Buffalo loses exclusive rights to promising OHL goalie, who will re-enter the NHL Draft later this month.
Here is a final update on Buffalo Sabres 2024 drafted prospects and what they did last season:
Simon-Pierre Brunet – D – 123rd overall
Brunet was one of four blueliners selected by the Sabres at the draft in Las Vegas and played with Amerks defenseman Vsevolod Komarov, winning a Memorial Cup with Drummondville in the QMJHL in 2024. In 2025, the 20-year-old played 60 games for the Voltigeurs this season, and doubled his offensive totals, with 32 points (8 goals, 24 assists). After being dealt to Victoriaville in the offseason, the blueliner took a step back offensively with 26 points (2 goals, 24 assists) in 54 games.
The Sabres could have lost their exclusive rights to Brunet, but he committed to Merrimack College before the June 1 deadline.
Patrick Geary – D – 172nd overall
Geary was selected by the Sabres in the sixth round of the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. The Hamburg, NY native played his amateur hockey for the Buffalo Jr. Sabres and two seasons for Waterloo of the USHL before heading to Michigan State, where he is teammates with ’24 second-rounder Maxim Strbak.
The 22-year-old played mostly a shutdown defensive role and had 20 points (6 goals, 14 assists) in 69 games in his first two.seasons. This season, he posted 11 points (2 goals, 9 assists) in 35 games, and compiled 70 penalty minutes.
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Vasily Zelenov – RW – 204th overall
The Moscow-born winger played at various lower-level youth leagues in Austria since 2021 and posted an impressive 37 points (14 goals, 23 assists) in 40 games for the Salzburg RB Hockey Juniors in 2024. In 2025, the 20-year-old shifted the USHL and had 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists) in 54 games for the Green Bay Gamblers. As a freshman at the University of Wisconsin and a teammate with fellow 2024 draftee Luke Osburn, Zelenov had 19 points (6 goal, 13 assists) in 28 games.
Ryerson Leenders - G – 219th overall
A slightly above-average goalie at 6’1”, 179 lb., Leenders played two seasons for the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads (now the Brantford Bulldogs), splitting duties in 2022-23 as a 16-year-old and serving as the primary starter in 2023-24, going 24-17-4, with a 3.12 GAA, and .909 save %. In 2025, Leenders has become the primary starter for the Bulldogs and finished the regular season with a 31-14-3 record, 3.11 GAA, and .910 save %. Last season, the Hamilton native went an impressive 27-5-6, with a 2.69 GAA and .910 save %, and went 10-2-2 in 14 playoff games, but the Sabres did not get him signed before the June 1 deadline and he will now re-enter the NHL Draft later this month.
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