The Buffalo Sabres selected Alex Nylander with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. The winger ended up playing just 19 games for the Blue and Gold across three seasons before getting unceremoniously traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2019.
Nylander, now 28, is still fighting for a full-time role in the NHL, spending a vast majority of the current campaign with the Toronto Marlies, the AHL club for one of the Sabres' Atlantic Division rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Canadian-born Swede enjoyed one of the most memorable moments of his hockey career on Sunday night, scoring an overtime winner against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to send the Marlies to the 2026 Calder Cup Finals:
ALEX NYLANDER CALLS GAME!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/y4ihoJtQxg
— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) June 8, 2026
Toronto started its run in the Calder Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 series victory over the Rochester Americans. The Amerks are the Sabres' AHL affiliate.
The Marlies have since knocked off the Laval Rocket (3-2), Cleveland Monsters (3-2) and now Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (4-2) to reach the championship round.
They'll face either the Chicago Wolves or Colorado Eagles, who'll play Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday night, for the AHL title.
Meanwhile, Nylander put together a strong regular season with the Marlies, tallying 53 points (24 goals and 29 assists) across 65 appearances. He's found less success during the postseason run, posting five goals and no assists in 19 games, though Sunday's heroics make up for the limited playoff production.
The 6-foot-1 winger compiled his best NHL stretch with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023-24 (15 points, including 11 goals, in 28 contests), but he's never been able to maintain that level of impact over an extended stretch at the top level. He went pointless in five games for the Leafs this season.
Nylander is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Buffalo Sabres' swing and a miss on Alex Nylander in the 2016 NHL Draft was an ill-timed organizational setback
The Sabres were thinking big in 2016. They'd selected Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart over the previous two drafts to serve as cornerstones for a roster that also featured Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Okposo, Evander Kane, Rasmus Ristolainen and saw Linus Ullmark nearing NHL readiness.
Tim Murray, Buffalo's general manager at the time, saw an opportunity to grab a prospect in Nylander who seemingly wouldn't take long to join that emerging core.
The talented forward dominated his final season of junior hockey with the OHL's Mississauga Steelheads. He posted 75 points (28 goals and 47 assists) in 57 regular-season games before adding six goals and six helpers in six playoff outings.
His AHL production was modest, however, and he simply never became a dependable offensive force at the NHL level. He was a perimeter player who never showcased a consistent willingness to do the dirty work around the net.
Buffalo's draft miss was frustrating for a few reasons.
First, the two players chosen immediately before the Sabres went on the clock were Matthew Tkachuk and Clayton Keller, who both developed into high-impact NHL players.
Second, some of the prospects selected later in the first round included Mikhail Sergachev (No. 9), Charlie McAvoy (No. 14), Jakob Chychrun (No. 16), current Buffalo star Tage Thompson (No. 26) and Brett Howden (No. 27), who's currently starring for the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2026 Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Jordan Kyrou (No. 35) and Alex DeBrincat (No. 39) were among the players taken early in the second round of the 2016 draft.
While it's impossible to say whether a better selection at No. 8 would have materially changed the Sabres' future, which ultimately became the longest postseason drought in NHL history, but Nylander turning into a bust surely didn't help the cause.
It's one of the biggest NHL Draft mistakes in Buffalo's history alongside Shawn Anderson, Jiri Dudacek, Artem Kryukov, Dennis Persson, Morris Titanic and Marek Zagrapan.
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