Kulich. There were 10 teams that turned Adams down, but for a reason they can’t explain to this day, the immensely talented Kulich fell to them at No. 28.
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Adams said Wednesday from Pick 21 right through Pick 32, he tried to trade back into the first round, but none of the teams were interested. It was too deep of a draft.
After the first round ended, Adams spent Thursday morning trying to move up from No. 39 in the second round, but again, no interest.
As it worked out, though, the guy they were interested in all along - Swedish forward Anton Wahlberg - was there, and they took him.
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Walhberg is 6-foot-3 and 194 pounds, and will probably grow into a power winger. Sabres director of amateur scouting Jerry Forton says he was at his best when Sweden needed him the most. Forton feels he always elevates his game when championships are on the line.
Forton also gave a good explanation why Zach Benson was still available to Buffalo with the 13th overall pick in Round 1. There was a narrative out there that defensemen wouldn’t be taken until after Pick 15. Had that happened, Benson likely would’ve been scooped up.
That narrative was, of course, wrong, as the Montreal Canadiens took David Reinbacher fifth overall, the Arizona Coyotes took Dmitri Simashev sixth overall, and the Vancouver Canucks snatched up Tom Willander at No. 11. That allowed Buffalo to get the skilled player they wanted.
After doing some research and watching clips on Benson, I’m not worried at all about his size. The reason he scored 36 goals in 60 games with the Winnipeg Ice was he’s willing to go to the areas where goals are scored. He doesn’t play on the perimeter, and he works hard in battles to get pucks back.
Benson added 62 assists to give him 98 points, which led the Ice in scoring.
Who was second? Buffalo's ninth overall pick last season, Matt Savoie. He had 38 goals and 57 assists for 95 points in 62 games.
Savoie was a better point producer in the playoffs, scoring 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points in 19 games. Benson had seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 15 games.
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Buffalo drafted four defensemen in this draft to try to strengthen the pipeline there. Now the Sabres have Ryan Johnson, this year’s second-round pick Maxim Strbak (will be attending Michigan State University), third-round pick Gavin McCarthy (going to Boston University) and sixth-round pick Sean Keohane (will play one season in the USHL before heading to Harvard). They also drafted a defenseman from Germany, Norwin Panocha in the seventh-round.
This group joins defensemen from last year’s draft Vsevolod Komarov and Mats Lindgren, as well as Nikita Novikov, who was a sixth-round pick in 2021.
As promised, the Sabres selected a goalie in the fifth round with Scott Ratzlaff out of the WHL. He played for the Seattle Thunderbirds and talked about how difficult it was to play against Benson and Savoie on the same line.
NHL Free Agency starts on Saturday, and then you can come down to Harborcenter starting Sunday to see some of these draft picks with Development Camp starting at 2 p.m. ET.
Sabres Development Camp will run through Thursday, and will have July 4 off.
