It seemingly came and went in a flash, but the 2014 NHL Draft is already behind us. The Buffalo Sabres looked as though they would make a bigger impact, moving back into the latter half of the first round to take another top talent to add to the rebuild effort.
Instead, the Sabres remained pat and used all the picks they entered the weekend with, selecting nine youths to add to their pool of prospects. Oh yeah, on Sunday they bought out defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, too. We’ll get to that first.
Initially, I was pretty shocked. It seemed that Ehrhoff at least had enough trade value that he could’ve been dealt for something that could have helped the Sabres’ rebuild efforts. Sure, his contract still had seven years left on it, but his cap hit was more than reasonable ($4million) for the quality of play he was providing on the ice.
But after doing a little bit of Google-fu, it seems as though this was coming down the pike for a while. General Manager Tim Murray flat out stated that Ehrhoff told him he didn’t want to be in Buffalo during the rebuild effort (something Ehrhoff’s agent naturally denied) and that he and his staff had been considering using a compliance buyout on Ehrhoff from the time he first entered the fold in Buffalo.
If the bit about Ehrhoff not wanting to be here is true, I can certainly see where Murray is coming from. This is an extremely young, impressionable team and the last thing you want is one of your veteran leaders openly resenting being on the team. It’s also worth letting him go if you’re eyeing potential recapture risks on his contract in the future, which had apparently made his contract untradeable.
The buyout leads to two questions: how in the blue hell is this team going to get up to the $51 million threshold? Hopefully, they don’t hand out any long-term deals they regret, but they’re certainly going to have to spend to get up to the floor. Secondly, will the Sabres bring in a veteran defenseman to fill the hole left by Ehrhoff? There is a ton of talent on the blue line, but the Sabres need a guiding hand to help those kids along in their development. It’ll be interesting to see who they take a run at.
With that out of the way, it’s draft grade time!
Rd 1, 2nd Overall – Sam Reinhart, C: This was the guy I, as a Sabres fan, wanted all along and I could not be more thrilled with the pick. Reinhart has solid size (6’1”, 185), but the tantalizing part of his game is his hockey IQ. He sees the game a step ahead of everyone else and makes his teammates better as a result. A premier playmaker, Reinhart possesses a good enough shot to be dangerous, but feeding his teammates is what will make him famous. The Sabres have their first franchise center since Pat Lafontaine, who last suited up for the Sabres in 1996 and the cornerstone (until next year, hopefully) of their rebuild.
Rd 2, 31st Overall – Brendan Lemieux, LW: The son of Claude, the younger Lemieux takes after his pop. An agitator in every sense of the word, Lemieux has a bit of offensive punch to go with his chippy game. He racked up 145 penalty minutes in the OHL last year to go with 27 goals and 53 points.
When coming up with a list of guys who the Sabres might trade back into the first round to get, I looked at Lemieux and passed. It brought back the bad taste that was Patrick Kaleta and, while Lemieux is a much more talented player than Kaleta, the Sabres don’t need that reputation especially after employing Steve Ott and John Scott the last few years. But if he can keep his play in check, keep himself out of the box and still annoy the hell out of opponents, Lemieux can be a very valuable asset to the bottom six.
Rd 2, 44th Overall – Eric Cornel, C/W: Cornel is an interesting prospect. He’s got a big body (6’2”, 185) and solid skating ability especially for his size. He’s considered a strong puck handler and distributer, as well. But the thought is that Cornel’s offensive ceiling isn’t that high, so if that’s the case he’ll need to become a better-rounded defensive player. Still, having the size/skating he does, he can be worked with and developed. Maybe a bit of reach by the Sabres, but he’s got the tools to be a steal.
Rd 2, 49th Overall – Vaclav Karabacek, W: Not the fastest or the biggest, Karabacek is the kind of player every team needs: strong on his skates and able to find the open spaces on the ice. He also has a strong possession game, able to protect the puck along the wall and cycle the puck with consistency. He also has a fantastic shot; easily the best part of his game and one of the better shots in the class. He’s the type of guy who, even if he doesn’t hit his ceiling, will have an impact on the third or fourth line as a smart-with-the-puck grinder.
Rd 3, 61st Overall – Jonas Johansson, G: This one is intriguing. Johansson is big (6’4”), which seems to be a drafting trend in the NHL these days. On top of that, he’s got good athleticism, moving side to side well and recovering quickly. He’s also apparently got a strong glove hand, taking away the top of the net. He’s still got to work on improving his angles and not playing so deep in his net, but he’s got a style that resembles Henrik Lundqvist. I’m not saying he’s as talented as the future Hall of Famer, just that his style is similar. He’s a project and probably a few years away from even being on the radar, but he’s got the tools to be a steal if he develops.
Rd 3, 74th Overall – Brycen Martin, D: This is a bit befuddling on the surface. Martin was rated the 26th best North American skater by NHL Central Scouting and was projected to be a first rounder earlier this year. He had a rough season, but he’s been projected as a top four defender. He’s big (6’3”), makes the smart play and clearly has some offensive punch as he got extensive work on the power play. He really hurt himself with a poor showing in the NHL Top Prospects game and struggled a bit in his own end, but if he can improve on that, he’s got all the skills to be a tremendous value for the Sabres here.
Rd 5, 121st Overall – Maxwell Willman, LW: Willman needed to put in a lot of work to even get here, so the Sabres know they’ll be getting a high-effort player. He went from going undrafted and failing to get an NCAA scholarship last year to being selected by the Sabres and being committed to Brown University this year. He doesn’t excel at anything in particular nor is he terribly big, but he’s versatile and forces the play. If he makes the Sabres, it will be by outworking everyone else and playing smart, mistake-free hockey.
Rd 6, 151st Overall – Christopher Brown, C/W: The Boston College commit has the hockey lineage on his side: his dad Doug played nearly 1,000 games in the NHL and his brother Patrick is signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. His scouting reports say he has that “it” factor and the ability to put up big numbers, though many wonder if his strong stats are the product of playing against weaker competition. We won’t know much more about Brown until he plays at least a year at Boston College.
Rd 7, 181st Overall – Victor Olofsson, LW: Oloffson is a little-known prospect at this point. He didn’t see much time with MoDo in Sweden, but one Buffalo scout is a former MoDo man and likely had some influence on this pick. Olofsson is small, but apparently very skilled. The epitome of a boom or bust player, but if he’s anything other than a footnote at the end of this draft, we should all be surprised.
Overall, the Sabres seemed to have a good mix of skill and smarts/grit. Reinhart is obviously the home run, but they took calculated risk on boom-or-bust guys like Johansson, Cornel and Martin while supplementing that with bottom-six guys like Lemieux and Karabacek. If all goes well, I could see the Sabres getting six valuable pieces out of this draft and that would go a long way towards turning the Sabres in from basement dwellers into contenders.
Grade: A-
Follow Ryan on twitter: @TwoPadStackRW
