The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. It was a combination of six staff writers and over 485 fans that ranked players under the age of 25 as of August 10, 2021. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production to rank each player.
The Buffalo Sabres Top 25 Under 25 continues today with 2020 first-round draft pick Jack Quinn. Quinn was a bit of a controversial pick at the time, and that continues to this day, as many fans believed the Sabres should have selected Marco Rossi instead.
After being drafted by the Sabres with that eighth-overall selection, in a normal season, Quinn would have headed back to the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s. However, because the OHL was unable to start its season, he was allowed to join the Amerks and made his AHL debut on February 18.
In all, the 20-year-old Ottawa native appeared in 15 games and put up nine points. He also skated in seven games for Canada in the 2021 IIHF World Juniors, recording a goal and four assists.
On April 22, Quinn underwent surgery to repair a hernia that he had dealt with all year long. As a result, he missed the remainder of the season.
He came to Buffalo for the Prospects Challenge ahead of this year’s training camp, but his usage was limited. After playing in the first game, Quinn was held out of the second Sabres’ game and the team said they were going to be cautious with him, focusing on load management after returning from his surgery & recovery.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Sabres and Amerks organizations choose to handle and utilize Quinn this year. Seeing how he fares as a centerman and if the team wants to put him in that position long-term will be something to watch.
#25 Casey Fitzgerald
#24 Aaron Huglen
#23 Linus Weissbach
#22 Aleksandr Kisakov
#21 Albert Lyckåsen
#20 Erik Portillo
#19 Devon Levi
#18 Matej Pekar
#17 Oskari Laaksonen
#16 Isak Rosen
#15 Jacob Bryson
#14 Ryan Johnson
#13 Mattias Samuelsson
#12 Tage Thompson
#11 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
#10 JJ Peterka