Buffalo Sabres: Five best late-round draft picks since 2005
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres have had some incredible draft picks through the years. Today, we talk about their five best late-round picks since 2005.
Rarely, will you see late round picks make such an impact in the NHL, but the Buffalo Sabres snagged a few of them. Today, you’re going to meet some of these draft picks selected between rounds four and seven, since we are only discussing players drafted when the NHL reduced the number of rounds from nine to seven in 2005.
The players you meet below may or may not have played a significant role on the Sabres. One notable name never played for the Sabres at all. However, they have made their mark in one way or another in the NHL.
So who are these late round picks who enjoyed more time in the NHL than most of their late-round counterparts? Keep reading to find out.
Best late picks in Buffalo Sabres history: Pick #1 – Paul Byron, 178th overall/2007
A small winger at just 5’9, 158lb, Byron played just eight games with the Buffalo Sabres, scoring two points. In June 2011, the Sabres traded him and Chris Butler to the Calgary Flames for a second round pick in 2012 that they ended up using to select Jake McCabe. They also received Alex Kotalik and Robyn Regehr.
Despite Byron’s small size, he developed into one of the league’s better defensive forwards, playing for Calgary until 2015-16 before moving on to the Montreal Canadiens, where he played at the time of this writing.
Following the 2016-17 season, Byron saw himself in consideration for the Selke Award. It was a season in which he scored a career-high 43 points in 81 games, converting 22.9 percent of his shots on goal, logging 119 hits, and committing 40 takeaways.
He had an encore performance in 2017-18, playing in all 82 games while scoring 35 points. That season, Byron also tallied a career high 55 blocks, 137 hits, and 45 takeaways.