2025 Sabres Draft Guide: 3rd Round Options

Welcome to the 2025 xB Buffalo Sabres Draft Guide! The draft guide has been divided into seven parts so that it can be loaded on your mobile device and consumed in multiple readings, without requiring an hour to complete.

Each player has a BlueSky link with three clips that summarize their projection.

If this is the first time you’ve read my draft guide, let me break down how each section will go:

– Each draft pick the Sabres have will be given five players, which I think are reasonable selections for the Sabres. They are broken down as Dream Scenarios (two given for each draft pick), Realistic Selections (two given for each draft pick), and a Wildcard Selection (one given for each draft pick).

– Dream Scenarios are based on my evaluation of the player, and where I believe they are most likely going to go in the draft. They are based on my draft philosophies and don’t take into account the Sabres’ past draft philosophies. They will usually consist of one forward and one defenseman, but depending on the round or players I think might be available, they could deviate from that structure.

– Realistic Scenarios are based on studying the Sabres’ previous draft philosophies, current prospect pool depth, needs, and players that I think the organization may go with the draft pick, and not necessarily who I would pick.

– The Wildcard Scenario is a draft pick that doesn’t fall directly into the two categories above and is a player that I think would go slightly later than the current selection (or undrafted in the later rounds). Still, I believe it would make an interesting selection for the Sabres.

– First-time draft-eligible players will have their names displayed in bold. Every asterisk after the players’ name will denote if they are D+1 or D+2 draft-eligible players. For instance, Richard Baran was eligible for the draft last year but was not drafted. He will appear in the draft guide as ‘Richard Baran*’.

Last year, this draft guide included Luke Osburn in a Dream Scenario, Adam Kleber in the Realistic Scenarios, and Konsta Helenius in a Wildcard Scenario. Hopefully, this guide will get lucky again and provide insight for some of the players the Sabres draft. If not, then I encourage you to go to my draft rankings article to see if I had any notes about the player in that article before the recap article I will write.

The Sabres currently have one pick in the 3rd round.

Dream Scenarios

1. LJ Mooney, C/RW, USNTDP

DOB: 3/8/07

5’7, 157 lbs

42gp, 8g, 39pts

I’m begging the Sabres, BEGGING, please draft LJ Mooney. He is, by far, the most fun prospect in the 2025 NHL draft from a skilled and tenacious standpoint. He is probably the best lateral skater in the entire draft and has the most creativity with the puck on his stick. He can zoom in and out of spaces on the ice in the blink of an eye, and you better be ready to catch a pass from him because it can come at any time.

The microstats back up the point production: he’s one of the lowest volume shooters in the data set with a 9.46 shot attempts per 60, and is a lower volume passer but one of the most efficient in the class with a 75% completion rate on all passes and for high/medium danger passes (scoring chances). His vision is among the best in the class, and his ability to stick-handle and manipulate defenders out of their skates makes him a wizard once the puck hits his stick.

Mooney is a tough son of a gun. If you watched any of Team USA in the U18s, you probably saw the Sweden game where he leveled Anton Frondell, who is 5 inches bigger than him and 60 pounds heavier. You also probably saw him get hurt in the Bronze medal game trying to throw a hit. He plays with reckless abandon, which has seen him get injured twice this year, with the first time resulting in Mooney missing a significant amount of time to start the season.

The first clip below will show Mooney playing his reckless style (#18 in Blue). He takes down his man in the boards and then gives him a cross-check for good measure. The opponent doesn’t take this lightly and gives him a slash on the back of the knees. Mooney goes out of his way to cross-check him before diving in front of a puck, and then he struggles to get up and get to the bench.

If he can add some weight and/or pick his spots better to be a pest without getting hurt, he’s going to make some fanbase extremely happy. He’s off to the University of Minnesota next year.

2. Sean Barnhill, RHD, USHL

DOB: 1/8/07

6’5, 205 lbs

54gp, 4g, 12pts

There is a lot of length and size in this draft at defense, but the player I think that will give the most value compared to where he’s ranked by the public consensus rankings is Sean Barnhill. Barnhill’s calling card is his physicality. You’re not coming into his space and leaving without him finishing a check. It’s not dirty, but it is a reminder that if you’re going to test him he’s going to put you on your butt.

What separates him from some of the other physical defenders in this class is his mobility, vision, and proactive way he defends, especially against transition. He’s a plus four-way skater for his size and can use his mobility to open up space and then use his frame to protect the puck to make outlet passes on puck retrievals and in the defensive zone. He’s aggressive and tries to join the rush as a trailer whenever possible. I came away most impressed with how he read the play and kept his feet moving off the puck in transition. He could get up on an opponent in a hurry if a pass came their way to mitigate their transition opportunities.

He has some growth to his game that he needs to develop. He has a hard stick that pucks can bounce off on receptions, and his passing can be soft when he’s not decisive in his decision-making. There are times when he predetermines his defensive read or strategy instead of doing what is most optimal to kill a play.

He’s most likely staying in Dubuque in the USHL one more year before heading to Northeastern in 2026. While his archetype is a bit redundant with the drafting of Adam Kleber last year, I think Barnhill has more of a ceiling as a top-four defensive play killer than Kleber does (#10 in white).

Realistic Scenarios

1. Eddie Genborg, LW, SHL

DOB: 4/20/07

6’2, 194 lbs

28gp, 2g, 2pts

I mean this in the most complimentary way: Genborg is clunky and effective. He moves up and down the ice with a good pace but in a clunky stride, and his puck skill can be a bit erratic but yet somehow effective. He will go straight at a defender and then whack the puck between their legs and end up with it on the other side and put a dangerous shot on net. He can take a wrong angle on an off-puck rush lane, but then make up for it by gathering an errant pass and putting it in the back of the net.

Genborg’s game is that of a power forward. He’s going to be heavy on the forecheck and make sure he finishes his checks. He’s a bruiser down low net front, and will give it more than he takes in net-front battles. There’s some skill to his game, and he can use the larger ice in Sweden to his advantage to get wide and look to the scoring areas to make a pass.

He’s a projectable power forward winger who is going to be a passenger in transition and will make his living with his ability to play in front of the net and bang in pucks. I don’t see much of an offensive ceiling beyond that, but he proved to be successful at it in the SHL as a draft-eligible (#14 in blue).

2. Quinn Beauchesne, RHD, OHL

DOB: 3/1/07

6’0, 187 lbs

49gp, 6g, 24pts

Within the first shifts of the first game I watched of Beauchesne, I knew he was going to pique my interest for the 2025 NHL draft. He is one of the better skaters in the draft as a defenseman, and he uses it to his advantage to move the puck up the ice and to stifle transitions on the defensive end. He makes some creative outlet passes and is looking to activate in the rush. Couple that with his ability to deke by opponents at the blue line, and it’s not impossible to see Beauchesne blossom as an offensive point producer in the OHL as soon as next season.

The creativity and skating are there, but the consistency wasn’t there all the time. He torpedoed his offensive transition efficiency numbers with one bad game, but for the most part, he was a plus transition player with his passing. Sometimes it looked like he tried to process the play too fast and went with a gut instinct on where players would be and would turn the puck over or misread where his forward was going in the neutral zone.

This draft has a lot of defensemen that I could flip a coin about whether or not they’ll be effective enough moving through the professional ranks to make the NHL, and Beauchesne’s one I would put a bet on for making it with his skating and creativity and his willingness to engage in the defensive zone (#13 in red).

Wildcard Scenario

1. Bruno Osmanis, RW, J20 Nationell

DOB: 12/16/06

5’11, 170 lbs

31gp, 12g, 37pts

If you’re looking for the boom/bust player in the late second/early third round, that, if it all works out, could end up being one of the steals of the draft? Look no further than Bruno Osmanis.

He has been one of the most polarizing players for me to rank this entire year whenever we get into the rankings calls. While I certainly see the upside, I’m going to start with my biggest concerns. First, he doesn’t show any effort on the defensive side of the game. He’ll give weak slashes to people going by him in the neutral zone, won’t engage physically on the forecheck, and just looks to stick-check pucks in passing lanes in the defensive zone. Furthermore, he’s like a water bug with a puck on his stick. It’s mesmerizing to watch, but sometimes he goes nowhere with it.

That all being said, he’s got a boatload of skill and his skating mechanics are good and can be developed even further that if he could end up an above-average paced player in the men’s league in Sweden within the next two years. He has decent hands, good vision, and is amazing off-puck at finding soft spots in the coverage to get off shots from scoring areas.

If he had more consistency with his puck handling and where he was trying to go with the puck I’d have in the dream scenario, but there is no denying the level of skill and vision he has that he would make for a very interesting player for the Sabres in the third round (#26 in blue).