2025 Sabres Draft Guide: 7th Round Swings

Welcome to the 2025 xB Buffalo Sabres Draft Guide! The draft guide has been broken up into seven parts so that it can load on your mobile device and be consumed in multiple readings, without taking an hour to get through.

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), but I believe would make an interesting selection for the Sabres.

– First-time draft-eligible players will just 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 hold three picks in the 7th round of the 2025 draft. This will be, by far, the longest of the articles I write as we profile 15 players.

Let’s get this started.

Dream Scenarios for the 7th Round

1. Gavin Cornforth, W, USHL

DOB: 12/15/06

5’10, 170 lbs

62gp, 27g, 54pts (7gp, 1g, 5pts in playoffs)

If you read my “What the Data Says” article, this name should not come as a surprise. The reason he lands as a possibility for the 7th round is that no one has even written a draft profile on Cornforth, let alone ranked him in the public sphere.

He is one of the best forwards in my North American dataset when it comes to tracking his impact on a game. Here’s his rankings out of 73 forwards tracked at even strength and calculated at a per 60 rate:

10th in shot attempts
6th in dangerous shot attempts
2nd in passing attempts
9th in total passing attempts to scoring areas
12th in % of passes going to scoring areas
14th in offensive transition success%

His ability to generate offense through his efforts and his teammates has made him one of the most well-rounded offensive prospects in the draft class. He scans the ice before receiving the puck and can quickly make decisions, has very good puck handling ability to be able to maneuver into open spaces, and has a pretty good wrist shot that could beat goalies from a distance.

There are areas to improve. The biggest area will be his skating, as he plays at a slightly below average pace, and it keeps him from being able to separate in the neutral zone with the puck on his stick. His offensive transition involvement rate falls well below his other rankings because he depends on his teammates to support him, as defenders can close on him from behind. He also has to get stronger and show more of a willingness to battle along the boards. Too often, he skates by a player on the boards, trying to poke the puck away instead of engaging physically. He also will pull up on a 50/50 puck if there is going to be a big collision to retrieve it.

In the seventh round, I love this pick. I think he thinks the game very well from an offensive perspective and has a mid-round grade based on his skill level. He should bulk up in college, and hopefully, his pace improves. Playing in Hockey East for a perennial national contender in Boston College next year, Cornforth has all the ingredients to be a steal in three years as he develops into a top role within the program (#9 in white in the clips below).

2. Patryk Zubek, LHD, Slovakia2

DOB: 4/18/07

6’3, 203 lbs

22gp, 4g, 7pts (7gp, 0g 0pts in u18s for Slovakia)

The way Smaht Scouting works is that we’re all split into regions, with my role being a North American crossover scout. I depend on the European scouts to feed the group who is worth a draft pick, and then I’ll do my assessment as we go into rankings. Zubek was a player who just popped off the screen when I was watching the USA/Slovakia game in the U18s. His length and smooth skating ability stood out. He possesses a calm and confident transition game where he rarely tries to exit the zone without the puck being controlled by his team.

Digging into him a bit more, I came away impressed. He doesn’t activate much from the blue line in international play, but he does play a much more offensive game when he plays against his peers in the U20 league in Slovakia. It’s a much lower-level competition than the international stage, but I found him to be the player I liked the most as a late-season find that could end up playing on an NHL roster.

There are definite improvements to be made in his game. A lot of his offensive traits are junior-level. He looks to put the puck on net almost every time the puck comes to him in the offensive zone without walking the blue line or changing an angle. His defensive game when play is in front of him is good, but he loses his man when play goes behind the net way too often that which is concerning. His puck skill will have to get better, and he’ll have to learn to angle people on the entry better as he wants to reach with his stick every time and not play the body, but he has a lot of traits that are worth a late-round selection.

3. Cole Temple, C, WHL

DOB: 3/20/07

5’10, 163 lbs

64gp, 17g, 42pts

It wasn’t until Temple was traded to Everett mid-season that I noticed him as the centerman of Carter Bear’s line. He was playing on a pretty bad Regina team early in the season and flashed skill, but it was the move to Everett that saw him take off. As he centered Jesse Heslop and Carter Bear, he became the engine of the line in transition with good pace and very good puck skill. He has good vision in the offensive zone and was able to facilitate play and earn a primary driving role on the line with two very good other forwards. When Bear got hurt, his game transitioned into a checking line role and drew the top forwards in my last two viewings. He also rarely saw time on the power play.

Right now, Temple is a fast-paced, highly engaged, two-way forward who has flashed the skill level to be a great junior player. However, that didn’t materialize this year into an offensive role down the stretch for Everett and cost him offensive opportunities.

I think he’s one of the few smaller forwards that you come across who has a bottom-six floor. His speed, tenacity, willingness to engage physically, and flashes of skill could all one day see the NHL. The cherry on top: if his skill and opportunity to play on the power play increase next year, then you’re looking at a possible 7th-round steal (#8 in white in the clips below).

4. Tanner Lam, RW, OHL

DOB: 7/14/07

5’10, 157 lbs

67gp, 13g, 53pts

Tanner Lam is the only draft-eligible player who I thoroughly enjoyed watching who isn’t ranked by consensus as a top-two-round talent. He played on a line with Luca Romano, and while I think Romano is the safer bet of the two, I think the skill and creativity that Lam displayed game-in and game-out made me move him ahead of his linemate by the end of the year.

Lam is a small winger who is going to hurt his draft stock no matter what, but the fact that he was just an average-paced player in the OHL will have him slip down to the late rounds if he gets picked at all. He tries plays that 98% of this draft class just doesn’t. He’ll toe-drag a defender at the blue line and then put it between the legs of the next defender. He’s not afraid to try a Michigan or two. He’ll put the puck between his legs to attempt a cross-crease pass. The skill level is high for Lam.

My biggest concern is that he screams boom-or-bust. He’s not a physically engaged defensive forward, and he likes to be the receiver of the exit transition pass to get out on the rush to generate offense. His slight frame saw him get tossed around on the boards and struggle at times to take the puck off the boards and into the center of the ice. However, the kid is fearless. He’s not afraid to take the puck wherever he needs to create a play or get a scoring chance for himself.

At this point in the draft, I always bet on fun. There is no more fun prospect than Tanner Lam (#37 in blue in the clips below).

**5. Vincent Desjardins*, C, QMJHL**

DOB: 9/8/06

5’11, 165 lbs

64gp, 18g, 81pts

Let me introduce you to the Trey Fix-Wolansky award winner for 2025! Desjardins was born just a week away from being eligible for the 2025 draft, and this year in the QMJHL, he was finally able to produce the points that I thought his skill level was capable of last year during his draft-eligible season. He centered Justin Carbonneau, and he made up for a lot of Carbonneau’s deficiencies in my viewings. Desjardins was always in a puck-support position for zone exits and in the defensive zone, had the skill to be able to move the puck through the neutral zone, and showed great vision in being able to set up plays and give Carbonneau the puck with space to get his great shot off.

He’s still small in stature, and he didn’t display a high-end puck skill set to safely project him to the NHL as a transition center who could play somewhere in your bottom 9. He’s defensively engaged and positionally sound in his off-puck reads, but he would benefit by being harder on pucks in the forecheck and by being more physically engaged in board battles in the defensive zone as a center. However, he was a menace in creating turnovers with his stick and by reading play development and getting in the way of what the opposition was trying to do.

There are a couple of reasons I like Desjardins as a seventh-round swing. First, he makes smart reads when he’s passing the puck and can make the right play with confidence and skill in the offensive zone. The second is that he’s going to the University of Nebraska-Omaha next year. The NCAA’s development model will see a reduced number of games with an emphasis on increasing physical strength. I’m hoping the increase in muscle will open up a more physically engaging type of hockey and add some speed to his skating.

6. Harry Nansi, RW, OHL

DOB: 9/10/07

6’3, 179 lbs

67gp, 7g, 23pts

If there is a project that I would be willing to take on in the 2025 NHL draft, my pick would be Harry Nansi. Nansi came onto my radar watching him on the Owen Sound forecheck. Nansi and Jacob Crawford, on two consecutive shifts, were just relentless on the forecheck, and the opposing team could not exit the zone. Nansi’s motor stand out the most as his best skill. He’s always giving it his all to get after the loose puck and is going to engage the opposition with his frame to try to win the puck back for his team.

There are a lot of things for Nansi to work on. He’s a clunky skater, and that hinders his ability to get to areas of the ice with the puck on his stick at the junior level. Projecting him to possibly the NCAA or the AHL means that his skating has got to get better from a stop/start scenario as well. He’s too slow off the blocks changing direction to effectively jump into play at times as well. He’s stiff in puck receptions, which can cause the puck to bounce off his stick, and his shot isn’t as hard as it should be, given his frame.

I’d bet on the motor and his one-touch passing all day. The rest I’d hope can develop over time.

Realistic Scenarios for the 7th round

1. Matthew Lansing, C, USHL

DOB: 2/24/07

6’1, 181 lbs

54gp, 12g, 27pts (13gp, 0g, 1pt with USNTDP)

Lansing’s game can be summarized with one word: details. It’s no coincidence Lansing was a frequent call-up to the USNTDP team this season, as he thinks the game at such a high level. He’s in constant support off-puck, can process plays faster than most, and gets all the minute details right in a hockey game. He’s a quick skater going north/south, but I’d like to see more dynamism in his crossovers and lateral movement going full speed to get around defenders in transition. He’s hard on pucks as a defensive center, and while he’s not physical in his puck separation, he’s not afraid to take a hit or get into a physical battle for a puck. There’s a skill level to facilitate play, but he did not flash any creative playmaking with the puck on his stick, so I don’t know if he can work his way to the NHL on skill alone.

It was a tale of two seasons for Lansing. He played the majority of the season on a very good Waterloo team that had him in a checking line role. A late-season trade to Fargo opened up his offensive game and elevated his draft stock. On Fargo, Lansing was able to earn a power play role, and they paired the very detailed Lansing with the very raw Mason West to end the year. This combo was able to be productive closing out the season, with more than a third of Lansing’s points coming in the last 14 regular-season games.

Why is this a Sabres pick? For one, Lansing is a beloved Jr. Sabre. He was captain of the 16U Jr. Sabres team before going to the USHL, and you won’t find a person in WNY hockey who will say a bad thing about his character and his work ethic as a hockey player. Local boy who is beloved in the Jr. Sabres organization, great character, detailed and hard worker, and ended the season on a bit of a heater? There is no way Kevyn Adams is passing on Lansing (#2 in black in the clips below).

2. Liam Pettersson, LHD, J20 Nationell

DOB: 1/4/07

6’2, 170 lbs

39gp, 6g, 21pts

Pettersson is a smooth-skating, LHD who caught my eye with his ability to skate the puck out of the zone with his defensive zone exits and his effective cross-ice passes into the neutral zone to spring his wingers for a rush. He has a very slight frame, which impacts his shot as he rarely puts on dangerous shots from distance, and he also rarely engages physically in his defensive zone transitions and in board battles.

One thing I think the Sabres could use in their system is both length on the backend and the ability to exit the zone with possession through a carry-out strategy or an effective first pass. Pettersson was fantastic at both when he was able to get his legs moving. However, when he was pressured on the forecheck, he lacked small-area puck skill to maneuver around the forecheck to open up a passing lane and opted to rim passes if his safety valve option wasn’t opened to him. His skillset is good already, but he rarely moves off the blue line and uses the space available to him in the offensive zone. Once he begins to do that, I think you could be hitting on a late-round steal.

In the seventh round, I want to take a chance on the length and the passing, and I think the Sabres could do the same, given that the big, hard-hitting defensemen will be gone by this point. He’s a longer-term project that can develop in Sweden and eventually be brought over.

3. Blake Vanek, RW, USHS-MIN

DOB: 8/16/07

6’4, 205 lbs

29gp, 23g, 53pts (9gp, 4g, 5pts in USHL)

I know what you’re thinking, and yes, this is Thomas Vanek’s son. Let’s pause all of those (including me) who now feel old that they’re ’05-07 heroes have kids coming through the NHL draft.

Some aspects of Vanek’s game will remind you of his father. He loves to play net front and has quick hands to get his shot off from there. At his size, he was a man amongst boys in high school and could feast in front of the net. He has both a hard snapshot and wrist shot, but it’s not as much of a weapon as his father’s.

So what’s different? On the positive side: Vanek has a motor. He moves up the ice with pace and works hard on the forecheck. However, Vanek doesn’t have the puck skill that projects him to be a player that play will move through in transition or in the offensive zone. He has good north/south speed but struggles on his edges. He was too easily taken down when he had to get on his edges, and he struggled with lateral moves on the rush. Perhaps my biggest concern is his hesitancy to utilize his size. There were multiple times in the USHL games to protect the puck with his size to gain more time to make a play, and he panicked and passed instead. On the defensive side, he didn’t throw a hit in the three USHL games I watched, and there were plenty of opportunities to impose his will physically on the forecheck.

There’s enough skill and potential that I could see Kevyn Adams bringing the Sabres’ legend’s kid to Buffalo as he heads off to the WHL next year (#25 in the clip below).

4. Noah Jenken, LHD, OHL

DOB: 3/8/07

6’3, 190 lbs

53gp, 2g, 16pts

Noah Jenken is your traditional defensive defenseman. He was injured for part of the year, and a trade from London to Guelph saw his ice time improve and some opportunities on the power play as well. He doesn’t activate off the blue line and doesn’t carry the puck out in transition. His first pass under pressure needs to be worked on, as he defaults to chipping the puck out of the zone as his safe, default option.

There are interesting parts of his game, though. When he does attempt to make passes under pressure, there is a good thought process behind them, and some of them were even impressive. I liked how he defended the rush. He angles the opponent to the boards and smothers them against the boards without sacrificing position or letting the opponent keep control. He plays the body and won’t get caught up in trying to stick-check highly skilled forwards. In the offensive zone, he showed some variety of plays besides shooting from the blue line or dumping down deep.

There’s a player here to work with, but I’m more concerned about his development path than the player himself. I’d be pushing to get him to the NCAA next year, and if not, then definitely in the D+2 year, and see how he does when his size isn’t as much of an advantage as it is in the OHL (#19 in white in the clips linked below).

5. Kadon McCann, LW/C, WHL

DOB: 3/25/07

6’3, 205 lbs

64gp, 11g, 18pts

McCann is the type of player who you watch the Florida Panthers play ‘dump-and-hunt’ hockey, and say, “I think this guy would be great at it.” There isn’t much to write home about McCann’s skill game. He wants to get the puck deep and go and get it, and then get to the front of the net and try to bang home a rebound or get a tip off a point shot. He plays left wing but is often saddled with playing center-role defensive responsibility for the loaded Medicine Hat team.

I didn’t track a full dataset of McCann because he’s not the type of player I typically go for. He’s looking to clear the zone and dump pucks in without possession, and his passing can be erratic. However, if you’re looking for a defensively responsible LW/C who will also grind out goals and have more of an opportunity to expand his role next year on Medicine Hat now that most of their team will jettison to the professional or NCAA ranks: he’s a fine bet for the seventh round (#5 in white in the clips below).

**6. Richard Baran*, LHD, USHL**

DOB: 10/24/05

6’1, 185 lbs

54gp, 4g, 30pts

If there is a player that I would say is the most fun in this entire group of Realistic Options, look no further than Richard Baran. He is one of the most fun offensive defensemen I’ve seen this entire draft year. He’s super creative at the blue line and is one of the few in the entire draft class who have the lateral mobility to get by opponents on the offensive blue line and activate into the open space with the puck on his stick.

Not only does he activate on the blue line, but he also activates all the time. If he can join a rush as a trailer and then continue down into the dangerous areas of the ice, he’s going to do so. He’s got great offensive vision at finding teammates in dangerous areas of the ice to generate scoring chances through his passes. The point total and his age make me believe that most people have written him off as a possible draft selection, but I would be super excited to see Kevyn Adams call his name anytime in the mid-late rounds of the draft.

There are defensive warts to his game. He’s not super physical in his board battles, and his aggressive offensive nature takes him out of position defensively, which can leave his linemates out to dry for odd-man rushes. But if you’re looking for a possible homerun swing in the late rounds, I’d pound the table for Baran as that guy from the backend. While he doesn’t fit the bill of playing in a men’s league, the late-round defenders who usually hit big are overagers who develop late. His October 2025 birthday is a concern and needs to be accounted for, but I’ll be following closely as he joins Cullen Potter and USHL teammate Ben Kevan at Arizona State next year (#5 in blue in the links below).

Wildcard Scenarios

1. Lukas Sawchyn, W, WHL

DOB: 2/27/07

5’10, 174 lbs

66gp, 15g, 55pts

If you read my “What the data says” article, you would’ve seen a list that mentioned players too small for me to rank or draft, but I loved watching. Sawchyn was number one on that list until I decided that, screw it, he’s going into the draft guide because I love watching this kid play too much to exclude him.

While Sawchyn will attempt some of the most creative plays with the puck on his stick, it’s the details of his game that have made him a wildcard selection. He’s going to be hard on the forecheck and physical along the boards. He’s going to go down on a knee and block shots in the defensive zone. He’ll come in below the dots to stick lift from behind a forward. For a player who plays such a finesse game offensively, it’s impressive to see him put in the effort defensively as well to generate positive plays.

If he had another notch in his pace of play, I think he’d be talked about in the 2nd-4th round with his skillset. He’s not slow, but he doesn’t separate in the neutral zone from defenders, which makes his game predicated upon his skill and brain. For him, thankfully, he’s able to make an impact on the game by being proactive in his reads and using his puck-handling skills to go get around defenders through apt fakes and dekes.

I love the player and think he deserves to be selected in the NHL draft. I do think it’s an outside chance given the NHL’s preference for size in the late rounds, but he has a lengthy runway that I think he could end up working himself onto an NHL roster (#95 in white in the clips below).

2. Mikhail Fyodorov, W, MHL

DOB: 12/1/06

5’11, 152 lbs

45gp, 17g, 43pts

I like the idea of drafting Russians in the late rounds as a “draft and stash” strategy, especially players that have physical tools and speed but lack physical strength and need a longer developmental timeline to ever become a potential NHL player. Mikhail Fyodorov checks a lot of boxes for me as a possible player who could be an NHL player in 4-5 years down the road if he’s able to round out his (very) raw toolkit.

The trait that stands out to me the most when watching Fyodorov, compared to a lot of MHL players I’ve watched over the years, is that he has a North American mentality when it comes to puck retrievals and the willingness to get hit to make a play. The kid pops off the screen with his skating in the three viewings I’ve had of him, and I love the way he sees the ice. However, it’s the scanning he does of the ice and the ability to move pucks to areas of the ice under pressure that stand out the most.

While I’m impressed with his foot speed, I think his hands have to catch up to his feet at times. He can find himself pressing himself into a pressure situation without a clear plan on how he’s going to get out of it, which results in a turnover. However, he has a hard shot for such a slim frame, and his motor pops off the screen when you watch him play.

The Sabres aren’t keen on drafting Russians late and letting them simmer overseas (Poltapov may be the only one), but this is a player I’d love to fast forward five years to see how he develops as his physical strength improves (#84 in blue in the clips below).

3. Alex Misiak, W, USHL

DOB: 6/22/07

6’0, 183 lbs

28gp, 7g, 18pts

I doubt that Misiak will be an NHL draft pick for the 2025 NHL draft, but when I watch him play I feel like he could be a player that 4 years down the road in the NCAA could develop into an energy, bottom six winger who has enough skill to be a productive passenger on a line if everything breaks well.

There isn’t a game-breaking trait to Misiak’s game. He plays a very hard-nosed, going to keep grinding and hitting you and finding open space to make a play or take a shot type of game. It’s endearing to me because he does pop on the screen, given how often he was able to throw a hit, get to a spot, and then make a play. There was very little that was done in chain-linked plays on his end to generate the start of the play. However, as a connector or someone who finds a spot for a shot at the end of the connecting play, I found he was very good at getting multiple chances like that per game.

The caveat to that is that his passes don’t always get through or are on target, and his shot didn’t beat goalies clean from distance. If at least one of those improves as he moves through the next stages of his development, then he has a chance to outperform the current draft projection.

The purpose of the wildcard section is to find players who will most likely go later but have enough of an upside to warrant a pick at this position. As the last seventh-round wildcard selection, it’s highly unlikely he gets picked. He’s someone to follow in his D+1 year to see if the skills improve and he’s able to get to a point-per-game level in the USHL next year (#14 in blue in the clips below).