The Buffalo Sabres have three picks in the 2022 NHL Draft. This week, we got general manager Kevyn Adams again taking three forwards.
The Buffalo Sabres hold the ninth, 16th, and 28th picks in the 2022 NHL Draft. Going into the season, their roster is more set than it has been in nearly a decade. But with so much player movement going on in professional sports these days, there is never a time where teams shouldn’t acquire more talent.
Over the course of a decade, you often see three or four franchise cornerstones stick. The rest disperse, which is why the NHL Draft is so important, even to the league’s best teams.
Looking at the Sabres current roster, they are much older at forward. Even if older means age 26 and up. But there are a few elder statesmen on this roster.
Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo are in their 30s. Zemgus Girgensons and Vinnie Hinostroza are role players in their late 20s. And while two young pieces in Jack Quinn and J.J. Peterka are on their way up, the Sabres, at this point, are best off using their marquee picks at forward.
Below, you will find three forwards that Buffalo news outlets have been talking about. Starting with a small town prospect with big ambitions.
With the ninth pick, the Buffalo Sabres select: Conor Geekie, C/Winnipeg
From tiny Strathclair, Manitoba (population 709), no one possesses more ideal size than Geekie. The towering 6’4, 205lb center can still pack on some weight and grow another inch, but he is already big enough to hang with opponents at the NHL level.
However, that doesn’t mean you will immediately see him on an NHL rink. There is still a lot of work to be done with his game, despite Geekie’s 70 points in 63 contests for the Winnipeg Ice, which he built off of a 23-point performance in 24 points the season before.
Most mock drafts have Geekie listed as a mid-round pick, meaning he could fall to the Sabres at 16th overall. However, scouts say he has so much potential that it is likely he goes in the top ten. Given his current skills passing and shooting the puck, plus on-ice awareness, he would be too sweet of a deal to pass if he falls to the Sabres at number nine.