How Vsevelod Komarov’s success impacts Sabres’ short- and long-term plans

How Vsevelod Komarov’s success impacts Sabres’ short- and long-term plans

I’m Lance lowski the Sabers beat writer for the Buffalo News back in in Buffalo after a few days out in Saga Michigan for the Memorial Cup which if you’re not aware is the Canadian hockey leagues for a better with a lack of a better way of putting it Clash of Champions so there’s the Quebec maritimes Junior Hockey League champion the Western Hockey League champion the onario Hockey League champion and of course whomever gets to host the event this year it is the SAG spirit and typically whomever the host team is is good they put a lot of resources into building a winning team so they could actually competitive at the event now of course Matt seavoy plays for Mo jaw first round pick ninth overall of the Sabers in 2022 spoke about him in my previous videos so not going to get into really any depth about him I’ll have more on on Matt seavoy this weekend in pron online the Buffalo news I’ve got another story coming uh based on other conversations I’ve had one when I was in Michigan now I want to use this video this opportunity to talk about theod kov who was at the Memorial Cup his team L Tuesday night their season is over at Drummondville of the qmjhl kov a 6’4 defenseman drafted by the Sabres in the fifth round two years ago very raw when they selected him rangy lanky you saw a really intriguing skill set there you know and great with the puck for somebody as big as he is the major detriment which I still think it’s improved but it still exists it’s something he needs to work on is the skating his skating stride is not at the pro level quite yet I would even say that it’s probably a hair below or behind uh Nikita novakov fellow Russian defenseman drafted in 2021 who’s currently in Rochester had a a really promising rookie year somebody who’s GNA need multiple Seasons at least in Rochester to develop into an NHL now kov really fascinating I will I wrote this story in the Buffalo News you can see it in the Thursday paper online um as well really how the Sabres found thead kov now he left Russia to play Junior Hockey and quec because he knew that this was going to be his best path to the NHL we all know about the hurdles of a junior player in Russia getting to the us some of those guys get stuck really stuck in Russia until their mid 20s we’re seeing it right now with proor Popov uh the saber second round pick in 2021 who’s extremely talented power forward somebody that they’ll be able to sign as soon as the spring of 2025 but there’s a lot of limitations you have a player over in Europe who there’s challenges in terms of getting a development coach there the conversations there’s communication barriers so the fact that kov wanted to come to North America at such a young age learn English really did everything he could to to have a strong grasp of it which he does now he’s come a very long way it was honestly really enjoyable to to have a 10-minute conversation with him and get the get a sense of his personality I spoke to vot at his first development camp in 20122 and it was mostly just one-word answers he had trouble understanding most of what I was asking we tried we we we gave it a good go for about 5 minutes before I bid him farewell and good luck and and here we are again where we were able to have a a really a great conversation to get to know his path a little bit better you know he was one of these players that you know if you I’m not sure if you know if you didn’t watch the Memorial Cup or any of the broadcast particularly when Drummondville was playing he was highlighted throughout the broadcast he was their best player you know their top defenseman Maverick gamaro a first round pick of Utah a year ago has been out season ending injury in early April which has caused veva to have to be more of an offensive play driver he’s on their top power play he’s able to pinch more and take the risks that you know typically wouldn’t see him make but he hits the crossbar at the end of the first period on Tuesday against Moosejaw while taking one of those risks that you know in those situations he might not be able to the offens production really spiked it took a jump this is just another example of how those later round picks matter now there’s no guarantee that kov is going to develop into an nhlr there’s still steps that he needs to take particularly the skating learning in the American League level probably for multiple years he’s only 20 years old but this is a very important player for the Sabers to have now you know two years ago a long shot a lottery ticket your odds of him hitting are much higher now that you’ve seeing him have success at the junior level he’s developed these traits and intangibles that are really going to serve him well once he’s with the ammer and this is somebody the Sabres really needed you know I know there’s a lot of talk about what they have on their NHL roster and for good reason look at their defense rason stallen Owen power bow and Byam Matias Samson we’ll see what happens with Henry Henry Yoki Haru a pending restricted free agent the contract projections for him are around four four and a half million I would I would bring them back we’ll see how they approach that situation this summer but you look through their Prospect Pipeline and I think that the the general cons consensus around anal analysts drafts draft Scouts people who really pay attention to to prospects and scouting is that the Sabres don’t have D prospects that they’re very thin on the back end when it comes to their players outside the NHL that’s not exactly true not only do they have comrov they have Nikita novakov who again can be can become an NHL player do I think he’s going to be a top top pairing defenseman not not really but when it comes to these two players in particular kov and novakov why can’t they become someone like an Ilia lbushkin who is a really solid THD pair defenseman in the right situation you know with the ability to play up perhaps you know not so much lushka but there’s other examples around the league that show how valuable it is you can never have too many defenseman but let’s continue with this list here kov novakov Ryan Johnson who was drafted in the first round in 2019 so he’s very close to helping the Sabres he played quite a few games in the NHL this year helped in Rochester needs to gain strength there’s certain areas of his game defensively that needs need to be ironed out in my opinion for him to be an everyday NHL or I thought that they pushed him far too soon because Eric Johnson wasn’t a fit this year no put him in Rochester let him grow but you look at the rest of the list norn pinoca seventh round pick in 2023 was on Germany’s team at the under at the u20 world champion world junior Championship sorry and of course another lottery ticket but a prospect that’s at least intriguing that you know hey maybe you got something here you know give it a few years get stronger a puck mover Gavin McCarthy of Clarence we know about him drafted last year freshman at Boston University the offense hasn’t come yet you got to like the skating in the defense though the instincts there’s a really good base there there that the Sabres didn’t just pick him because he’s from wesser New York there’s Talent Max stck second round pick in 2023 freshman year Michigan State just ended right shot still when you got a player who’s still in college you’re looking at a few years down the line um and he may need a few years in the American Hockey League after that so no guarantees this is somebody who’s going to be able to help you sooner than later but when it comes to kov and you look at if he fixes the skating there’s no reason why and that and I say fixes this is going to be work now and the thing about skating you talk to Scouts around the NHL for other teams even people who Scout the lower levels suddenly we know that a player can fix their skating stride it’s been proven even Sam Reinhardt put a ton of work into SK fixing his skating to the point where no he’s not going to be that Elite skater in the NHL but but he’s going to be able to put himself in situations to score goals Sam Reinhard had 57 the regular season and he’s having a pretty good playoffs as well so there is evidence there we know they can do it the coaching is there the strength training is there kov has started that process but as he gets older as he moves up the Sabers organization and gets into Rochester you have more influence on his day-to-day in terms of strength training you have more factors under your in your control to where as a team you got to feel better about where you can take his development now I see other areas of his game you know he can close on guys quickly despite the lack of speed and a lot of that is hockey sense he’s a very smart player um knows how to put himself in different spots he’s good on the breakout which really reminds me of Matia Samson like if you see these guys just walk off the bus or in this case step on the ice for the first time you see the size you think um there’s there’s going to be some limitations here you’re thinking throw back defensive minded blue liner who has trouble maybe moving the puck or just tries to rim it out and doesn’t necessarily play that modern game well comra does he really smart 5 to 10 foot passes you know is he going to be Rasmus stene ran power absolutely not that’s not the type of player that they need though they need a player with that skill set there was a power play in the third period on Tuesday night where karon’s trying to make a play on the left side of the blue line on the puck there’s a turnover that musaw creates on the penalty kill quick pass out to the neutral zone suddenly one of musha’s forwards has in line for a breakway well comro was able to gain ground make up for it and managed to get his stick around to prevent really the player from making any sort of move to score on at that situation now did he look graceful doing it no he didn’t look like kale Mar trying to make that play but he made the play right now those players going to be more difficult to make you know gaining ground making up for you know that step when you get into the pros but that’s why you have to work with somebody I think this is really important for the Sabers in terms of their development in Rochester now we heard Jason carmano say last month it was earlier this month actually after Seth apert’s official promotion to the Sab coaching staff that they are hopeful they are planning to keep Nathan PA in the organization former amri defenseman of course we know that he played games for the same called her Cup champion knows what it means to play in Rochester now he has a very close relationship with Ryan Johnson I really liked what I saw Nathan PA 2 not only with the prospects in Rochester this season but look where he helped Jeremy somebody like Jeremy Davies take their game and to put someone like kov in that environment and now it’s a really ideal situation as well because kov he knows English and he’s never had a Russian teammate in his Junior playing career so he’s been forced to be out of his comp Zone he’s not been in a silo with a few other Russian teammates so if you put him in Rochester with the three other Russians novakov noev and kokov not only is kov going to have comfort there but he’ll be comfortable communicating with the coaching staff other teammates this is it’s a big win for the organization right now now of course development’s not linear they’re going to be struggles kov has been really on a steep incline since they drafted him Memorial Cup champion a year ago qmj L Champion two years in a row scored the game winner at the Memorial Cup last year to give the ren parts and Quebec their their Championship under Patrick W of course and qmjhl best defenseman this season playoff MVP in Drummondville Championship run he is a extremely accomplished Junior Hockey defenseman and now we’ll get to see how he Stacks up and in the American Hockey League patience is always important especially when we’re talking about a Prospect taken this late in the draft who’s more raw I mean I I encourage you to read my story I hope you do um inside the scouting and drafting of the seot karov is very interesting based on my conversation with with Jerry Forton the director of amerr scouting but there were flaws in komarov’s game that caused him to slip to the fifth round some of those have been ironed out and have helped him have success others skating in particular remain and he’s going to have to address those in order to realize his NHL dream but when you’re the Sabers thin on the right side of your blue line throughout your organization they got a lot of left-handed shots particularly that NHL roster plus they have Ryan Johnson and novakov on the left side they needed one of the these right-handed defenseman to hit too early to say that’s that’s obviously the case yet when it comes to kov but it’s very encouraging when you put kov they got stck they got Gavin McCarthy and we’ll see what they do with the 11th pick I don’t think you know obviously we’ve seen the last couple of years best player available has been the theme for the Sabers for the most part they follow their board a lot of teams do because they put a year into developing it they have those players ranked that way for a reason you don’t dra you don’t draft based on need in the NHL because when you do that’s when you end up running into some troubles but in this case they have followed their board and they’re going to have some very intriguing defenseman available to them at the 11th pick if they decide to stay and and pick a player rather than trading it which history tells us that is the more likely scenario than a trade with that pick which obviously would um make this a very interesting offseason in terms of how the Sabers go about improving their NHL roster for next season I digress though so when you’re looking at the defenseman that could be available to 11 I know these are also going to be projects these aren’t players that are going to help them right away but you’re looking at Carter yenu from the Calgary Hitman of the Western Hockey League somebody who’s in North America already the base of his game physical big play that modern game he’s going to be a lot you’re going to have an easier time signing him now you have the CHL agreement with the NHL which prevents him for playing in the American League regular season before the age of 20 but again there’s no reason why you you shouldn’t be able to take your time with somebody like that because now you have colov novakov Johnson the NHL with probably some additions coming for the Sabres on the back end one or two maybe reshape that third pair Conor Clifton has two more years on his deal so you start to think about the timelines of when you may be able to expect guys to graduate to the NHL this is really starting to add up now Adam Urich is another defenseman to watch in the first round from czechia you know the relationship with Ki is going to be there not that that matters but it’s somebody that this is a really great example if you see a player like uh eoch for example um has been around K Le like the sabes know these guys who have connections to each other they discovered comra because they had vami marala in their organization they were teammates in Quebec going to see marala as much as they did you get to see com off you know they had already drafted marala but they’re there to see development coaches are there you you have relationships of people on the teams in which they play on it gives you a lot more information due due diligence is so important leading up to draft day we all talk think about oh well the lottery is in April and they’re going to go pick a player in late June that’s when the starts no the Orcs the Orcs already started for for the 2025 draft class let alone the 2024 one you know they’re in the process of finalizing their rankings and getting ready for the NHL scouting con by next week so EJ Emory uh Leo Salen wenus is a a swed so they are really talented players there with what we they have in the prospect pipeline in terms of the forwards it would be interesting to see if they go defense but with kov emerging novikov’s encouraging season Ryan Johnson being on the cusp and you look at sturb back and McCarthy you start to think about how they might handle this and there’s no guarantee about positions so if you see mock jffs out there that just automatically think they’re going to go by position I don’t think that’s the case but theod kov he’s already signed to his entry-level contract so don’t worry about any any situations there the Sabres have signed him and now it’s going to be on to Rochester to continue his development I’m Lance slowski from the Buffalo News take care

Sabres prospect Vsevelod Komarov will join Rochester next season after an outstanding junior career.