In the first two rounds, they chose five players--two defensmen in the first round and three forwards in the second round. They followed that with a third-rounder, three fifth rounders a sixth and a seventh.
The rest of the picks:
- 69th --Nicholas Baptiste, RW, 6'1" 201 lbs.
- 129th-Cal Peterson, G, 6'1" 175 lbs.
- 130th-Gustav Possler RW, 6' 0" 183 lbs.
- 143th-Anthony Florentino, RD 6'1" 227 lbs.
- 159th-Sean Malone, C 5'11" 183 lbs.
- 189th-Eric Locke, C 5'10, 183 lbs.
Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com recaps the draft succintly and for more info on the picks, click here.
Bakes was also on WGR's Howard Simon Show recapping the draft. Most of the segment was dedicated to the upper picks but he did have the chance to touch upon some of lower picks.
Defenseman Anthony Florentino topped his list of most intriguing late round prospects.
Of Florentino, Baker said, "Very underated in this draft class. Can do a little bit of everything, doesn't have too many flaws to his game, a nice kid off the ice but a mean kid on it. "
"I gotta tell ya," Baker continued sequeing to his next most intriguing prospect, "this Cal Peterson kid he is old school."
Here's how Bakes described the goalie, "He's scrappy, he's a battler, he'll poke-check. He'll stop the puck, but sometimes he'll come out and want to stop the shooter. He's very aggressive."
Baker points out that Peterson will be going to Notre Dame. He's one of five players drafted this year that will be taking the college route: second round picks JT Compher (Michigan) and Connor Hurley, (Notre Dame); Florentino (Providence); Malone (Harvard.)
Nearly half of the Sabres draft haul this year will be headed to college and will have much longer to develop, up to four years, before they'll turn pro. Having five from one draft class really projects out well for the organization.
Via Bill Hoppe, Olean Times Herald, 'With so many picks and our contract situation, you don’t want to waste those picks because their contracts all come up at the same time,' amateur scouting director Kevin Devine explained Sunday on the Prudential Center floor after the Sabres finished picking. 'We wouldn’t be able to sign three or four of them. So that was a plan. We looked at the college route and Europeans for the new CBA, which now gives us four years for those guys over there.'
The odds for any player taken outside the top-five making it to the NHL, much less making an impact, aren't all that great. As you move down the draft it becomes slim to none.
But you never know what can happen with a particluar player. They obviously have enough skill to play, and something about them says there's a possibility. Having four years to allow for the player to develop is a nice cushion.
Having five picks like that, while also having six picks going the junior route where the projection is one to three years, really sets the team up nicely down the road.
The Sabres had themselves quite a haul at the 2013 NHL Draft.
In what's said to be the deepest draft in years they picked five players within the first 52 picks.
One (Rasmus Ristolainen) might be able to jump right to the NHL this season. Another (Nikital Zadorov) is only a year or two away.
They went with size and they went with character. And they looked to pick players with two-way game.
With 11 total picks the Sabres had the luxury of picking two hometown boys in Justin Bailey and Malone with the former being a legitimate power forward prospect.
After focusing upon centers last year they grabbed defense in the first round. Wingers were slightly predominant within positional balance: four wingers, three centers, three defensemen, one goalie.
A post-draft wrap with GM Darcy Regier and Assistant GM/Head Amateur Scout Kevin Devine can be seen here.
Every year, teams are very happy with their draft and this year is no different for the Sabres.
An overall grade here would be a B+. They did some great things, but the only area that they didn't seem to address was top-line scoring, which they wanted in the top-four but couldn't attain.
Other than that, it'll be three or four years before we get a full take on what Devine and his merry band of scouts accomplished at the 2013 draft.
For a list of (very positive) draft grades from various media outlets provided by sabres.com click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment