Sabres owner Terry Pegula took over the team in 2011, just a little over two years ago.
One of his mantras during his first presser was, "I want to keep not only statistically good players, but winners, gritty players."
At the 2012 Draft last year, Kevin Devine the Sabres assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting, stated that the team wanted to get "bigger, stronger, faster."
Presently in the midst of a rebuild/team makeover, Buffalo went into the draft with many needs up and down the lineup--including top-line talent and defensive help. They went into Sunday with two first-rounders and two second-rounders and a total of 10 picks.
There was a wealth of offensive talent at the very top, some two-way standouts just below and some highly regarded defensemen said to be amongst the top-10.
The Sabres couldn't crack the top-four of the draft where Devine said there were two drop-off points--one after Nathan MacKinnon and Seth Jones, the other said to be after Jonathan Drouin and Alexsander Barkov. Another drop-off point, Devine implied, was somewhere around the 9th/10th pick.
Most fans had high expectations an impact forward and a solid defenseman, in either combination, to be taken by the Sabres if they stayed at No. 8 and No. 16.
At yesterday's draft one could feel the collective sigh coming out of the F'N Center, home to the Sabres Draft Party, when Buffalo selected defenseman Nikita Zadorov with the 16th pick in the draft.
Not that it was a bad pick by any stretch of the imagination. In fact most thought Zadarov would be gone anywhere from No. 10 to the mid-teens--within that fourth tier of players.
And most Sabres fans would've liked the pick had the team not selected a defenseman with their first 1st-rounder.
At No. 8 the Sabres drafted 6'3" 205 lb. Finnish defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, a player Devine said they "keyed on" heading into the draft.
Ristolainen is a big, strong defenseman who plays with an edge and can move the puck out of his zone. He spent the last two seasons playing against men in the Finnish Elite league and acquitted himself extremely well. He logged well over 20 minutes a game and was used in all situations as an 18 yr. old.
Projections for Ristolainen have him NHL ready. Just how ready is yet to be determined. Devine said post-draft that "he has a good chance of playing in the league next year." Ristolainen is under no Canadian Hockey League constraints and will either be in Buffalo or Rochester to start next season.
As for Zadorov, the Sabres had no intention of grabbing another defenseman with their 16th pick, "we had [Ristolainen and Zadorov] neck and neck," said Devine, mentioning that having Zadorov drop was "our biggest surprise."
"We were looking to move up [from No. 16] but teams were saying no and [Zadorov] kept sliding and sliding," said Devine with almost a Cheshire grin on his face. "So, to get those two big guys [without trading up] was pretty nice."
Nice is not a word when it comes to those two, especially Zadorov.
"Yeah, I like to hit," he beamed at his presser.
"In Russia it's not a physical game," he said. "Here in Canada everybody plays physical and play against you stride for stride. You should be ready every second."
In Zadarov the Sabres got themselves a huge, mobile defenseman with some offense and a mean streak.
So with one stroke of a 2013 first-round draft-brush, seemingly much to the dismay of some fans, the Buffalo Sabres revamped their blueline. Some would say at the cost of passing a possible difference maker up-front.
The Skinny
There are seemingly many things at work under the surface of these two picks.
First and foremost it signals a shift in a team-building philosophy that once largely centered around skilled, puck-movers on the back end.
Gone are the days where we'd see five Brian Campbells to one Jay McKee on the back-end. Throughout the last six, largely forgetable seasons, the Sabres back-end was about as soft as it could be outside of gritty veterans like Craig Rivet and Robyn Regehr.
A more balanced defense with the addition of heft and nasty is a good thing for everyone on the team, especially in goal.
Long-time Sabres goalie Ryan Miller has been run at for years, the Milan Lucic incident being the most recent, with little recourse and it looks as if that should no longer take place.
Picking the best player available has always been how Buffalo works the draft and in their minds they worked it just like that with the Ristolainen and Zadorov picks.
But it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to think that picking these two big defensemen will have some influence upon whether Miller re-signs or moves on.
Miller seems like a very loyal guy, and as he looks upon (up at) these two defensemen, he could see them as templates of the future on defense, and it very well could sway him into sticking around through the rebuild.
Yet another factor seemingly at work in the selection of these two defensemen is the influence of scouts from Europe.
Long-time NHL defenseman and former Sabres player Teppo Numminen has been an assistant coach for the Sabres for the last two seasons. Before that he was a scout with the Finnish National Team.
It's safe to assume that Numminen had access to scouting reports from numerous contacts in Finland concerning Ristolainen, his fellow countryman. And it wouldn't be at all surprising if the he was on hand for a few games himself.
The Sabres also have a full time presence over in Europe in amateur scout Fredrik Andersson.
Andersson was hired to scour Europe for late round goalies-gems like Nashville's Pekke Rinne. Last year the Sabres drafted goalie Linus Ullmark in the 6th round and he's quickly rising up the Sabres prospect ranks.
It wouldn't be too surprising to hear that Andersson had taken in a number of Ristolainen's games and had a full (obviously positive) report for Devine and Co.
And if those underlying factores weren't enough, one might also note that both Ristolainen and Zadorov have fellow countrymen on the team.
Regier and Devine had been telegraphing for weeks that some of the young players from overseas might find comfort in having a fellow countryman to grow with.
Most had assumed that Elias Lindholm would learn the pro ropes from fellow Swede, Jhonas Enroth, but that factor alone, obviously and correctly, wasn't enough to sway Regier and Devine to move up for and draft Lindholm.
They did find a match to their liking though in Ristolainen. He will be entering the North American pro ranks with fellow Finn, and World Junior teammate, Joel Armia (#16 overall, 2011.)
And Zadarov, who is just learning the English language having been in North America for only a year, will have fellow countryman Mikhail Grigorenko (#12, 2012) to buddy up with in the Sabres organization.
Many had been thinking that RW Valeri Nichushkin would be buddying up with Grigorenko to formulate two-thirds of a line. But the Sabres passed on the Russian due to his links to the KHL and his ultimatum that it would be either the Russian pro league or the NHL this year. Nothing else.
Pairing countrymen wasn't the driving force behind the picks, but it does add a layer of comfort for all four of the players involved and may help increase their chances for success in the NHL.
The Review
I was as deadened as anyone when they picked Zadarov at No. 16 in the draft this year, thinking there's now way they'd go defense twice in the first round.
But taking everything into consideration, the Sabres did well in picking both Ristolainen and Zadorov, two big, strong defensemen.
Bo Horvat was available at No. 9 and would have been a real solid pick, but they already have a player of that ilk in Zemgus Girgensons.
The shot at a trade up to No. 5 for Lindholm that was passed on by the Sabres is mildly disturbing, but I actually liked Horvat better than Lindholm so it really matters not to me.
What it comes down to is the Sabres are continuing to change the type of player they want to build with.
Ristolainen and Zadarov are two big boys who seem mature to the point where they look like men and both should be with the Sabres in the very near future. They're a couple of towering d-men who can play the game at high speed and seem intent upon protecting their own end in their own, somewhat different, way.
It's a postitive for Miller (or whomever else ends up in net,) it's a postive for the forwards who can play the game while having their backs covered, and it's a positive for their fellow countrymen (as well as themselves) as all four--Ristolainen, Armia, Zadorov and Grigorenko look to have an impact on the team within the next two seasons.
All-in-all, it was a real good first round for Kevin Devine and the Buffalo Sabres.
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