A well-oiled machine often just needs tweaking and the Sabres under GM Darcy Regier have shown they’re great at doing just that. There are lots of NHL-ready players already in their system but what they’re missing out on are guys who are big-time goal scorers. While guys like Tyler Ennis and Tim Kennedy are nice complimentary pieces, they’re missing out on playmakers at center and goal-scorers on the wing. Expect them to be shrewd and scope out the best of what they can get at 23rd overall because they won’t pick again until the third round where they’ll pick three times.
2010 draft picks:
Round 1 - 23rd
Round 3 - 68th
Round 3 - 75th
Round 3 - 83rd
Round 4 - 98th
Round 5 - 143rd
Round 6 - 173rd
Round 7 - 203rd
Top prospects (per Hockey’s Future):
1. Tyler Ennis, C
2. Jhonas Enroth, G
3. Zack Kassian, RW
4. Luke Adam, C
5. Mike Weber, D
6. Brayden McNabb, D
7. Nathan Gerbe, LW
8. Corey Tropp, RW
9. T.J. Brennan, D
10. Drew Schiestel, D
PHT’s mock draft results:
23 - Riley Sheahan - C - U. of Notre Dame (CCHA)
An exciting prospect before last season, his production dropped off with Notre Dame and he’s fallen a bit. Yet he’s a gritty two-way player that excells in all areas of the ice, and is more than just a flashy scorer like you see at the top of the draft.
What the blogs are saying:
The first option would be to draft a power forward because the team lacks offensive depth at the AHL level and beyond, while the defensive corps is stacked with talented, potential NHL-caliber players. While power-forward as the top of my list, the best player available has to be the strategy at number 23. It is crap shoot to draft 18 year-old players and project what type of player they will be when they are 22 or 23.
I had a few power forwards in mind but with players like Austin Watson and Riley Sheahan off the board, I was forced to look in another direction. I narrowed down the choices to USNTDP U-18 defenseman Jared Tinordi and Moose Jaw Warriors defenseman Dylan McIlrath. The final decision was to select the toughest player in the draft, Dylan McIlrath.