Sabres news: Sabres knew Power was going to go back to NCAA

There was a lot of speculation during the pre-draft process about whether or not the consensus number one pick, Owen Power, would decide to go back to the University of Michigan for another season or go straight to the NHL. Ultimately he chose to return for another year of NCAA hockey in Michigan. He announced this last week, a few weeks after the Buffalo Sabres took him with the number one overall pick. But the Sabres knew his intentions before they took him in the draft.

Power explained his reasoning on why he thinks it is a good idea for him to go back to college for another year to the Sabres in his pre-draft meeting with Buffalo. Clips from this meeting will be featured in an upcoming episode of “Buffalo Sabres: Embedded”.

“Going back another year, I can get a lot of development, being able to dominate games at the college level,” Power said in his meeting. He also mentioned his chance at winning a national championship if he returns, which is every college hockey player’s dream.

And with fellow top ten draft picks Kent Johnson and Matty Beniers also returning to Michigan for another year, they are certainly a favorite to win a national title this season.

If power decided to go straight to the Sabres, he would have gotten a lot of playing time. As we all know, Buffalo is currently still rebuilding, so getting young players playing time would have been no issue.

But if Power thinks he should go back to college for another year, there is nothing wrong with that decision. I mean, he never really got the real full college hockey experience due to the pandemic, and at only 18-years-old, he has every right to want to return to Michigan for another year.