It’s been a busy few weeks as far as the Buffalo Sabres future is concerned. We started our Top 25 Under 25 series, Jack Eichel got his first endorsement deal and photos, and ESPN’s Corey Pronman has been raving about the Sabres prospects, calling them the league’s third best farm system thanks to two superstar prospects in Eichel and Sam Reinhart.
Today, Pronman is back with a look at his version of the top 10 Sabres prospects. The first two should be obvious to any Sabres fan who’s even heard the word hockey before, but here’s what the rest of his list looks like.
1. Jack Eichel
2. Sam Reinhart
3. Jake McCabe
4. Hudson Fasching
5. Nick Baptiste
6. Gustav Possler
7. Vaclav Karabacek
8. Justin Bailey
9. William Carrier
10. Andrey Makarov
11. Anthony Florentino (honorable mention)
Overall I don’t think it’s a bad list, but I think Possler is ranked way too high for his mediocre season and for the fact that he’s still probably years away from cracking an NHL roster. Personally I’d move Justin Bailey up to #6, and would consider replacing guys like Possler and Carrier with another goalie prospect like Linus Ullmark or 2015 second round defenseman Brendan Guhle.
Here’s some of Pronman’s reasoning for a few of the guys in the middle of his list.
Nick Baptiste is very interesting to me. He’s a great skater with solid puck skills, a good shot, and plays hard in each end of the rink. Gustav Possler didn’t have as strong a season as hoped, but he’s still a quick, skilled scoring forward who has showed he can play versus men. Buffalo can afford to wait on him, due to the new CBA giving European players four years to sign, but this next season is big for Possler’s NHL prospects.
Vaclav Karabacek’s points aren’t too gaudy, and he was also cut by the Czech Republic’s under-20 team for sleeping in late. When he’s on the ice, you see a lot of great tools, as his puck skills are high-end with quality speed, but he’s not that well-rounded a player. William Carrier is a player I’ve heard NHL scouts describe anywhere from a future top-six scorer to a fourth-line grinder. That shows the range of abilities he has, but also the inconsistencies in his game.
Check out the whole article here (Insider required) and give us your own top 10 list in the comments.