Sabres add size, defense depth to prospect pool on Day 2

NASHVILLE -Kevyn Adams was asked about adding size to the Buffalo Sabres' prospect pool on the eve of the NHL Draft. He said it was a consideration but not a priority, particularly considering the number of young, large players currently on the NHL roster.

The Sabres general manager stood by that statement Thursday, after the Sabres used all seven of their Day 2 picks on players listed as six feet or taller.

"I'll say exactly what I said before," Adams said. "I don't get obsessed with size, and this was not in any way planned, saying, 'OK, we're going with these big guys.'

"We want really good, competitive hockey players we think are going to help us be a great team. And a lot of these kids that we identified also happened to be pretty big. So that's just kind of the way it fell.

The average height of the Sabres' Class of 2023 is 6-foot-3. That includes 5-foot-10 winger Zach Benson, selected Wednesday with the 13th-overall pick. The group is comprised of three forwards, four defensemen, and one goaltender.

The picks fell as follows (with heights in parenthesis):

Round 1, No. 13 - Zach Benson, F (5-10)
Round 2, No. 39 - Anton Wahlberg, F (6-3)
Round 2, No. 45 - Max Strbak, RHD (6-2)
Round 3, No. 86 - Gavin McCarthy, RHD (6-1)
Round 4, No. 109 - Ethan Miedema, F (6-4)
Round 5, No. 141 - Scott Ratzlaff, G (6-0)
Round 6, No. 173 - Sean Keohane, LHD (6-4)
Round 7, No. 205 - Norwin Panocha, LHD (6-1)

"A couple of them came down to the table and I felt small," Adams said.

That said, there is plenty more to this class than size alone.

Here are takeaways from Day 2 at Bridgestone Arena.

1.Adams said Wednesday that he had aggressively tried to trade for a second selection in Round 1. He resumed those efforts Thursday morning, attempting to move forward from 39.

The target of those efforts, Wahlberg, ended up being there for the Sabres when their turn came. Adams likened the situation to last summer, when the Sabres tried unsuccessfully to trade up and select Jiri Kulich but were able to draft him anyway.

"This was a guy that we had way up on our list," Adams said.

Sabres director of amateur scouting Jerry Forton said he tracked Wahlberg closely since early in the season on the advice of Swedish scout Anders Forsberg. They saw a player who improved as the year wore on, earning more opportunity with the Swedish national team in the process.

Wahlberg scored 27 points (14+13) in 32 games for Malmo's J20 team before earning a role with the SHL club. He played meaningful minutes in relegation play, with Malmo fighting to keep its spot in Sweden's top league.

"In Sweden, that's as much pressure as playing in the Stanley Cup Finals," Forton said. "… He's a kid that rises in the big moments. Not a perfect player yet, some inconsistency. Talented, fast, very skilled around the net. A hard player. You need it all to come together, but it's a special package."

2. Wahlberg has experience playing center and wing but feels he projects as the latter on the smaller North American ice surface. He is under contract for one more season in Sweden, after which he plans to collaborate with the Sabres on the next step in his development.

3.The Sabres stocked the defense cupboard early with the selections of right shots Strbak and McCarthy. They join a pool of young defensemen headlined by four NHL regulars under the age of 25 (Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson, and Henri Jokiharju) along with recently signed prospects Nikita Novikov and Vsevolod Komarov, among others.

Strbak described himself as a physical, shutdown defenseman with a willingness to join on offense. He will be a freshman next season at Michigan State under coach Adam Nightingale, the brother of Sabres assistant director of amateur scouting Jason Nightingale.

Forton described Strbak as "mean and hard to play against" on the ice, with a maturity beyond his years off the ice. Strbak was born in Slovakia and has played in both Finland and the United States. He speaks five languages.

"I think he'll round out his game over the next two or three years and I have no doubt he's a second, third-pair NHL defenseman," Forton said.

McCarthy, meanwhile, shares Strbak's meanness on the ice along with what Forton described as "sneaky puck-moving ability." He overcame a knee injury that cost him part of last season with Muskegon of the USHL and will begin his NCAA career next fall at Boston University.

4. Part of the Sabres' confidence in McCarthy stemmed from familiarity. McCarthy is a Clarence Center native and a Buffalo Jr. Sabres product, including one season playing for current Sabres development coach Tim Kennedy. He skated with Sabres assistant coach Matt Ellis at the Academy of Hockey.

McCarthy also has a long relationship with Adams, his Clarence Center neighbor.

"I'll tell you, having him come down to the table and seeing the smile on his face and knowing the work that kid's put in over his time to get to this spot is special," Adams said. "I think we added a 6-foot-2, right shot defenseman that we think there's a lot of upside there. And that's why we made the pick."

5.The Sabres also added to their goaltending pipeline with the addition of Ratzlaff, who split the net last season with fellow fifth-round pick Thomas Milic. Forton said the Sabres expect Ratzlaff to step into a full-time starter role next season and pointed to his bloodlines - which include a 6-foot-3 father and 6-foot-5 Seattle Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy as a first cousin - as evidence for potential growth.

"When he's at his high level like the people talk about him at Hockey Canada and Seattle, he's not beatable," Forton said. "Now, do we see bad games out of him? Yes. But when those start to go away and you see the high side, that's exciting, and if he grows another inch or two that's really exciting."