NHL Mock Draft 2.0 has the Sabres trading their first-round pick to land a star forward

This NHL Mock Draft simulation is a little different from what I did in Mock Draft 1.0, as the Buffalo Sabres did not draft a prospect with the 11th overall pick. Instead, they traded the pick to a team that is drafting in the top six this season. 

I used several scenarios for whom Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams could work with, and I eventually found a match that set the basis for what will be a blockbuster deal in Round 1. It could even be the first major trade leading up to the draft, and one that will benefit all parties involved. 

So what did the compensation consist of, and which productive player did the Blue and Gold land to insert into their forward group for next season in this second of three mock draft simulations?

Round 1 Trade

11th overall pick (Zeev Buium), 2025 3rd-round pick, and Matt Savoie for 2024 2nd Round Pick, 2025 4th-round pick, and Frank Vatrano

Yep, we got a blockbuster trade in Round 1, where the Anaheim Ducks (who drafted Ivan Demidov third-overall in this simulation) will make a huge trade with the Sabres involving a middle-aged winger in Frank Vatrano, whose 37-goal season should foreshadow something sensational in the City of Good Neighbors if such a trade occurs in June. 

Unfortunately, the Ducks would want more than just the 11th overall pick, especially since they wouldn’t see Zeev Buium in the NHL any time soon. Anaheim would want a player who could realistically play in the NHL in 2024-25, or 2025-26 at the latest. But because I had the Sabres giving up the 11th pick, Jiri Kulich, Isak Rosen, and the more high-upside prospects who won’t be in the NHL next year - like Anton Wahlberg and Noah Ostlund, were off the table. 

This left Matt Savoie, who, in a worst-case scenario, will get more than a handful of games with a bad team like the Ducks. Because the Sabres would be giving up such a high-end prospect in this scenario, Anaheim also flipped them their final pick in the second round, and one whom I was rather pleased to see the simulation select in that slot. 

Since I was only drafting for the Sabres, I was unable to make the selection myself, but let’s just say someone who I think highly of freefell to that spot.

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. 

Round 6: Noa Vali, G/TPS

A high-potential goaltender late is always a good way to roll, and Noa Vali, thanks to his numbers albeit the smaller, slighter build, more than has the ability to become the next late-round pick to parlay his most recent outings into something greater. If the Blue and Gold landed him here, his future probably wouldn’t be with Buffalo, considering the young talent that would be ahead of him, but would end up with the right team via trade. 

And don’t let Vali’s young age fool you either, as it hasn’t deterred him from even enjoying a lot of success in Finland’s Liiga. Overall, he can experience a breakout campaign in what will be his age-19 year, casting a foreshadowing on what could be a stellar eventual run in North America. 

Round 7: Anthony Cristoforo, D/Windsor Spitfires

He’s a small blueliner, but for a prospect who produces so well on a team that bad, he should go off the board way earlier than the seventh round. But in this simulation, he fell to Buffalo, and it took little thought to select Anthony Cristoforo over a few other high-potential freefallers. 

Cristoforo needs to bulk up, but having just turned 18 in February, that’s not entirely out of the norm. As the size comes, so will an increased development in overall play, and that will more than make him a potentially rewarding pick in the late rounds if he fell this far in the draft.

Round 7: Brayden Edwards, C/Lethbridge Hurricanes 

He’s older, but he also boasts more size at 6’1, 185 lbs, so that alone makes it more than worth taking a flier on Brayden Edwards. Edwards struggled to show off his offensive game between 2021-22 and 2022-23, but he always displayed better defensive play - think Tyson Kozak, if we’re comparing him to a current Sabres prospect. 

But he also broke out offensively this season, and you can look no further than the 31 goals and 70 points he recorded for the Lethbridge Hurricanes in just 66 regular season games. If Edwards did that again this season and kept up a sound defensive game, he’s got a bright future, regardless of his draft position. 

(Statistics provided by Elite Prospects)