Updated Sabres Prospect Pool 2021 and beyond

[GASabresIUFAN]

My rules - 24 and under and still waiver exempt. Just to clarify, I look at time to the NHL as well as upside.  

1. Power (obviously)

2. Cozens

3. R2

4. JJP

5. Quinn

6. Rosen

7. UPL

8. Poltapov

9. Samuelsson

10. Johnson

11. Kisakov

12. Levi

13. Bryson

14. Portillo

15. Laaksonen

16. Weissbach

17. Nadeau

18. Murray

19. Marjala

20. Rousek

21. Sardarian

22. Bloom

23. Huglen

24. Biro

25. Kukkonen

26. Novikov

 

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by GASabresIUFAN

[Thorner]

You can't have a guy at #1 and misspell his name. If you can't get his name right he's no #1

[LGR4GM]

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

My rules - 24 and under and still waiver exempt.

1. Powers (obviously)

2. Cozens

3. R2

4. JJP

5. Quinn

6. Rosen

7. UPL

8. Poltapov

9. Samuelsson

10. Johnson

11. Kisakov

12. Levi

13. Bryson

14. Portillo

15. Laaksonen

16. Weissbach

17. Nadeau

18. Murray

19. Marjala

20. Rousek

21. Sandarian

22. Bloom

23. Huglen

24. Biro

25. Kukkonen

26. Noviko

 

 

Cozens is 1 and Power is 2. Also Quinn is better than JJ peterka. Levi above Portillo is something. Noviko is going to surprise some ppl, I like his defensive game (after spending yesterday figuring out who the hell he was). 

[Andrew Amerk]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

Cozens is 1 and Power is 2. Also Quinn is better than JJ peterka. Levi above Portillo is something. Noviko is going to surprise some ppl, I like his defensive game (after spending yesterday figuring out who the hell he was). 

Why would Quinn be better than JJP?

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Andrew Amerk said:

Why would Quinn be better than JJP?

Why wouldn't Quinn be better than JJ? He is better. 

[Andrew Amerk]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

Why wouldn't Quinn be better than JJ? He is better. 

I disagree. 

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Cozens is 1 and Power is 2. Also Quinn is better than JJ peterka. Levi above Portillo is something. Noviko is going to surprise some ppl, I like his defensive game (after spending yesterday figuring out who the hell he was). 

You'd have Quinn over R2, no?

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Andrew Amerk said:

I disagree. 

Guess we will find out

[GASabresIUFAN]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Cozens is 1 and Power is 2. Also Quinn is better than JJ peterka. Levi above Portillo is something. Noviko is going to surprise some ppl, I like his defensive game (after spending yesterday figuring out who the hell he was). 

Those are great debates.  Obviously Cozens is already in the NHL.  I was trying to think if Cozens and Power were in the same draft and I think Power would still go ahead of him.  I put JJP ahead of Quinn because I think he actually has a higher upside, but Quinn is closer to the NHL. I really like Novikov also.  I was thinking about placing him higher but I think he maybe 4 years from coming over.

Levi vs Portillo was also a debate.  Portillo and Levi will both be in the NCAA next year.  It should be very interesting to watch who has more of an impact.

Edited July 26, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Thorny said:

You'd have Quinn over R2, no?

idk maybe

[Andrew Amerk]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

Guess we will find out

Down for a small wager just for fun?

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Andrew Amerk said:

Down for a small wager just for fun?

Sure because you are betting based on the limited games Quinn got in the AHL while he was injured. 

[Andrew Amerk]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

Sure because you are betting based on the limited games Quinn got in the AHL while he was injured. 

Not really, because I didn’t even get to see JJP in the AHL. 

[LGR4GM]

2 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Not really, because I didn’t even get to see JJP in the AHL. 

But you saw Quinn and I think it biased a lot of ppl. 

I have faith in Quinn. JJP is going to be good but I think Quinn will be right there with him.

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

idk maybe

I find putting a guy who will soon be 24 who has 17 NHL games under his belt higher than a player who was just picked 8th overall a year ago who's done nothing to tarnish his draft status since a bit questionable. But maybe I am not as high on Ruotsalainen as others. I see him as a 3LW

[GoPuckYourself]

Thanks for the list GASabresIufan, solid bunch of prospects and I'm actually really excited about the Russians. The fact that 2 of them played together is a great start.

[Hoss]

My crack at rankings:

1. Owen Power

2. Dylan Cozens

3. Jack Quinn

4. JJ Peterka

5. Isak Rosen

6. Mattias Samuelsson

7. UPL

8. Arttu Ruotsalainen
9. Aleksandr Kisakov

10. Erik Portillo

11. Ryan Johnson

12. Prokhor Poltapov
13. Oskari Laaksonen

14. Jacob Bryson

15. Devon Levi

 

I’ll be honest after about eight it became just a bunch of hunches based on limited knowledge but I’m going to work some this offseason on getting to know the new guys more. I do believe Power has a slight edge over Cozens as a prospect. Even though Kisakov was drafted BELOW Poltapov I really like what Kisakov brings to the table. 

[dudacek]

The ranking should be in order of how they would be picked today in a league-wide dispersal draft.

Power is one. Ordinarily I like it when people don’t buy the hype, but in this case one would be foolish to ignore it. It would be pretty hard to find many people who aren’t Sabres fans who would rank Cozens over him

Jack Quinn is #3. Pretty easily.

R2 is intriguing but I think you are way overvaluing his proximity to making it in this case. I’m not sure he’s in the top 10

Putting Sandarian behind two players who were drafted after him is an odd choice.

[pi2000]

Dahlin?

[Randall Flagg]

Is R2, Ruotsalainen? I liked his game, and think he'll be an NHLer. But that is crazy high

[dudacek]

I’m looking forward to seeing how the 01 run of picks from Rosen to Nadeau progress this year. There will be some risers in that group of 6.

Considering how only Cozens is expected to play the bulk of the season in Buffalo and Power will likely be the top overall prospect on many lists, the Sabres really flipped the script this weekend on the depth of their pipeline and will climb pretty high up a number of lists. That's even without the Eichel return.

Ryan Johnson at 10 or 11 isn’t ridiculous, but he could just as easily be 4. Peterka, Samuelsson, Johnson, Poltapov, Kisakov, UPL, and R2, likely topped by Rosen is a pretty deep, varied and on a tier. 

And I wonder where the Sabres would place Levi on that ladder. It’s pretty big leap from behind Albert Lyacksen in the fall to the top 10 now, one good tournament and training camp later, but the brass sure seemed high on him yesterday and paid a big price for him.

9 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Dahlin?

No longer waiver-exempt, same with Joki.

Edited July 26, 2021 by dudacek

[GASabresIUFAN]

22 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The ranking should be in order of how they would be picked today in a league-wide dispersal draft.

Power is one. Ordinarily I like it when people don’t buy the hype, but in this case one would be foolish to ignore it. It would be pretty hard to find many people who aren’t Sabres fans who would rank Cozens over him

Jack Quinn is #3. Pretty easily.

R2 is intriguing but I think you are way overvaluing his proximity to making it in this case. I’m not sure he’s in the top 10

Putting Sandarian behind two players who were drafted after him is an odd choice.

I think Sardarian (and Bloom) were huge reaches.  Sardarian is also years from the NHL.  He is going to the NCAA which is good but it could be another 4 years until he turns pro.  His best ranking (and only) that I've seen was Central Scouting EU 73rd best European

By contrast Marjala and Nadeau were both in the Q.  Both were consistently decently rated by the scouting agencies I follow.  Nadeau played on a top line and produced.  McKenzie on his consensus board had him 74th.  FC had him 76th.  Marjala was 90th by FC and 103rd by Smaht.  I also think both are more likely to be pros soon and are closer to NHL ready.

Edited July 26, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[Curt]

48 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Not really, because I didn’t even get to see JJP in the AHL. 

Exactly.  If JJ had played in the AHL, he wouldn’t have looked so good.  Probably 

[Thorner]

12 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I’m looking forward to seeing how the 01 run of picks from Rosen to Nadeau progress this year. There will be some risers in that group of 6.

Considering how only Cozens is expected to play the bulk of the season in Buffalo and Power will likely be the top overall prospect on many lists, the Sabres really flipped the script this weekend on the depth of their pipeline and will climb pretty high up a number of lists. That's even without the Eichel return.

Ryan Johnson at 10 or 11 isn’t ridiculous, but he could just as easily be 4. Peterka, Samuelsson, Johnson, Poltapov, Kisakov, UPL, and R2, likely topped by Rosen is a pretty deep, varied and on a tier. 

And I wonder where the Sabres would place Levi on that ladder. It’s pretty big leap from behind Albert Lyacksen in the fall to the top 10 now, one good tournament and training camp later, but the brass sure seemed high on him yesterday and paid a big price for him.

No longer waiver-exempt, same with Joki.

The pipeline rankings are going to take a hit because as of right now the highest centre in our pipeline is Matej Pekar. They should show well overall but that's a glaring weakness in a really important spot. 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Thorny

[dudacek]

16 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I think Sardarian (and Bloom) were huge reaches.  Sardarian is also years from the NHL.  He is going to the NCAA which is good but it could be another 4 years until he turns pro.  His best ranking (and only) that I've seen was Central Scouting EU 73rd best European

By contrast Marjala and Nadeau were both in the Q.  Both were consistently decently rated by the scouting agencies I follow.  Nadeau played on a top line and produced.  McKenzie on his consensus board had him 74th.  FC had him 76th.  Marjala was 90th by FC and 103rd by Smaht.  I also think both are more likely to by pro soon and are closer to NHL ready.

One guy didn’t play at all last year, and the other struggled due to a bout of COVID.

Looks like the Sabres were tracking them from earlier in their careers, did some homework some other scouts didn’t and decided they were worth it.

Those are the kind of bets you need to make to unearth some hidden gems. Be interesting to see where each goes.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by dudacek