Buffalo Sabres Draft Recap 2025

Buffalo Sabres Draft Recap 2025

Welcome back to Scouching’s 2025 NHL draft recap series. And today we’re looking at the Buffalo Sabres. The Buffalo Sabres have been the butt end of the NHL fandom’s jokes for a long time now. And they drafted a lot this season. And let’s just say things might be a little mixed when looking back on this draft class moving forward. But it’s not all bad. It’s not all bad. Trust me, it’s not all bad. So, let’s get into why. So, at ninth overall, the Buffalo Sabres drafted Ready Murka. I get it. 6’6 right-hand shot defenseman. They don’t grow on trees. I watched a lot of Rea Murka this year. I think the hype train on him got really out of control. And I saw him as a first round draft pick, but more as a long-term bet and one that I think leans a little more defensively than his production might indicate. I think MKA is a player than in the top 10. In retrospect, there are universes where he could be worth taking that high, but I know I’m not the only one who looks at that and goes, “Okay, if you think that, then I can’t stop you.” I had Murka at 22. I wasn’t a huge fan of the defenseman in this draft class at all outside of Matthew Schaefer. So, I’m not going to harp on it too much, but Murka is an intriguing player with a decent package of skating ability and he uses his reach really effectively almost to a fault to break play up along the boards. But he’s a player that I think is just another one of these giant defensemen who doesn’t quite use their physical tools as much as you would think and in close quarters defending is less effective than you would think as well. Guys got through him. He allowed a lot of dangerous chances in his own end in my tracking sample, but there were some really intriguing moments out of Murka, especially with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone, shaking off a guy trying to get the puck into the slot around pressure. That’s interesting stuff to see. But I just think he’s a ways away from being worth drafting in the top 10. But he’s a 6’6 right-hand shot defenseman, and if it works out, wonderful. And we’ll see what happens. It’s a nice alternative to put in your lineup alongside guys like Owen Power or Rasmus Dene. he can take away a bit of that offensive responsibility and maybe he can play his style of play a little bit better at that point, but I think we’re a little bit of a ways away from that point. At 71st overall, they drafted David Bidowski, who I tried to watch him a bunch of times this year. He’s just not my type of guy. He’s huge. He’s a decent skater for a guy his size, and he will drop the gloves. He will get dirty along the boards. He will do the thing that NHL teams seem to be obsessed about right now. So, I don’t know. I mean, if this is what you want, then he’s a good option. 71st overall. I mean, honestly, there’s part of me that’s surprised he went that late, but I saw a really, really limited profile there, but I guess he could be your number seven defenseman, right? That’s kind of the player that he is. If he gets in your lineup, I’m not sure he’s going to bring a ton of upside, but he will have a role to play and he might be one of these guys that just plays game after game after game after game and has his job, but you build around it rather than have him as a centerpiece. At 103rd, they drafted Matus Kuharic. I heard a lot of hype about this guy, and when I watched him over the course of this season, I’m not sure I saw the same things out of him as I saw out of players that even went after him in this year’s draft class. The player that’s like him that went immediately after this that I would have really been pushing for is Gustav Hilstrom. But Kuharic does have an intriguing package of size and some good confidence through pressure. And I thought he looked okay playing professional hockey in Czecha this season, but I’m not exactly sure what type of a player he is or what his specialty will be in the NHL. But maybe you could develop something in there and who knows. At 116th, they drafted Samuel Malosh, a goalender for the Ruin Niranda Huskies. I didn’t really watch him much this year, if at all. So, I don’t really have any thoughts and I’m not going to lie to you and pretend like I know what I’m talking about when it comes to MaloSh. 116th overall. If you’re a goalie, people think that there’s something there. Sure, when I went and watched him after the draft, nothing really stood out about him compared to some of the other goalenders I’ve seen this year, but who knows? We’ll see. At 135th, they drafted Noah Leair, and this was a player I had never heard of before. I went and watched him after the draft, and I did not see a player that I would have ranked. Player where I’m not exactly sure what he is. He’s kind of just there and doing stuff a little bit better than some QMJHL level players. shaking off guys in the offensive zone, being confident with his skill. I didn’t really see anything that really moved the needle for me a ton, but it’s 135th overall. At this point, if you get anything with anybody, then that’s great. But there were players at this range that I probably would have pushed for. And when I watched Leair, he wasn’t one of these guys where I’m going, “Oh, okay. I see why a team drafted this guy.” And again, with the NCAA, you have a much longer developmental path with CHL players. So, who knows? Can’t complain too much. It’s 135th. At 167th, they drafted Ashton Schultz. Now, this might be one of the most interesting swings they took, and honestly, three of the last four picks they made this season might turn out to be the most intriguing ones that they have made in the entire draft class. Schultz is just pure fun skill. I’m not sure it projects to the NHL really. The skating ability is okay. The defensive play is not really there, but he does have some incredible skill. Some one-on-one moments that really hit the highlight reels really well. He’s a player that kind of was quiet for most of the games that I saw, but when he popped, he popped big. So, we’ll see what happens with him. Again, long-term development curve, but at least there’s a lot of skill with him, and I can at least see a lot of what made him a potential NHL draft pick, and he went around the range where I figured someone would take a swing on him. At 195th, they took Melvin Noatne. I’ve really loved watching Melvin Noatne this year, and he is kind of a similar case as Ashton Schultz. He’s younger than Ashton Schultz, which is a plus. And the skill level, I think, is done at a better pace of play and a little more aggressively and a little better one-on-one sort of intensity. I I don’t know. We’ll see with Noadne. He’s a player who I think just hasn’t quite rounded out his game or become a great team player, so to speak, but the actual abilities in his game are really, really high-end. The fakes, the deception, the skill level, driving down deep and trying to create around scoring areas. You see good moments out of Noatne. And I think the Sabres are hoping that he can capture more of that. Take your time, develop him, and at the end of the day, you could end up with a nice little pickup here as a skilled offensive forward. At 199th, they went to Bellarus and drafted Yageni Proorov, a goalender. Now, this is one I’ve actually seen on the recommendation of our resident goalending expert, David Phillips. Now, Porov is a favorite of his, and I believe him. I think that 199th overall to take a swing on a goalie is perfectly fine. He has had some decent numbers in the past. I went and watched a little bit of him. And yeah, I mean, I see a guy who tracks the puck pretty well. Gets around the crease pretty decently. Takes up a lot of the net naturally. He isn’t hunching over and allowing a lot of room at the top of the net and all those things. So, long-term bet, you can leave him in Russia or Bellarus or wherever it is he’s going to play. And if at 199th you get a goalender, then you’ve done really, really well. And closing things out right at the tail end of the draft, they drafted Ryan Ruchinsky at 219th. This is an interesting one. Ruchinsky really intrigued me last season watching Youngstown here and there as a small compact but really dynamic and creative highpacec scoring guy. I feel like this is a huge ceiling swing on Rinsky. And again, it seems very interesting to me that the Sabres might be one of these examples of the middle of the draft. They tried to play it safe and drafted a lot of guys, but the better players that may have a low floor, but are much more interesting to watch are the ones they took swings on late, which might turn out to be better options than the ones they drafted earlier because Ruchinsky at the very least I could see being a really, really solid college player and who knows where he goes from here. He’s got high energy, high pace of play, a really good skill level. He’s a little bit on the older side for a first time draft eligible, but you leave him for a few years. You don’t have to bring him into the AHL after next season or anything. I really enjoyed Ryan Ruchinsky, at least in a fun way over the course of the last two seasons. So, I was really happy to see him get picked. He’s a guy who flirted with my list a little bit early in the year, but again, I feel like the upside is while high hard to reach for him, but I at least respect the bet a lot. So, the Sabres are going to get a 2D for me. I’m not the biggest fan of Ruddy Murka at nine, but I can see the logic. And if it turns out, I think you could have a really good sort of second pair defenseman to play off of some of your more offensive leaning defenseman. Becowski, Kuharachic, Laair. I didn’t see a whole lot there where I’m going, yeah, like at least with Bkowski, I can see a job in the NHL for him in some way. The other two, I just don’t know what they really are. And and that’s always something that kind of dissuades me from looking at that player more deeply. But the other guys, Schulz, Natanne, Ruchinsky, and to some Porov, those are all really intriguing bets to make. They’re all really high-skilled players, at least the skaters, Porov has some pretty good metrics in his history. These are guys that you can all let develop long term, whether it’s in Sweden or in the NCAA. And I think they do have the skill floor to become really intriguing offensive players down the road. NHL level, we will see, but at least there’s something to build on. And with that, we’re going to call it. If you like the video, definitely like and subscribe. If you really liked it, definitely consider a subscription over at scouching.ca where you can get access to all kinds of fun data tools and our Discord server and plenty of other fun stuff that you’re just not going to find anywhere else on the internet. So check that out at scouching.ca. Thank you for watching and we’ll see you in the next

The Buffalo Sabres made some big moves at the 2025 NHL Draft — and in this video, Will Scouch goes through each of their picks and shares his thoughts on the players they selected. From first-rounders to late-round swings, Will breaks down what stood out, what might work, and what could be questioned.

At the end, he gives his overall thoughts and a final grade on the Sabres’ 2025 draft class.

#NHLDraft #Sabres #Scouching #HockeyProspects #BuffaloSabres

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