Buffalo Sabres 2025 Draft Preview: 1st & 2nd-Round Targets, Potential Byram & Peterka Trades & More

Buffalo Sabres 2025 Draft Preview: 1st & 2nd-Round Targets, Potential Byram & Peterka Trades & More

hello everybody and welcome into another draft preview here at the Hockey Writers YouTube channel i’m your host Matthew Zatour and uh we are going to do the Buffalo Sabres in this video I’ve got Zach Bura here who covers the Sabres here at the Hockey Riders uh Zack how’s it going going good kind of the draft is more of a anticipation feeling at this point because the Sabres are all up in the news but I’m excited to be here and join you and thank you very much for sure yeah the Sabres are uh they’ve been in the news probably the last what month maybe in trade rumors uh different things that could happen haven’t happened yet um couple their bigger players potentially maybe being moved JJ Purka uh Bow and Byum being the two biggest names Alex Tuck has kind of been in the news as well um in the rumors but that seems to not be something that could happen i mean but you never know uh we’re going to talk about that later on in the show but let’s uh start with the draft and Zach I want to talk to you first about their strategy overall uh going into this draft i mean they’ve got another high pick uh lots of prospects they got a I’d say one of the top they’re probably top five in prospect pools right now a lot of great players lots of different types of players skill-wise and forward group maybe the defense isn’t as strong maybe in young guys but what do you what is their strategy going into this are they picking like for need or just just keep adding to the coffers i think at this rate with how many forward prospects and such a log jam they have up front on the forward group i think you have to go for need which is a top tier defensive prospect and I have a couple of guys in name names that I’ll mention later on but the Sabres it unless a guy like somehow Porter Marone falls the ninth overall which I don’t have him falling outside of the top 10 in my mock draft but I’ve seen some mock drafts where Chicago takes a guy like Fren all of a sudden Marone’s falling to the savers at nine in that case take best player available of course they’re going to add him he’ll be NHR ready if not this season next season at the latest but with the draft inside the top 15 specifically being so center heavy and you have four defenseman Matthew Schaefer he’s going first overall most likely unless something changes he’s been pretty much the consensus for the past two three months and then after that you have Redeem Murka Hes and Jackson Smith and if Murka is there at nine I say the Sabres you take him he’s 66 he has a long reach he is one of the better shutdown defenseman in this entire draft he can have a physical game if he needs to be and I think Hes is my second pick you have a guy of Hes who is one of the most physical players in this entire draft as a whole as a defenseman he can shut down rushes shut down transition he can do everything and we saw an uptick not only goals but also offensive production this past season he tripled his goal total from I believe it was eight to 26 or something ridiculous like that and I think those are the two players that if they’re available at ninth overall and they decide not to trade the ninth overall pick I say you go ahead and take it but the number one draft strategy for the Savers in my opinion is just trade the pick i see they’re more likely to trade the pick than to keep it especially if they can package up the ninth for pending RFA Bow and Byum and ship that off for a top six forward or a top four defense partner for Owen Power maybe even Darene whoever knows but nonetheless though I want to say they’re going to end up trading a ninth overall pick i mean it that seems to be the looks like that’s the theory everyone kind of looking at that especially with those two guys um Purka and Bayum being potentially traded you add that ninth overall pick you’re the guy you’re getting in return is probably going to be a pretty good uh asset um either and most likely be a player because they’re not going to be wanting another prospect i I think they’ve got enough of those they want some NHL ready guys that are going to make an impact on the lineup and push them finally to the playoffs that could hit 15 years that’s insane to me next season if they don’t make it so I think they want to break that and that’s the way to do it right all right well assuming they do uh keep the ninth overall pick you did mention a few names there i Who are you looking at the most i mean you mentioned the defenseman there’s obviously going to be some great centermen uh there but I mean the Sabres are pretty good down the middle i mean they could maybe use a guy but who are you targeting the most is it those like HSN or are you looking more at someone else i America and HSN are 1A and 1B for me i think one of those two is probably going to be taken eighth overall by Seattle I think considering Seattle needs young defenseman so so bad and whichever one of those guys gets taken Sabres takes the other one unless Jackson Smith is off the board eight in Seattle kind of shocks the world in a in a way but you never know crazier stuff has happened and then if you look over at forward if the Sabres do go that let’s say they want to add another loaded prospect I mean they already have Costa Helenius to their prospect pool in last year’s draft who’s also a center if they go a guy like Roger McQueen who’s getting comparisons to Ta Thompson 6’5 very lanky has a great shot a good skater now you’re just getting even more of a long jam although Roger McQueen is a tough prospect to pass up on especially with a lot of top 10 potential and a potential firstline center upside in the peak of his career and Victor Eckllin also a left winger who is most likely going to be available i compare him a lot to Cole Caulfield his shot’s very underrated and I don’t think he gets enough credit for it i think his hockey IQ also is very underrated and overall I think he is one of the better offensive playmakers in this draft class so I really look at the five guys overall jackson Smith Kan Herson Redeem Murka Victor Ecklan Roger McQueen and again if somehow Porter Martone falls in ninth overall those are really the guys that I’m looking at for the Savers to draft yeah I mean the way that is there’s been talk about the that Fondell could go to the Blackhawks and it’s that would really change a lot of the the draft board at that point um it it does sound like the San Jose Sharks are going to be taking Misa even though they’re kind of maybe throwing some some smoke in there i don’t think that’s that they’re going to take i think they’re taking Misa they’re just kind of maybe throwing some stuff in there but um I mean you never know stuff happens we didn’t know that uh what the Ducks have done the last two drafts was kind of messing up the top of the draft there becket Senica going third overall i don’t think anyone saw that coming that kind of changed the board a bit so I mean it there could be some stuff happening and and Porter Marto may drop too i don’t know about ninth overall that seems to be a bit crazy i think I think Marone if he does again if the Blackhawks do I change things he’s not going to fall past five I don’t see it but again we didn’t didn’t think Shane Wright was going to drop so so as much as he did and and it looks like James Hagens may drop into six the Flyers may be able to get him there’s gonna be so much fun times being at that top top of the draft which I didn’t think would Um but you never know what could happen at ninth overall if the Sabres do keep that pick that is all right one pick they probably will keep i mean you never know again and they may trade this second round pick too because it’s a high value pick may throw it into another deal they do got one second round pick i Who are you looking in the second round for the Sabres so I have three guys listed off payton Kettles who’s another big body defenseman depending on if they trade that ninth overall pick or decide to go best player available and take a forward max Senica I really hope that he is silent he’s also another defenseman and I’m sorry if I butcher this centerman’s name ivan Rabkin i really hope that’s how you pronounce it but he in the beginning of the years he was at the top of a lot of people’s draft boards and he has fallen drastically over the past six months and I look at him and again I know it’s not a need for the Sabres but if Rabikin is available I think he is a best player available you take him no matter what just his skill set his offensive IQ his playmaking ability he the fact that he’s potentially being talked about falling all the way to the third round is ridiculous and he’s going to be one of the steels of the draft if he falls to whether it’s 39th overall which is the Sabres second round pick or whether it’s to the third round he’s going to be one of the top steels of the draft maybe in five years we’re going to be talking about now not to this extent of Cooer off or Capri off taken outside of the first round and in the fifth round or whatever talking about how did this player fall to the middle second round or to the third round at some point ramkin’s an interesting one i I think we’ve talked about on prospect corner a few times that he could be a guy that’ll be available in those later rounds and he will be a steal i mean even if he does uh drop just into the second round he’s a first round talent and yes he struggled in the you know in North America in the North American game when he did come over h and there’s been some stuff about his attitude maybe is also a little bit of a red flag so I don’t know we we’ll see what kind of happens there but some teams are really comfortable with taking Russian players and uh I could see I mean the Capitals I don’t know if they have a pick uh in the second round but they’re always a they’re always a team that could take uh the Canadians aren’t afraid of taking Russian players they could be another one so I mean there are some teams that will that won’t be worried about any of these things that are coming up but he does have a lot of skill so whatever team does get him I it will be probably in the second round i don’t see him dropping to the third i I just But again there’s so many guys that have done this that have dropped into those uh later rounds that wasn’t anticipated you It could happen anything happens that’s a draft right so all right let’s uh jump to we’ve alluded to it a few times here in trades and the Sabres have been in the rumors a lot um with most like most likely a defenseman and a forward big guys that aren’t going to be going for little return bowen Byum is a top four defenseman maybe a top pairing defenseman on a on some teams uh you’re looking at JJ Burka a topline forward uh that has a lot of more potential in the NHL he’s only 23 years old he already has two 25 plus goal seasons under his belt last two seasons do you see those guys moving at the draft um it seems like one of them will be gone uh before training camp in the offse at some point here uh where do you see this going i’m almost 100% certain that Bone Bar will be gone by the end of the NHL draft whether it is in the first round or whether it’s day two at some point he will be gone i think JJ Purka they’re going to wait on a little bit the Savers they want to keep him they want to sign him to a long-term deal there’s rumors and rumblings and reports coming out that he may be unhappy with with the team’s direction and this and that but I don’t know i mean nothing’s really been super confirmed but I’m starting to get a little bit worried about how many reports are that is coming out about him being unhappy and the return that Peter can get whether he’s unsigned or not whether they just trade his rights whether they do like a signin trade you can get back a hall and I’ve seen some people throw out the idea of trading by or whatever go for it right we all know it’s going to happen you might have to ship out the Turk in order to get better and I know that’s going to be rough because Peter is coming off a 60 70 point season i think he has a 80 point season at some point in his career he’s a going to be a consistent 3030 guy in this league he has first line winger potential if he isn’t already one but sometimes we we’re seeing it with Dallas where they might have to trade Jason Robertson might see the same thing with JJ Purka where Purka he’s just unhappy and he might eventually just ask out or it might be a thing where he has I believe two years left until he hits UFA status or three years at the most he might just be I I was signing a two by7 half million dollar deal and after that I’m gone so either trade me now or I’ll just walk when the deal’s up so Purka he doesn’t have a ton of leverage in this the Sabres can say “Okay well we’re just going to hold on to you like we want you on the team we’re not trading you.” And if that’s the case and Purkin can hold out if he really wants to because I don’t think he’s arbitration eligible so I think the Purka situation is a mess bone Byron will be gone and I think that’s that yeah I I do see that too it just seems like there whenever there’s smoke there’s usually fire there and you’re looking at one of them getting traded pretty soon uh I do see Byum uh being the guy that’s uh gonna be dra traded in around the draft maybe on draft day i but it seems like all these big trades happen the day before the draft we always hope that it happens on draft 4 it doesn’t usually um but yeah I really see that the Canucks have been in that conversation with getting potentially both of them i don’t see that unless they’re trading Leas Person in that it just doesn’t seem like I have enough assets that the Sabres would want of course they don’t seem to be wanting first round pick again I mean they want to be getting some NHL ready guys and I don’t see the Conucks having anyone that they really could trade that the Savers would say yes we’ll take that deal over another team that may be able to give them a lot more um what do you think what do you see about those i mean the Conucks being in that that conversation i found that interesting the Canucks have been kind of like I guess linked with the Sabres the past I’d say six months or maybe even since like Thanksgiving Christmas going back to Dylan the Dylan Cousin stuff being possibly packaged with Bowen Byum Dylan Cousins get shipped off to Ottawa now Bowen Byum is back linked with the Canucks and I don’t I I agree with you i don’t think the Conucks have enough assets to be like here’s Elias Person plus another NHL roster player and maybe a third or fourth round pick for Bow and Barum type trade just coming off the top of my head and outside of Person there’s nothing to offer for the Conucks and I think the Conucks I know Bowen Byron didn’t have the great a great season he put up a careerhigh in points but analytically I look at I’m a big analytics guy he was not great analytically outside of playing with resting was not good But it seems like a lot of the league looks at Byron as a potential number one defenseman and the Canucks being that way and with the Quinn Hugh smoke and stuff about not only him potentially walking to go to New Jersey in two years but also just a potential it’s a dumpster fire at this point quinn Hughes ask out if it just keeps getting worse they want to make him happy getting a guy like Byum of course makes him happy but then you have to have to trade a guy like Person in order to at least somewhat start talking about a trade because you’re not getting Byum without giving up Person and that’s just how it is and a lot of Conucks fans and media members they might not like that idea because Person we just saw him a season and a half ago come off a 100 point season last season he was not good to be honest with you so I think there’s a lot of hope for Person still end up being that elite 100 point number one center for them especially with the Canucks saying that they don’t really want to trade him right now unless an offer blows him out of the water i don’t think even like offering Byum to the Conucks blows the Conucks out of water i think it’s just a lot of smoke up in the air and these two teams really just being connected through trade rumors i don’t think nothing’s going to materialize yeah I I don’t see it either i mean the thing is is it seems like P they want to keep Person at least to see if he can bounce back this coming season without all the drama with JT Miller and all that stuff um I see them keeping him but it’s just it’s just interesting that rumor doesn’t seem to want to go away the Canucks and and Byum being connected of course Byron is hometown guy he’s played for the Giants he’s very familiar around here so I mean there’s been the talk that he wants to come here i don’t know if that’s true or anything but yeah it’s gonna be interesting to see what happens with Byum and Purka if uh they both get packaged in a deal together to a team or it’s two separate trades because either one’s gonna be a big one to talk about all right well to finish you see any other trades apart from Byum and and Turk i mean I mentioned Alex Tuck at the beginning of the show anyone else that you see kind of being on the trade block i I know there’s been a few other guys that have been mentioned too i’m going to throw out two names one of them you did throw out Alex Tuck i don’t think Alex Suck is being traded the camp started talking they talked they actually met at the combine kind of starting to materialize an extension i don’t know if that extension is going to come like soon but there is sustainable progress between the two parties the Sabres want to throw out an extension to Tuck and give it to him tuck wants to stay in Buffalo chad Demonics of oh my god expected Buffalo he has reported that around 5 by9.5 million or 5 by9 million and that kind of range for Alex Taku at the end of his deal is going to be 30 years old so you don’t want to give him an eight-year deal it ends when he’s 38 and then at some point when he’s 35 36 potentially talking about a buyout because his play is declined and then another name that has popped up over the last few days is Matias Samuelson he has missed over 50% of the team’s game since signing his extension with the Sabres a few years back and he has not been good when he’s been on the ice frankly he’s been kind of a liability at times on the ice and the Sabres are shopping him on a trade block and a buyout has been discussed too i don’t know if a buyout is right at this point but if you look at a buyout you’re saving a ton of money you’re not paying him more than a million dollars at most over the next 10 years to pay him not to be on your team so I think a buyout is realistic i don’t know if the Sabres want to do that right now but overall I feel like they want to get at least some type of value back if they end up trading Matias Samuelson whether it’s a fourth or fifth round pick whether it’s you know a B or C- level prospect or maybe even it’s a third or fourth line grinder who knows but Matias Samuelson he might not be on the train team by training camp talk I think an extension will get done the Sabres not only are they going to be aggressive at the off in the offseason but also I’m expecting there to be a little bit of change this off seasonason yeah I sabers are going to be in the news I think uh or the rumors throughout the off seasonason if they don’t do a bunch uh before the draft or on the draft h lots of names lots of things that they want to do and they want to make the playoffs that’s the biggest thing and we’ll see if anything that they do in the off season makes that happen it’s going to be tough but they do have a lot of uh still a lot of young guys that could potentially do stuff so um we’ll see what happens so thanks uh Zach for coming on and talking draft trades uh lots of stuff for the Sabres make sure you’re checking out everything that we’ve got at the hogars.com zach’s writing there he’s done bunch of targets come for the draft um articles you can take a look at there also lots more fun stuff uh in the draft guide all that uh the coverage that we have for the draft and prospects and all the off season and free agency it’s just around the corner too lots of busy it’s going to be busy in the next few weeks until we get to that dull time uh during the off season but yeah it’s going to it’s going to be fun so until our next video we will see you next

Host Matthew Zator gets together with Buffalo Sabres writer Zach Berta to discuss some first and second-round targets for the 2025 NHL Draft. They also talk about potential trades involving Bowen Byram, JJ Peterka, and Mattias Samuelsson, and the Sabres’ overall strategy heading into Day 1.

Check out Zach’s writing – https://thehockeywriters.com/author/zberta/

THW’s 2025 NHL Draft Guide – https://thehockeywriters.com/2025-nhl-draft-guide/

NHL Shop – https://nhlshop.775j.net/c/2507856/1851376/9674

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