2023 NHL Draft Day 2: Sabres get their man in Wahlberg, stock up on defense

Sabres use four of six final picks to fill defense pipeline

NASHVILLE – Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams started the second day of the 2023 NHL Draft in a similar situation as the end of the first round last year.

He and his staff had Swedish prospect Anton Wahlberg rated high on their list. A night earlier, they worked the phones trying to obtain another first-round pick in the hopes of selecting him. When that didn’t pan out, he tried again Thursday to move up higher than their first pick in the second round at No. 39. But again, there was no match to be made.

As it turned out, they didn’t even need to. Wahlberg was still on the board, and the Sabres snagged him.

“I’ve always dreamed about this,” Wahlberg said. “To hear your name is so cool and I’m really happy I got to Buffalo, too.”

Last year, Adams had tried to trade up in the first round hoping to select Jiri Kulich before another team potentially took him. No trade ever materialized but the talented Czech was there for the taking with Buffalo’s final pick of the round, at No. 28.

“He's got talent, skill, he can skate,” Adams said at the conclusion of the draft. “I mean, this is a guy, there's some rawness to him, a little bit of a late bloomer. But the people around him have raved about him. I thought at the tournament at the end of the year, the [Under-18] Worlds, I mean, just really, really took a huge step.”

Wahlberg is a 6-foot-3, 192-pound forward who plays for the Malmo Redhawks in Sweden. He had 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 32 games with its junior (under-20) team and added a pair of goals and a pair of assists in 17 games at the senior level.

“It was really cool,” he said of playing for the men’s team. “It’s the big thing I want to do in Sweden, contribute on the highest level, but to do that was cool. It was just fun to do that. It helped me a lot to get more experience (as a) center and I’m really happy with that.”

He considers himself a two-way forward who can carry the puck with speed and be crafty on the ice, and can play both center and wing. He’s typically played wing on the smaller ice surface.

Wahlberg has one more year left on his contract with Malmo and plans to talk with the Sabres after the season to determine what would be the best path for him to take to help his development.

Sabres strengthen defense pipeline, add a goalie

The Sabres gave a boost to their defense pipeline on Day 2, using four of their final six picks on blueliners. After taking Maxim Strbak (6-foot-1, 198 pounds) with their second pick of the second round, they opted for Clarence native Gavin McCarthy (6-foot-2, 186 pounds) in the third round. They wrapped up their selections with Sean Keohane (6-foot4, 182 pounds) and Norwin Panocha (6-foot1, 178 pounds).

“It's funny,” director of amateur scouting Jerry Forton said. “Sometimes you get frustrated because for whatever reason, where you're picking, you're trying to stay right off your list, and the D just don't come to you. And we have talked more in the last couple of years about if it's a tiebreaker, and they're close to each other, you're going to take the D-man. We would say the same thing about natural centers too, a preference for that. But, yeah, it's in the back of your head. You want to get more D in the pipeline. We're not going to chase it, but there were a couple instances where we had players side by side and we gave preference to the D-man.”

They also added to their goaltending pipeline for the second straight draft, taking Scott Ratzlaff (6-feet, 175 pounds) of the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Hockey League. The Irma, Alberta, native was second in the league (among goalies who played at least 10 games) with a 2.15 goals against average, trailing only teammate Thomas Milic, and was fourth with a .918 save percentage.

He reminds the Sabres a bit of Devon Levi, with high level abilities despite being considered undersized. They aren’t too concerned about his size, however. His father is 6-foot-3, his mother is 5-foot-10, and his cousin is NHL defenseman Carson Soucy, who comes in at 6-foot-5 and 208 pounds.

“We know the character is good,” Forton said. “And yes, that desire to continue to build on his game and then have the tools. And, like a lot of these kids I’m talking about, erratic at times. When he’s at his high level like the people talk about him at Hockey Canada and Seattle, he’s not beatable. Now, do we see bad games out of him? Yes. But when those start to go away and you see the high side, that’s exciting, and if he grows another inch or two that’s really exciting.”