Prospects Challenge | 10 players to watch on the Sabres' roster

We’ve arrived at the start of another season, with the Buffalo Sabres prospects having descended upon LECOM Harborcenter on Wednesday for their first practice ahead of the annual Prospects Challenge.

The Sabres prospects will practice again on Thursday morning, then open the event against their counterparts from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. After that, the Sabres play New Jersey on Saturday and Pittsburgh on Monday.

All three Sabres games will be streamed live on Sabres.com. The full schedule for the event – which also includes Boston and Ottawa – can be found here.

The Sabres will ice a talented roster featuring 12 players who dressed for Rochester last season, including five first-round picks. Find the full roster here.

In the meantime, here are 10 players to watch this weekend.

The first-round picks

Isak Rosen, RW – Rosen continued to round out his two-way game during his second season in Rochester, setting AHL career highs in goals (20), assists (30), and points (50) while being counted on as an all-situations player, including a top-unit role on the penalty kill.

“(He) became one of our best defensive wingers,” Appert said

The 21-year-old will be among the players looking to earn a spot in Buffalo this season after playing seven NHL games in 2022-23.

Jiri Kulich, C – Kulich is only entering his age 20 season, which can be easy to forget considering he has two productive AHL campaigns already on his resume. He led Rochester with 27 goals in 57 games last season while oftentimes taking on top-line matchups at center.

“He was expected to be among the leaders of the team, so that’s a big burden for him to carry at his age,” Rochester general manager Jason Karmanos said after the season. “I thought he did it extremely well.”

Kulich made his NHL debut alongside Rosen last season and will be another player to watch as he looks to take the next step as a full-time player for Buffalo. He said Wednesday that he felt noticeably stronger on the ice following a summer geared toward improving his physicality.

“I was working on the net-front and those things, what I need to do, because I thought I could just shoot [from] the [one-timer] spot,” he said with a smile. “But I need to improve on these things and, yeah, I think I improved a lot from the summer to now.”

Konsta Helenius, C – Helenius, the newest player on this list, was drafted 14th-overall by the Sabres in June. His competitiveness and defensive responsibility, plus his multiple seasons of professional experience in Finland, could ease his transition to North America whether he starts in Rochester or earns a spot in Buffalo the same way Zach Benson did last fall.

Helenius said he spent the final weeks of the summer training in Finland with Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju.

“It was nice to train with him,” Helenius said. “He’s played a lot of games in the NHL, so it was nice to compete with him.”

Noah Ostlund, C – Ostlund, the 16th pick in 2022, made the jump to the SHL (the top pro league in Sweden) last season and had 12 goals and 23 points in 38 games. Once that campaign ended, he joined Rochester for the final two games of the regular season and scored a goal in his playoff debut.

This will be Ostlund’s first full season in North America. Rochester coach Michael Leone said he liked what he saw from the 20-year-old during their first practice together on Wednesday.

“You watch the players on video, but seeing him live in person, he had the puck on his stick a lot today,” Leone said. “His puck protection, low center of gravity, I thought he had a really good day.”

Ryan Johnson, LHD – Johnson started his first professional season in the AHL but ended up playing 41 games for Buffalo, tallying nine assists and averaging 13:52 of ice time.

The Sabres return six defensemen who were starters when healthy last season (Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Bowen Byram, Henri Jokiharju, Mattias Samuelsson, and Connor Clifton) and brought in Dennis Gilbert to join Jacob Bryson and Kale Clague as players who will compete for ice time. Johnson will be in that mix, too – but if he does start the season in Rochester, it will be an opportunity to command the game from the back end.

“He should be the best rush defender in the American Hockey League if that’s where he ends up,” Rochester assistant coach Nathan Paetsch said during development camp. “He has the ability to do that, and he’s taken steps towards that. … He should dominate games and never actually have to defend because nobody gets through the neutral zone against him.”

Returning Amerks

Anton Wahlberg, C – Wahlberg, a second-round pick in 2023, joined Rochester at the end of an eventful season that included 43 games in the SHL and a key role as one of the youngest players on Sweden’s silver medal-winning team at the World Junior Championship.

Wahlberg (6-foot-3, 198 pounds) plays a power forward style with a willingness to hang in front of opposing nets. He will make the jump to North America this season alongside Ostlund, his linemate with the Swedish national team. The duo practiced as linemates alongside Helenius on Wednesday.

Nikita Novikov, LHD – The 6-foot-4, 205-pound defenseman has enjoyed a steady progression since being drafted during the sixth round in 2021. He spent the following two years playing against men in the KHL (Russia’s top pro league), then made the jump to Rochester last season.

Novikov had 23 points (3+20) in 65 games as a rookie with the Amerks.

“He’s a big kid and he’s still developing,” Paetsch said during development camp. “He’s young and he’s got a lot to do with his body still, but he’s got a lot of physical upside. And the confidence he brings, he just has this swagger that things get done when he’s on the ice, and he wants to win. When the game’s on the line, there’s nobody more competitive. That’s my favorite thing about him.”

Viktor Neuchev, LW – Neuchev was also a rookie last season in Rochester, where he scored 11 goals and 28 points in 57 games. The 20-year-old has been a standout at prospect events before – including this year’s development camp, where he received high praise from Amerks assistant coach Vinny Prospal.

“He made tremendous strides throughout the season, and it showed in his play and his ice time,” Prospal said. “He looks great out there. You can clearly see that he’s above some of the players there on the ice right now. And I fully expect him to play a larger role with us in his second season.”

The first-year pro

Vsevolod Komarov, RHD – Komarov has exceeded the expectations of a fifth-round draft pick since his selection in 2022. The 20-year-old was named QMJHL Defenseman of the Year last season as well as the top player in the playoffs after helping guide Drummondville to the league championship.

With two decorated junior seasons under his belt, Komarov will make the jump to professional hockey this year.

“We knew he was going to maximize whatever talent ability he had, and he just keeps getting better and better,” said Paetsch, who worked with Komarov in his previous role as a development coach. “But that’s the character. I saw the character right away that was special and that translated, obviously, on the ice.”

In the crease

Scott Ratzlaff, G – Ratzlaff enters his second camp with the Sabres after being drafted during the fifth round in 2023. The Prospects Challenge will serve as a springboard for what could be a big junior season for the goaltender, who is a candidate to start for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship after making last year’s roster as an 18-year-old.

In the meantime, Ratzlaff will look to make an impression at Sabres camp before returning for a fourth WHL season with the Seattle Thunderbirds, where he had a .905 save percentage in 52 games last season.