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With the NHL draft behind us, I’ve had a couple of days to process my initial reactions to the Sabres and Penguins picks. So, as training camp starts and free agency rapidly approaches, let’s take a quick look at how the draft weekend went for the Sabres and Penguins.
Pittsburgh: A
Now, to preface, I am not the best when it comes to my prospect knowledge, but I feel capable enough to give a broad overview.
That being said, even without a lot of picks, I think Pittsburgh set itself up in a very interesting way.
The Penguins used their first two draft picks on the Ruck brothers, Liam and Markus.
The brothers have been inseparable throughout their lives and hockey careers, to the point where they even have one Instagram account instead of two separate ones.
The duo lit it up in the WHL for the Medicine Hat Tigers. In his rookie season, Liam posted 25 goals (most by a rookie) and 16 assists for 41 points. Markus posted eight goals and 21 assists for 29 points.
In their second year, the twins exploded for 100+ points each. Liam had 45 goals (second) and 59 assists (fifth) for 104 points (second). Markus scored 21 goals and 87 assists (first) for 108 points (first).
As you can see, both were prolific during their first two seasons in juniors.
The one knock against them, and possibly the reason they fell to Pittsburgh, is that they are both six feet tall and about 170 pounds, which is small for NHL standards.
I don’t think their height will be a factor. In recent years, the NHL has seen many shorter and less-beefy (for a lack of a proper term) players make it and be superstars.
Do the Ruck twins project to be superstars? Probably not, but there is no reason to think that they can’t be good top six forwards.
If all goes well, they can emulate the Sedin twins, just not quite to their level.
If the Ruck brothers end up being the only NHLers Pittsburgh drafts from this class, the draft overall will still be a success. Luckily for Pittsburgh, the team may have found some later-round gems.
A player to watch next season is Pierce Mbuyi, who will be playing at Penn State in 2027.
Mbuyi had a tremendous rookie season in the OHL for the Owen Sound Attack. Mbuyi put up 29 (first) goals and 23 assists for 52 points (first), on his way to being named the OHL rookie of the year, and being named to the CHL All-Rookie Team and to the OHL First All-Star team.
He followed up his incredible rookie season by earning an alternate captain role and putting up 32 goals and 43 assists for 85 points.
Mbuyi has also shown great power-play success, leading the OHL in power-play goals last season with 19. By the time Mbuyi is ready for NHL minutes, the Penguins’ top power play producers will likely be retired, paving the way for Mbuyi to be a critical addition.
Once again, people will probably point to Mbuyi’s five-foot-11-inch frame as a potential downside. However, his size allows him to utilize his speed and athleticism to be a winger who can drive a power play and a forward line.
For the Penguins’ other picks, I think they did just fine. They are taking risks on some over-agers (prospects who have been eligible for the draft more than once), like Tomas Galvas and Parker Von Richter.
If their gambles pay off, it will be well worth it. But most over-agers don’t turn into anything special, so I wouldn’t hold my breath on them.
The Penguins didn’t make any dumb picks or make any horrible trades with their picks, so Penguins fans should be satisfied with the team’s draft.
Sabres: C-
The Sabres didn’t have a lot of picks after finally making the playoffs and buying at the deadline. That being said, they did have the fourth and 20th overall picks. Surely they did something good with them, right?
I don’t care what anyone says, drafting Daxon Rudolph fourth overall rather than trading the pick for literally any player is an F-tier move.
Even if what was being offered for the fourth wasn’t to the Sabres’ liking, they could have at least picked Alberts Smits, Carson Carels, Chase Reid or Keaton Verhoeff if they wanted a defenseman so badly.
To add on to that, the Sabres don’t even need more defensemen, considering they have Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson locked up long term, not to mention they drafted Radim Mrtka last year.
There just isn’t a world where this pick makes any sense to me, but hey, I’m not an NHL general manager for a reason.
Rudolph is a highly touted prospect with a load of offensive upside. Last season, he recorded 28 goals and 50 assists for 78 points in the WHL, and most scouts had him ranked in the eight to 10 draft range. But just knowing the Sabres had a deal with Winnipeg for Connor Hellebuyck that involved the fourth overall pick, just for them to not do it, makes this pick sting more for me.
The 20th overall pick was a lot better for me. Of course, I wanted them to trade it and make a splash, but pick 20 has a lot less value than pick four.
The player Buffalo drafted is a very interesting one. Ilia Morozov was selected after being a 17-year-old college player for Miami (OH) last season, making him one of the youngest players in college.
I know how hard it is just to play club hockey as an 18-year-old, but I could never imagine playing in Division 1 as a Russian immigrant at only 17.
Morozov is still extremely early in his college career, putting up eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in his freshman season on a middle-of-the-pack RedHawks team.
With Morozov’s age, he won’t be sniffing NHL time for another three or four years. Giving him time in college to continue to hone his game will benefit him greatly.
Outside of the first round, the Sabres only had three other picks.
One that caught my eye was Domán Kristóf Szongoth, who was the first Hungarian player to be selected in the NHL draft since 2002.
Szongoth has been a mainstay for Team Hungary since his U16 days, helping the club move up to the IIHF’s top division in recent years.
For his personal stats, Szongoth has played in Finland’s U20 SM-sarja (which is a step below Finland’s Liiga). Last year, he scored 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points.
One of Szongoth’s biggest strengths is his face-off ability. Szongoth boasted the best face-off percentage in both the U18 World Juniors (67.1%) and the U20 World Juniors (69%).
With face-offs being one of the areas the Sabres struggled in the most last season, it is good to have someone in the organization who is skilled in the dot.
History isn’t on Szongoth’s side to make the NHL. No Hungarian-born player has ever played a regular-season game in the NHL, but there always has to be a first. Hopefully it will be Szongoth.
Overall, the Sabres’ picks were fine, no huge reaches, but it was more the mismanagement of pick four that brings the Sabres’ grade down.
The Sabres are finally at a stage where they don’t need prospects anymore, but the ones they got do have good upside.
Continue reading...
Pittsburgh: A
Now, to preface, I am not the best when it comes to my prospect knowledge, but I feel capable enough to give a broad overview.
That being said, even without a lot of picks, I think Pittsburgh set itself up in a very interesting way.
The Penguins used their first two draft picks on the Ruck brothers, Liam and Markus.
The brothers have been inseparable throughout their lives and hockey careers, to the point where they even have one Instagram account instead of two separate ones.
The duo lit it up in the WHL for the Medicine Hat Tigers. In his rookie season, Liam posted 25 goals (most by a rookie) and 16 assists for 41 points. Markus posted eight goals and 21 assists for 29 points.
In their second year, the twins exploded for 100+ points each. Liam had 45 goals (second) and 59 assists (fifth) for 104 points (second). Markus scored 21 goals and 87 assists (first) for 108 points (first).
As you can see, both were prolific during their first two seasons in juniors.
The one knock against them, and possibly the reason they fell to Pittsburgh, is that they are both six feet tall and about 170 pounds, which is small for NHL standards.
I don’t think their height will be a factor. In recent years, the NHL has seen many shorter and less-beefy (for a lack of a proper term) players make it and be superstars.
Do the Ruck twins project to be superstars? Probably not, but there is no reason to think that they can’t be good top six forwards.
If all goes well, they can emulate the Sedin twins, just not quite to their level.
If the Ruck brothers end up being the only NHLers Pittsburgh drafts from this class, the draft overall will still be a success. Luckily for Pittsburgh, the team may have found some later-round gems.
A player to watch next season is Pierce Mbuyi, who will be playing at Penn State in 2027.
Mbuyi had a tremendous rookie season in the OHL for the Owen Sound Attack. Mbuyi put up 29 (first) goals and 23 assists for 52 points (first), on his way to being named the OHL rookie of the year, and being named to the CHL All-Rookie Team and to the OHL First All-Star team.
He followed up his incredible rookie season by earning an alternate captain role and putting up 32 goals and 43 assists for 85 points.
Mbuyi has also shown great power-play success, leading the OHL in power-play goals last season with 19. By the time Mbuyi is ready for NHL minutes, the Penguins’ top power play producers will likely be retired, paving the way for Mbuyi to be a critical addition.
Once again, people will probably point to Mbuyi’s five-foot-11-inch frame as a potential downside. However, his size allows him to utilize his speed and athleticism to be a winger who can drive a power play and a forward line.
For the Penguins’ other picks, I think they did just fine. They are taking risks on some over-agers (prospects who have been eligible for the draft more than once), like Tomas Galvas and Parker Von Richter.
If their gambles pay off, it will be well worth it. But most over-agers don’t turn into anything special, so I wouldn’t hold my breath on them.
The Penguins didn’t make any dumb picks or make any horrible trades with their picks, so Penguins fans should be satisfied with the team’s draft.
Sabres: C-
The Sabres didn’t have a lot of picks after finally making the playoffs and buying at the deadline. That being said, they did have the fourth and 20th overall picks. Surely they did something good with them, right?
I don’t care what anyone says, drafting Daxon Rudolph fourth overall rather than trading the pick for literally any player is an F-tier move.
Even if what was being offered for the fourth wasn’t to the Sabres’ liking, they could have at least picked Alberts Smits, Carson Carels, Chase Reid or Keaton Verhoeff if they wanted a defenseman so badly.
To add on to that, the Sabres don’t even need more defensemen, considering they have Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson locked up long term, not to mention they drafted Radim Mrtka last year.
There just isn’t a world where this pick makes any sense to me, but hey, I’m not an NHL general manager for a reason.
Rudolph is a highly touted prospect with a load of offensive upside. Last season, he recorded 28 goals and 50 assists for 78 points in the WHL, and most scouts had him ranked in the eight to 10 draft range. But just knowing the Sabres had a deal with Winnipeg for Connor Hellebuyck that involved the fourth overall pick, just for them to not do it, makes this pick sting more for me.
The 20th overall pick was a lot better for me. Of course, I wanted them to trade it and make a splash, but pick 20 has a lot less value than pick four.
The player Buffalo drafted is a very interesting one. Ilia Morozov was selected after being a 17-year-old college player for Miami (OH) last season, making him one of the youngest players in college.
I know how hard it is just to play club hockey as an 18-year-old, but I could never imagine playing in Division 1 as a Russian immigrant at only 17.
Morozov is still extremely early in his college career, putting up eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in his freshman season on a middle-of-the-pack RedHawks team.
With Morozov’s age, he won’t be sniffing NHL time for another three or four years. Giving him time in college to continue to hone his game will benefit him greatly.
Outside of the first round, the Sabres only had three other picks.
One that caught my eye was Domán Kristóf Szongoth, who was the first Hungarian player to be selected in the NHL draft since 2002.
Szongoth has been a mainstay for Team Hungary since his U16 days, helping the club move up to the IIHF’s top division in recent years.
For his personal stats, Szongoth has played in Finland’s U20 SM-sarja (which is a step below Finland’s Liiga). Last year, he scored 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points.
One of Szongoth’s biggest strengths is his face-off ability. Szongoth boasted the best face-off percentage in both the U18 World Juniors (67.1%) and the U20 World Juniors (69%).
With face-offs being one of the areas the Sabres struggled in the most last season, it is good to have someone in the organization who is skilled in the dot.
History isn’t on Szongoth’s side to make the NHL. No Hungarian-born player has ever played a regular-season game in the NHL, but there always has to be a first. Hopefully it will be Szongoth.
Overall, the Sabres’ picks were fine, no huge reaches, but it was more the mismanagement of pick four that brings the Sabres’ grade down.
The Sabres are finally at a stage where they don’t need prospects anymore, but the ones they got do have good upside.
Continue reading...
