Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – It’s not often that teams sign five players from their current draft class, but the Buffalo Sabres have done just that by inking first-round pick Isak Rosén to a three-year, entry-level deal.
Rosén was taken 14th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft after the first-overall pick Owen Power, who was also signed in April.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams has also inked second-round pick Aleksandr Kisakov, third-round pick Josh Bloom and fourth-round selection Olivier Nadeau.
Rosén possesses great speed and skill, but at 19, he is still very small. That’s why when he played in the SHL with men, he only scored two goals and two assists in 28 games.
The Swedish winger played at the junior level with Leksands IF J20, netting four goals and five assists for nine points in eight games. Rosén also had three games on loan to Mora IK and had a goal and an assist.
Most scouts when talking about Rosén say he has elite puck skills.
Buffalo’s other second-round pick, Prokhor Poltapov, played in Russia last year, while their other third-round selection, Stiven Sardarian, played in the USHL and is scheduled to begin his freshman year at New Hampshire next year.
Buffalo used the first-round pick it got from the Philadelphia Flyers in the Rasmus Ristolainen trade to take Rosén.
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Meanwhile, members of the 2018 draft class had to be signed by Wednesday or they'd become unrestricted free agents.
Adams took a pass on fourth-round pick Linus Cronholm, fifth-round pick Miska Kukkonen and seventh-round pick William Worge-Kreu. All three were defensemen.
Players that were signed from that draft class were Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson and Matej Pekar.
***Photo: Leksands IF
