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Buffalo Sabres Prospects: How Valuable Is Chad Ruhwedel?

By Jacob D. Strozyk

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The Buffalo Sabres prospects are a highly skilled group of individuals and they are the base of the rebuild for the team’s rebound next season. There are the high skilled players like Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart that are still yet to become NHL regulars, the ones that have been consistent NHLers like Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Ristolainen, but then there are borderline players that can play in either the NHL or AHL like Chad Ruhwedel.

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Chad Ruhwedel was a college player signing back in 2012, and he was brought in to round out the defensive depth. Since that time he has only amassed 32 NHL games accumulating only 2 assists. He is also an even zero for his plus-minus which makes his possession game something to be proud of.

Ruhwedel played last season in the AHL with the Rochester Americans where he scored 10 goals and 36 points in 72 games. In that time, for an Amerks team that was struggling overall, he also managed to have a -6 for his plus-minus which is not terrible considering the circumstances.

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Ruhwedel is one of the few Buffalo Sabres prospects that are defensemen and has good potential to be a depth scoring defender in he NHL. He has a good possession game and great vision from the back end to create some offense. Why he was not given more playing time in the NHL last season to test him is still a mystery to me, because he honestly could have handled it.

Last year Ruhwedel was called up for 4 games in which he scored one assist and was a +3 in plus-minus. He played a solid role as a top six defender and showed that he could keep up with the forwards in the NHL.

I know I have previously overlooked him in previous situations when discussing which players would round out the top six for the defense, but Ruhwedel is a different style player than Mike Weber, Carlo Colaiacovo, or Bobby Sanguinetti. Ruhwedel has much more offensive upside to him.

He is not a big defensman standing at 5’11 and 181lbs, and he is a bit older as far as prospects go at age 25, but he is a seasoned defender with the skill to contribute in the NHL; maybe not at the rate he did in the AHL, but he would be good for about 20 points next year. Five of those points being goals.

Chad Ruhwedel has flown under the radar with much higher profile prospect defensemen like Mark Pysyk and Jake McCabe vying for spots on the NHL roster, but that is no reason to count him out. He has plenty to show and I expect him to push for much more playing time in the NHL this year. He may not be a starter, but he will be one of the best call up options for the Sabres during the season.

Next: Is Matt Moulson Worth Keeping?

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