Round 2: Matvei Shuravin, D/CSKA Moskva
Matvei Shuravin should see at least a sound part-time slate in the KHL next season, but there’s a good chance he starts off in the MHL, where he saw the bulk of his playing time last year. Shuravin is the stay-at-home type of defenseman with the potential to fill out what is a 6’2, 172-pound frame, but the latter won’t happen this season or even in the next few years.
For this pick, I was thinking of someone who possesses high potential since the Sabres don’t need to rush anyone to the NHL with the young rotation they will have this season on the blue line. They can methodically develop a player like Shuravin, and depending on what the future holds a few years from now, either insert him into the lineup or entice a backmarker team in a trade package.
Round 2: Fr. Anaheim: Terik Parascak, RW/Prince George Cougars
I would elaborate more on this pick, but I think I already did in a previous piece. Obviously, in this scenario, there was no “mortgaging” involved, so if the trade in the last slide occurs and Terik Parascak falls to this pick, it would be a win-win-win situation for the Sabres, regardless of how the rest of the draft goes.
As implied before, though, I don’t see Parascak falling this far, but there are always a few surprise freefalls in every draft, so perhaps that will be the case as June fades into July. If so, Kevyn Adams shouldn’t wait long to have someone turn in the draft card with Terik Parascak’s name on it.