The Buffalo Sabres typically do well in the opening round of the NHL draft. Heck, their first pick in franchise history, French Connection center Gilbert Perreault, still holds many team records. Rick Martin, Phil Housley, Pierre Turgeon, Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Dahlin all became superstars after getting drafted by Buffalo, though some of them enjoyed the peak of the hockey career elsewhere.
Yet, the Sabres also made their fair share of unforced errors in the draft's first round. The list of busts includes Dennis Persson, Marek Zagrapan, Artem Kryukov, Jiri Dudacek and Morris Titanic, none of whom brought on-ice value to the blue and gold despite the significant investment.
Those players don't represent the organization's biggest draft mistake, though. That's because the players selected immediately after them didn't become franchise-altering studs. The Sabres erred but they didn't miss out on Hall of Famers or perennial All-Stars in the process.
In that regard, a couple top-10 selections from Buffalo's past stand out above the rest.
Runner-Up: Alex Nylander (No. 8 overall in 2016)
The Sabres had reshaped their forward core over the previous two drafts with the selections of Reinhart and Eichel. Now it was time to do the same defensively (or so it seemed) with Rasmus Ristolainen floundering in his effort to become a true No. 1 blueliner.
Several highly touted defensemen were available when Buffalo was on the clock at No. 8: Mikhail Sergachev, Charlie McAvoy, Jakob Chychrun, Dante Fabbro and Jake Bean. Sergachev helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win two Stanley Cup titles, while McAvoy developed into one of the NHL's top players at the position for the Boston Bruins. The others have become solid contributors, albeit not top-tier assets.
Instead, the Sabres opted for Nylander despite real questions about whether his offense-only skill set would translate to pro hockey. He ended up making just 19 appearances across parts of three seasons in Buffalo. He recorded three goals and three assists.
The Canadian winger was then traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2019 for guess what? A defenseman. The Sabres hoped Henri Jokiharju would fill the defensive void they failed to handle in the draft three years earlier. It didn't work, and Jokiharju was traded to the Bruins last season.
An inability to build a reliable defense corps is a massive reason the Eichel-Reinhart Sabres never lived up to their full potential. A different pick in 2016 could have helped change that.
Biggest Mistake: Shawn Anderson (No. 5 overall in 1986)
The mid-1980s Sabres were talent-rich up front with the likes of Perreault, Dave Andreychuk, Mike Foligno, John Tucker and Paul Cyr. Yet, the defense was lacking behind Phil Housley and Mike Ramsey, so Buffalo tried to address that early in the 1986 draft.
Unfortunately for Sabres fans, their team made the wrong choice.
Anderson was a decent player despite his obvious offensive limitations. He recorded just 32 points in 113 games across four years with Buffalo. Beyond that, he was a capable defender, stayed out of the penalty box and avoided game-changing mistakes.
Here's the problem: the next defenseman off the board was Brian Leetch to the New York Rangers with the ninth overall pick. Leetch went on to build a Hall of Fame career that included 11 All-Star Game selections, two Norris Trophies, a Calder Trophy and a Stanley Cup.
Every team has similar misfires in the draft history, of course. Taking 18-year-old prospects who usually still have a few years of development before they reach the NHL isn't an exact science, and that's still true today despite infinitely more data and video to analyze young players.
That said, misses like the Sabres' one with Leetch hit harder for a franchise like Buffalo that's still searching for its elusive first Stanley Cup championship.