Mock Draft Has Sabres Selecting Highly Touted Defenseman
Sabres have the 11th pick at the NHL Draft in Las Vegas
Michael Augello - Mock Draft Has Sabres Selecting Highly Touted DefensemanEmerging from the NHL Scouting Combine last weekend, the Buffalo Sabres spoke to a number of prospects that might be there with the 11th pick at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas, NV, but it is an open question whether GM Kevyn Adams will keep the pick to add to the Sabres burgeoning prospect pools or trade it for immediate help to snap the club’s 13-year playoff drought.
In their updated mock draft, The Athletic has the Sabres selecting London Knights blueliner Sam Dickinson 11th overall. The 18-year-old Toronto native blossomed in his second OHL season, scoring 70 points (18 goals, 52 assists) in 68 games, and 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 18 games, as the Knights won the OHL Championship and advanced to the Memorial Cup Final before falling 4-3 to Saginaw.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrZtdRf_0_k[/embed]
"It was a good season. I think if you look from the beginning to end, it caused some growth for me. (I) built up a lot of confidence through the year." Dickinson said at the combine. "The best games of the year for me were at the end of the year in the biggest game of the year.....When the big games roll around, I play my best in those games."
At 6’3”, 204 lb., Dickinson has the size that many NHL teams are looking for on defense but also has the mobility necessary on the back end.
"It's my skating, I think for how big I am and how well I can move around the ice at my size and use both of those to dominate the play is probably my biggest strength."
Dickinson would be a logical pick for the Sabres at #11, but other mock drafts and projections have the 18-year-old going in the top 10. He would be another left-handed defenseman for a club loaded with lefty shooters, but his window to make the NHL would be two-to-three years down the line when Buffalo’s defensive construct could be different.
LATEST THN BUFFALO STORIES