In the 2013 draft, BUF took Ristolainen with the 1st overall pick. That's not a bad pick at all, I actually think he's underrated... the problem is that he plays on a bad team and has been doing exactly that for the entirety of his NHL career so far. He's a good number 2 who puts up solid offensive numbers but has defensive weaknesses. I'd see him play with a player like Ryan McDonagh. They also drafted JT Compher and Nikita Zadorov. Both were traded in the Ryan O'Reilly trade that sent the latter to BUF. They also drafted Cal Petersen but he signed in LA in 2017 sooooo... basically only 1 player is a NHL regular from that draft.
Moving on to 2014. Now from that draft come 2 of the 3-4 best forwards: Sam Reinhart, a first rounder, and Victor Olofsson, a 7th rounder (looks like a steal right now. But that's it. They also drafted Brendan Lemieux but he now plays in NYR and us NYR fans are happy with him)
Now comes 2015(AKA the Mc-Eichel tank)... they drafted Jack Eichel which currently looks like an amazing pick. He's established himself as one of the best centers in the whole league. They also drafted Brendon Guhle, who they traded to ANA in the Brendan Montour trade which happened last season.
2016 currently looks like a disaster. NO player drafted by them plays from them from that draft. Now, that's not entirely fair since they traded Alex Nylander to CHI for Henri Jokiharju which currently looks like a win for BUF. They also drafted Rasmus Asplund and he looks like a good prospect but it's time for him to show something, 2016 is already a while ago and he's a 2nd rounder from that draft. Next season will be a put up or shut up season for him IMO.
2017 currently looks like an ok draft. I mean, Middlestadt has been struggling a lot but Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen (still hate the guy as a Canadian #2019WJC) looks like a potential fringe starter at worst, and as a starter at best, so BUF did well there.
2018 looks like a great draft for them. They obviously got the biggest fish, being Rasmus Dahlin. They also drafted Mattias Samuelsson who currently looks like a great prospecy. He could play NHL minutes next season.
To recap, from the 2013 draft to the 2018 one (6 drafts), only FIVE players are NHL regulars. Obviously it's not fair to talk about the 2017 and 2018 draft because they are pretty recent ones, but still, the point stands, even having 7 players from 6 drafts who are NHL regulars is NOT good enough.
Over the same period, for instance, TOR has 7 regulars and 4 guys are are really close to being that.
We get it... every player on the Sabres sucks and Botterill will trade away Eichel for scraps and the Leafs are the bestest ever & will win the next 14 Stanley Cups and blah blah blah
Dude, take your spiteful trolling & stick to posts about your team
No one here gives a f*#% what u think about Risto or the rest of the Sabres
Either come with something reasonably constructive,
or please just go away & don’t come back
Thanks
Have a great day
Signed,
Eichel > Mathews
Where did all this anger come from? I'm just telling it how it is, I'm not trolling at all. I'm not even trying to troll. I dont see you bringing anything to the table besides telling me to stick to the leafs because you dont like what I have to say. It's really funny how you can contradict yourself and be so wrong in one comment.
I believe there is a certain amount of randomness with draft success. We are due for some puck luck with this year's draft. I don't have the energy to discuss player development.
Where did all this anger come from? I'm just telling it how it is, I'm not trolling at all. I'm not even trying to troll. I dont see you bringing anything to the table besides telling me to stick to the leafs because you dont like what I have to say. It's really funny how you can contradict yourself and be so wrong in one comment.
Also Matthews>Eichel
- the stats
I’m not angry, you’re just a troll
Back to your Leafs
We don’t care what u think about our players
Especially in trades that don’t involve your team
I have a few comments. One 2012 was the weirdest draft for Buffalo. McCabe in round 2 was good and Ullmark in the 7th was amazing. But Girgensons and Grigerenko in the 1st was terrible.
Its easy to say that more recent drafts look better for the Sabres on paper because the prospects still have good potential and havent disproven it.
Asplund takes longer to develop because he wasnt drafted for his offensive skill but thats what we are waiting on to grow. Hes great as a shutdown center
UPL still has the ceiling of being an elite starter. Also Im Canadian and I have nothing but respect for him. The first thing he did when they won was console Dipetro. Also he basically single handedly won the gold for them.