Predicting the Pick: Sabres will land an epic playmaker on the blue line in the NHL Draft

Now that we're at the one week (or sooner, depending on when you’re reading this) to go mark before the 2024 NHL Draft, let’s play Predict the Pick, and the Buffalo Sabres are on the clock at No. 11. Yes, there is still a strong possibility general manager Kevyn Adams trades the pick even with a week to go, so it’s an option that must stay open until the Blue and Gold are on the clock, but let’s assume everything remains equal and the Sabres make a selection. 

Who would they take and why? Well, I went ahead and, instead of using the mock draft simulation as I did for the team-by-team mock draft scenario, I instead used some intuition and logic to manually concoct a one-round, 32-team mock draft over at FC Hockey. 

And for the Sabres, I had the great Zayne Parekh falling to them, and wow, what a pick that would be. It’s slightly different from the team-by-team mock, as I had the Sabres scooping up Sam Dickinson after Parekh went to the Utah Hockey Club six picks before, which wouldn’t be a bad option.

Could the Sabres realistically land Zayne Parekh on June 28th?

Overall, going with a blueliner would be ideal, as the Sabres still have a good surplus of forwards at the moment in the prospect pool. But it comes down to whether a specific organization is taken with Parekh’s productivity, which, counting the playoffs, sat at 107 points and 35 goals in 79 contests, which averages to an incredible 1.35 per game. 

But a defenseman needs to play well when their team isn’t in possession of the puck, so that would be the burning question with Parekh. The answer is that he needs to improve his defensive play, and right now, he’s all about offense. 

If a team picking in the top 10, like the Utah Hockey Club, is okay with giving Parekh more than enough time to improve his play without the puck, he’s not falling to the Sabres. But thanks to the Sabres deep prospect pool, they are one team picking in the top half of the first round that can afford to wait it out. 

At this point, I can see reasons for another organization taking Parekh, but I can also see why they would rather shy away from him and roll with a blueliner who has shown more than just solid play with and without the puck. As far as my mock draft goes, I saw a pathway for the Sabres to land him, and it’s why I ultimately penned Zayne Parekh in with the 11th pick. 

(Statistics powered by Elite Prospects)