Buffalo Sabres: 5 hot European draft prospects to watch – 2022
By Sion Fawkes
The 2022 NHL Draft season is upon us and Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams is hard at work leading the draft process
The Buffalo Sabres have a large pool of North American and European skaters to choose from in the 2022 NHL Draft. Not all the prospects listed in the following slides are NHL-ready, but realistically, only a handful are each season.
Instead, you will meet five European skaters who display endless potential to, in time, potentially become an integral part of the Sabres lineup. Keep in mind that you are not reading a mock draft. The players listed here are mere possibilities for the team come draft day.
Some players will be gone by the time the Sabres select at number nine. Others figure to be available as late as the sixteenth pick. Let’s meet these European prospects.
Buffalo Sabres European Skaters: Prospect #1: Simon Nemec, D/HK Nitra (Slovakia)
While the Buffalo Sabres are more likely to select a forward in the 2022 NHL Draft, we still cannot rule out the possibility of them drafting a defenseman. Nemec is the most likely prospect of the European skaters, where NHL Central Scouting currently ranks him third on the list.
My NHL Draft has slated Nemec going fourth to the Seattle Kraken, but if he drops, the right-shot defenseman could find a home with the Sabres organization. No one in the NHL draft plays the blue line better than Nemec, and he also displays an incredible two-way prowess.
He also has experience playing professional hockey and he looked as though he belonged, which checks yet another box in the Slovakian defenseman’s upside. He also represented his home country in the Winter Olympics, and in 58 games last season for HK Nitra, he scored 43 times (6 + 37).