Coming out of the NHL Scouting Combine earlier this month, the Buffalo Sabres got the lowdown on a number of prospects that could be their with the ninth selection at the 2025 Draft in Los Angeles later this month, but barring a trade up they will have to rely on the player they want slipping through the cracks.
The NY Islanders are likely to select defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the top overall pick, but there is no accurate read on how the remaining seven picks will break. That seems to be reflected in various mock drafts that have emerged since the combine. After Schaefer, names like Michael Misa, Caleb Desnoyers, and rising star Anton Frondell are likely to go in the top five, but at that point, any of a number of players could be there for the Sabres at #9.
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Jake O’Brien is among a large cluster of top center prospects expected to go in the top 10 in Los Angeles later this week, and depending on how things fall, could be there for the Sabres at #9. The 18-year-old Toronto native came out of the GTHL and averaged over a point-per-game as a 16-year-old for the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs. This season, the 6’2”, 170 lb. pivot had 98 points (32 goals, 66 assists) in 66 games and 11 points in the OHL playoffs.
According to the Hockey News Draft Preview, O’Brien earned Team East MVP honors at the OHL Top Prospects Game and is considered a cerebral player with excellent playmaking skills and is very good defensively. One scout compared him to Dallas Stars forward Wyatt Johnston. The one critique is that he is not overly physical.
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Sylvain Lefebvre didn’t get to the NHL through the big door; he was signed by the Montreal Canadiens as an undrafted free agent, yet still managed to have a successful 14-year career in the NHL, skating in 945 games and scoring 674 points in the process.
After three years in the Habs organization, the blueliner was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return for a third-round pick at the 1994 draft. His stay in Toronto was short-lived, and he was involved in the transaction that sent Wendell Clark to the Quebec Nordiques in return for Leafs legend Mats Sundin. In his five years with the Quebec/Colorado Avalanche franchise, Lefebvre played 351 games, scored 72 points, and won a Stanley Cup.
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He concluded his playing career with a four-year stint with the New York Rangers, signing a four-year, $10 million contract in the Summer of 1999. He retired at 35 after playing the 2002-03 season.
A few years later, he accepted an assistant coach role with the Avalanche’s AHL team, the Lake Erie Monsters. After two seasons, he was promoted to the same role in the NHL with the Avs. He remained in post until the end of the 2011-12 season, and he was then allowed to become the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate’s coach.
In the six years he spent at the helm of Montreal’s AHL affiliate in Hamilton, St. John’s, and Laval, the team only made the playoffs once and didn’t get past the first round in the one year it qualified. He bounced right back, landing an assistant coach role with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, where he stayed for three years before accepting an offer to join the Florida Panthers as an assistant coach in 2022-23, right on time for the Cats’ first journey to the Stanley Cup Final.
After losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Cup final, Lefebvre and the Panthers went on to win two consecutive Cups, taking on the Edmonton Oilers. Chances are, Lefebvre barely remembers his struggle with the Canadiens’ farm team now that he has one Cup ring as a player and two as an assistant coach.
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Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams is reportedly burning up the phone lines in advance of the NHL Draft later this week and the beginning of free agency on July 1. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, Adams has been talking to several teams, looking to make trades to improve his club, with the names of restricted free agents Bowen Byram and JJ Peterka first and foremost on inquiring GM’s wish lists.
Byram has been frequently mentioned in the rumor mill since the end of the season, as the 23-year-old is looking for a significant pay increase and a destination where he can play top-pairing minutes, both of which are unlikely with the Sabres already paying Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power hefty salaries on the blueline.
Peterka was second on the Sabres in scoring with 68 points, and could be the target of an offer sheet, after youngsters Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg were snatched away from Edmonton by the St. Louis Blues was last summer.
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Pagnotta indicates that the club interested in both players is the Vancouver Canucks, while the New York Islanders, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning are interested in Peterka. The Canucks have long been interested in Byram, a native of Cranbrook, BC, and were connected to the Sabres defenseman during the season when the chatter regarding the Sabres interest in Canucks center Elias Pettersson was at it’s peak.
Pettersson slumped badly last season, dropping from 89 points to 45 (15 goals, 30 assists) in the first year of an eight-year, $92.8 million contract. The 26-year-old does not have trade protection until July 1, when a no-movement clause kicks in. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Vancouver was also interested in Sabres center Josh Norris before he was acquired from Ottawa for Dylan Cozens last March, which might factor into a potential Pettersson deal if the Canucks are open to moving him in the next 10 days.
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