Sabres 2024 draft targets at forward

Sabres 2024 draft targets at forward

rolling towards the NHL draft some more news on Jeff Skinner and then we’ll talk forward prospects my top five forward options for the Sabers that might be available at pick 11 come Friday night all ahead here on the lock on Sabers [Music] podcast your locked on Sabers your daily podcast on the Buffalo saber part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and thanks for making locked on Sabers your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply it is Wednesday we are two days away from the NHL draft round one we have buyout window starting in the NHL some news on Jeff Skinner on that front today we’ll talk draft we’ll get into forward prospects five forward options for the Savers should they stay at 11 or around 11 in the NHL draft hotti Kash by the way I’ve been promising him on the show locked on NHL prospects he is actually going to come on after the draft we’ll actually spend more time he’s got a lot of lot of requests uh he’s in Vegas for the draft I figured you know what why don’t we wait let’s wait to see who they pick and then we’ll go all in on that guy and who also they pick in the second round third round and even if they trade guys we can get into all that with hottie after the draft so we got a preview for you coming today and then we’ll also have a defensive prospect preview for you as well but today we will dive in on the forwards we’ve got an we’ve got an ainla in the draft we’ve got an Eiserman in the draft both projected to go somewhere around the Sabers so we’ll get into all of those options coming up in a little bit on today’s show if you want to become a texter to our text line uh and you are not already a subscriber you want to sign up go to join sub text.com loock ons saers and that’s where you could sign up there you can text a reply in you can text a question in and then of course you can um yeah once once you sign up it’s all on your phone not everything is through that website that’s just where the sign up is uh today for instance we try to send out breaking news alerts as quickly as possible three minutes after Chad d diminus uh reported about Jeff Skinner we had it up on our text line hopefully you got it first if you’re not you know on Twitter every second of the day like I am uh we’re trying to get you the news as quickly as possible by the way a couple of the comments from that um like one one textor texted in I’m not really sure how to feel about this uh and the I’m not sure how to feel about what is of course something we’ve been building up to that we’ve already kind of talked about a couple of times because it’s been Rel relatively expected as the weeks have gone on is that Jeff Skinner will get bought out by the Buffalo Sabers it’s still not official but we heard it more concretely reported on today than we have yet Chad D dominis expected Buffalo he tweeted out today that multiple sources have confirmed to him that the Sabers will buy out Jeff Skinner with the exception of an unforeseen uh that would come and maybe that’s why the Sabers might wait by the way they can wait um if they want to they don’t have to do it right now there’s no reason I guess to do it this second they can hold off and hold off and as long as they’ve bought him out by June 30th at 5:00 pm so June 30th of course is what Sunday yeah Sunday so by Sunday at five o’clock they can really wait all the way up to that deadline just wait wait wait see if any anybody wants to bite anybody wants to buy him out or uh trade for him uh as a just a you could take him for free take the contract off our books hey maybe even will retain some salary but I’m not projecting that’s going to happen I think this is the it this is it Skinner is going to get bought out and that is going to be the end of his six-year career for the Sabres he will finish 18th all time in Sabers history in goals that is five behind Pat LaFontaine that’s above the likes of Jack eel and Drew Stafford and Yen hash and Maxima again off some good names that he is above of course Skinner the cap space is going to get opened up here and we’ll see how much the Savers will use they will save seven and a half million this year four and a half million next year two and a half million the year after that they will lose 2.4 million the next three years off of what they would previously have so that’s the buyout in a nutshell that’s the most important part of the buyout at least uh Skinner though is gonna have I guess kind of a weird Legacy for the Sabers he’s going to be one of the more well-liked players I think of the drought I don’t know how many are going to outrank him like when he comes back for the first time everyone’s joke today is he’s gonna come back in a Maple Leaf’s uniform and of course he’s going to win the Stanley Cup next year because that’s how all this goes with former important sabes um Skinner really I think by the way is gonna find a contender I hope he gets to the playoffs he’s never been to the playoffs before he’s the only person in hockey that has a longer playoff drought than a Buffalo Sabers fan uh he has one more year of not making the playoffs than a Sabers fan does so sad but makes sense like it it’s to me the number one option uh especially given that they didn’t seem can they didn’t seem content with the idea of putting him back in the top six and as I’ve been saying throughout this process uh if you’re not going to put him in the top six you have no reason to have him on the team anymore so okay buy him out and they did and let’s see what they they can do with that extra $7.5 million or maybe they won’t do anything with the extra $7.5 million I hope they do but you never know um so that’s the Skinner buyout we’ll see when it’s official we’ll talk a little bit more about it but that’s the scoop is that what we’ve been talking about probably happening in the Skinner buyout is going to happen uh that according to Chad deesis the other newsy thing that happened today is Fanatics Dro some details about their first uh exploration here into NHL uni forms they have the deal in Major League Baseball it’s been such a bad company with certain things over the years um cheap cheap cheap always comes to mind and that’s exactly what happened with baseball just lazy looking the see-through pants that they really haven’t even still fixed it just was a complete and utter disaster they clearly though made an effort not to have that happen here so Fanatics bought the factory that Adidas use to make all their L jerseys in their last contract they bought that factory they kept all the same workers like hey we’re just going to take this on we’re going to slap our logo on it and we’re not going to change a thing they really didn’t change any of the uniforms also in the NHL um the Sabers uniform looks exactly the same you had a couple uniform changes that were going to happen anyway the kings are going back to their Throwbacks uh on a regular basis the Ducks introduced an orange Mighty Ducks uniform you have the Utah jerseys which is just a Utah going diagonal so you did have some teams with new uniforms but they’re not doing some crazy new initiative like when we had reverse retro a couple years ago which by the way I liked I liked I’m not saying it necessarily has to be a bad thing um but Fanatics today I think it I think I’m more optimistic about that deal than I ever have been I thought it was going to be a complete and utter disaster having them as a partner with the NHL it’s such a bad reputation going into this but I guess so far so good so far so good uh guess I’ll believe it when I see it on night one that the jerseys are going to look the same but that’s how it seems so far one last thing on this um this is not something that I even knew was not available to hockey fans for the last 10 years but Fanatics apparently what has happened is there have been two tiers of jerseys available high-end replicas and lower-end replica jerseys I guess I never knew that I guess I always assumed the highend were the jerseys that the players wor or were basically the exact same as what players wore and that the low end were replicas but that’s not what I guess was happening they both were replicas just different forms of quality of a replica it’s been since 2014 when Reebok stopped doing it that NHL fans have had available to them the exact Jersey the exact manufacturing process from the exact Factory the fight strap the material everything exactly the same to what a player wears Pro authentic they’re calling it fanatic Pro authentic it’s ex this jersey is to a te exactly what a player gets that is being made available for the first time in 10 years by Fanatics they will have three tiers of Jersey now that top tier I mean what are jerseys now in the high end 250 bucks that Pro authentic jersey they’re coming out with I mean it’s probably going to cost 400 bucks at least maybe 500 so it’s not that it’s going to be cheap but it is cool to me that that’s being made available cuz I didn’t even know up until this point that it wasn’t available at all uh cuz that would be the one I would want I would know that can’t get a lot of them at that price but we’ll see what that ends up being when we come back let’s get into the forwards that could be available five forwards that could be available to the Buffalo Sabers at pick number 11 that’s back here on the locked on Sabers podcast we are presented by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehic Les and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether 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forwards that I think could be available to the Buffalo Sabers at pick number 11 in the NHL draft we will start with one guy that I think is a little less likely to be available than anybody else and that person is Tish ainla son of Jerome ainla big Riser this year when it comes to the draft rankings the reason why I’m putting him right at the start here is I don’t know how like he is to be available I kind of can’t see him getting past the Calgary Flames and the Flames pick before the Savers and can they really pass on a ginla sun can they really pass on one of their alltime players son that is projected to go right around where they pick even if it’s a tie or if it’s he’s slightly below somebody else on their pre-draft board don’t you give him an extra boost don’t you give him an extra boost to figure that out so again L though if he were to be available to Sabers I’m not fully expecting but he’s projected around that range six foot player Colona rockets in the WHL this guy is a pure goal score one of the purest goal scorers in this draft but a hardnose guy physical player 47 goals in 64 games I think he is a very very reasonable option to the Sabers should he be available um he’s the one guy of this list though that I’m not quite believing is going to be available next up cona Helen finish Center 5’11 two-way player this dude you want to talk about tough to play against this guy will not leave you alone he is a pest he is a the words that have been associated in all the pre-draft profiles I write about helenus um tough to play against energy tough nose pisses you off you got some Sam Bennett comparisons for what I saw who’s a player that a lot of saber fans would like them to acquir this summer helenus two-way centerman probably projects more as a second line Center in the NHL I’m not sure after reading and watching a little bit of his stuff um over the last couple of days he’s got the high-end offensive ceiling um but certainly somebody that I think would fit stylistically behind cage Thompson and Dylan cousin someday on this team two three years down the road so helenus I like the player I think I really like the idea of him being kind of a guy that you just can’t stand um an opposing team can’t stand one of those guys how many do we say about marshan Brady kachuck you hate to play against them you love to have him on your team about about the Sabers get a guy like that and it feels like helenus um is maybe some form of that so he’s my number two option the Sabers could have available to them in uh at pick number 11 uh third guy that I’m gonna throw out here this guy I’m gonna have a tough time not falling in love with because it’s the exact type of prospect I always fall in love with Berkeley Kon this guy is a WHL player Spokane and Berkeley K Kon is probably going to be more of a middle of the first round pick but picking him at 11 doesn’t seem crazy I’ve seen it mocked that way smaller forward again 5 foot 10 I know they have a lot of guys like this but he is so skilled so skilled the Highlight Reel is off the charts the hands are off the charts the movement with his feet off the charts he’s so skilled most points by anybody that’s projected go in the top half of the first round 116 points in the WHL last season if you look at points per game in their draft year the only guy only two guys in the last 10 years that out rank him for points per game in his draft year are Sam Reinhardt who of course has been a great player and won the cup the other night and Connor Bard those are the only two guys that outrank him so Berkeley Kon interesting player that uh that I would love to see them get their hands on when we come back the other two forward options that are very different types and I think both have some warts and a power forward or a bigger forward that might be hard to get your hands on we’ll get to them when we come back here on the locked on Sabers podcast we are presented on the show by game time check out the 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the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem code locked on NHL for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed final segment here on the lockon Sabers podcast and let’s continue on with our forward preview of this draft of course Sabers could pick other guys um some other names that I have not yet mentioned that could become available to them um I think you’re looking at probably Trevor Connelly uh USHL Tri City um good good dynamic offensive player in this draft uh Liam green tree from Windsor in the OHL is an option here jet luchenko from gal in the uh OHL is also someone that could go right around there I think that’s about it other than the two guys that I’m about to talk about if you want size if you are somebody that is sick and tired of the Savers drafting 510 511 6foot players because that is something they’ve done a lot of they drafted a lot of smaller players in the last couple of years this might not be the draft for you unless it’s this guy Becket seneki from ashaa Becket seneki is 6 foot three he is dynamic but he is I looked of the top 10 ranked forwards in this draft seneki is the only one that is above 6 foot that’s it 6 foot above 6 foot this is the guy he is got the size he has got the athleticism he’s got the the ability to score very very Dynamic player more than a point per game in the OHL last year 68 points in 63 games um again if you’re looking for kind of like um kind of like helenius uh if you’re looking for that guy that’s going to piss off the other team uh he one Scout in Bob McKenzie’s write up of seneki described him as having an Fu vibe to his game sure fans love to hear that uh kind of checks a lot of the boxes um I guess like what would really be the big what would be the big um criticism of him like I don’t even know that I’ve really seen what the big problem with his game is um I know maybe foot speed is a little bit of a thing he’s got so much quickness though um side to side that I feel like he makes up for that uh and that’s at least for my view of it you know the quickness as someone that hasn’t watched him a ton um I guess the passing ability is right there at the top like I don’t really know what is really what’s really the problem with seneki but there’s got to be something maybe it’s just the point totals right because there are a lot of other guys here 68 points to 63 games it’s really good but it’s not a lot uh here’s something Bob McKenzie this is from his WR up one Scout told him he was amazing from January on that Scout said there wasn’t one thing I liked about his game from October October to January not a single thing and maybe that’s it maybe it’s because he’s just kind of got on the scene here and just started playing great that uh he was only able to get that high on uh on draft boards but if you want big Bennett seneki is your guy one other name another former NHL name Eiserman although this one’s spelled very different Cole Eiserman from the United States national development program he spells it by the way e i s r m a n Cole Eiserman United United States National development program 58 goals in 57 games last year he is described by almost everybody I’ve read about him to have the best shot in the draft his highlight reel is filled with just Snipes he broke the United States national development team program usnb at usntdp he broke their record for goals this is a program that has had Austin Matthews Jack eel Dage Thompson all the great us players of the last decade he broke the record Cole cofield’s record for the most goals in a career at that program that’s crazy good he finished second in that program’s history in points only behind Jack Hughes the production is crazy good but downside of him iserman is not someone that can do much else while he might have the best shot in the draft he’s not a big playmaker he’s not going to give you much in a two-way game he’s not going to give you much size and physicality like he’s really lacking in his overall game around that scoring ability uh it’s been mentioned about him that he has kind of a selfish game um because of his shot of course that could be a reason for that but players really or people really wonder if he’ll be able to do the things necessary to go from just a shooter to an all-around great hockey player in the NHL one comparison I saw for him was Owen tippet Owen tippet who was same thing described as selfish player in Juniors and maybe he’s someone that that really figured out what he had to do to stick in the NHL cuz it didn’t look like that he Once Upon a Time 2017 was the sniper of that draft and in his first four seasons in the NHL one goal seven goals 10 goals 10 goals those were his first oh those were his first three years last two years 27 goals 28 goals he figured it out maybe Eiserman would be someone that could do this could the same thing maybe he’s someone who could do it quicker or maybe he’s someone that would never figure it out and he wouldn’t become a good enough allaround player in the NHL but if you want Elite goal scoring this is someone that is available um was the second ranked Prospect coming into the League this year so teams must have done a a deep dive on him figured out he’s not as good as they thought that kind of Spooks me a little bit I’d rather have someone that’s rising up boards I think someone that’s falling off boards I don’t like that oh we had him number two and the more and more and more we learned about him the less we liked him that is the part I don’t like about about Cole eer but someone that is mocked around the Sabers pick at 11 very often all right that’s it for forwards for us Sabers could pick outside that group of course we’ll talk defenseman prospects on our next show as we keep building up to Friday’s NHL draft 8 o00 on Friday from the sphere thanks everybody for listening we’ll talk to fenceman if you’ve got one of from that breakdown or from others breakdowns if you got a favorite forward for the Sabers that think a pick a number 11 be sure to text it to us or you can comment on our YouTube channel as well thanks for listening to lockon Sabers making us your first listen every day part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day

There are lots of great forwards available in this year’s NHL Draft, but not many big ones. Sneaky Joe has five draft targets at forward for the Sabres, including one power forward, and a few smaller skilled guys, including Jarome Iginla’s son, Tij Iginla.

Plus, reaction to the latest report that the Sabres indeed will be buying out Jeff Skinner’s contract.
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