It’s the time of the year when most of the player movement around the NHL slows down. General managers go on vacation and we sit around searching for things to argue about. What also happens is we talk about prospects.

With the development camp concluding a few weeks ago and the Prospects Challenge up next on the calendar, we decided to do a fun rankings project. Anthony, Eddy, Austin, and I put together our first official Sabres prospect ranking for the site.

I’ll share the written version of the rankings here, but you can re-watch the live stream creating of the list on YouTube, Twitch, or Twitter. There’s also a podcast version out anywhere you listen to a podcast on Expected Buffalo | The Podcast.

At the same time, we put out a fan vote and received over 300 replies. I’ll align that with our rankings as I go through them.

Before I get into the rankings here was the criteria that you need to know to:

• Players 23 years old and under
• Players that played 41 NHL games or less
• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Nikita Novikov were accidently ommitted from the fan vote list

1. Owen Power | RD

Power was the unanimous choice at number one by all four of us. The 2021 first-overall pick will play his first pro season with the Sabres this year.

Fan Vote: Owen Power

Power received the majority of the votes here. Devon Levi, Jack Quinn, and JJ Peterka did receive one first-place vote each.

2. Jack Quinn | F

The debates for us started right away at number two. We ultimately went with Jack Quinn, but Devon Levi was considered in this spot. After winning Rookie of the Year in the AHL, Quinn will also likely make the jump to the NHL.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Jack Quinn

Anthony – Jack Quinn

Eddy – Jack Quinn

Austin – Devon Levi

Fan Vote: Jack Quinn

3. JJ Peterka | F

We were once again all in agreement on the player at three. The German-born winger has a lot of fans excited as he gets ready to make the jump to the NHL.

Fan Vote: JJ Peterka

4. Devon Levi | G

Levi was a consideration at two but ultimately decided the best spot for him was at four.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Matthew Savoie

Anthony – Matthew Savoie

Eddy – Matthew Savoie

Austin – Jack Quinn

Fan Vote: Matthew Savoie

5. Matthew Savoie | F

The Sabres 2022 top pick rounded out tier one of rankings.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Devon Levi

Anthony – Devon Levi

Eddy – Noah Ostlund

Austin – Matthew Savoie

Fan Vote: Devon Levi

6. Ryan Johnson | LD

The debate here was between Ryan Johnson and Jiri Kulich.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Jiri Kulich

Anthony – Ryan Johnson

Eddy – Jiri Kulich

Austin – Ryan Johnson

Fan Vote: Jiri Kulich

7. Jiri Kulich | F

Kulich edged out the other first-round pick in 2022, Noah Ostlund.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Noah Ostlund

Anthony – Jiri Kulich

Eddy – Ryan Johnson

Austin – Noah Ostlund

Fan Vote: Noah Ostlund

8. Noah Ostlund | F

Ostlund is the last player in tier two of our rankings.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Ryan Johnson

Anthony – Erik Portillo

Eddy – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Austin – Erik Portillo

Fan Vote: Ryan Johnson

9. Erik Portillo | G

Portillo was the one we decided on in a goalie debate between him and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Erik Portillo

Anthony – Isak Rosen

Eddy – Noah Ostlund

Austin – Jiri Kulich

Fan Vote: Isak Rosen

10. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | G

Luukkonen is the last goalie prospect to make our top 25.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Isak Rosen

Anthony – Isak Rosen

Eddy – Devon Levi

Austin – Isak Rosen

Fan Vote: Erik Portillo

11. Isak Rosen | F

Rosen rounds out tier three.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Olivier Nadeau

Anthony – Olivier Nadeau

Eddy – Lukas Rousek

Austin – Lukas Rousek

Fan Vote: Olivier Nadeau

12. Lukas Rousek | F

This is where we started to debate a few players for the next few spots. Rousek slots in here

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Viktor Neuchev

Anthony – Alexander Kisakov

Eddy – Josh Bloom

Austin – Filip Cederqvist

Fan Vote: Josh Bloom

13. Josh Bloom | F

Between the two CHL players Bloom and Nadeau; Bloom comes in ahead in our rankings.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Josh Bloom

Anthony – Josh Bloom

Eddy – Filip Cederqvist

Austin – Prokhor Poltapov

Fan Vote: Viktor Neuchev

14. Olivier Nadeau | F

Nadeau will go back to the QMJHL next season and look to repeat on a strong D+1 season.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Alexander Kisakov

Anthony – Prokhor Poltapov

Eddy – Erik Portillo

Austin – Tyson Kozak

Fan Vote: Mats Lindgren

15. Filip Cederqvist | F

The Swedish forward put himself back on the map with a strong season for Djurgardens in the SHL. He’ll jump to the AHL this upcoming season.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Aaron Huglen

Anthony – Viktor Neuchev

Eddy – Oskari Laaksonen

Austin – Mats Lindgren

Fan Vote: Prokhor Poltapov

16. Alexander Kisakov | F

Now we begin the run on the Russian forwards.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Prokhor Poltapov

Anthony – Mats Lindgren

Eddy – Alexander Kisakov

Austin – Viktor Neuchev

Fan Vote: Alexander Kisakov

17. Viktor Neuchev | F

The Russian shooting machine edges out Poltapov.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Mats Lindgren

Anthony – Lukas Rousek

Eddy – Olivier Nadeau

Austin – Josh Bloom

Fan Vote: Lukas Rousek

18. Prokhor Poltapov | F

The last Russian to make our top 25 is Poltapov.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Filip Cederqvist

Anthony – Filip Cederqvist

Eddy – Aaron Huglen

Austin – Topias Leinonen

Fan Vote: Aaron Huglen

19. Mats Lindgren | LD

One more defenseman gets into our top 20 with intriguing 2022 fourth-round pick, Lindgren.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Lukas Rousek

Anthony – Jake Richard

Eddy – Viktor Neuchev

Austin – Oskari Laaksonen

Fan Vote: Topias Leinonen

20. Aaron Huglen | F

Huglen will be an interesting player to watch in his Sophomore season at the University of Minnesota.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Oskari Laaksonen

Anthony – Oskari Laaksonen

Eddy – Topias Leinonen

Austin – Albert Lyckasen

Fan Vote: Jake Richard

21. Tyson Kozak | F

The Sabres 2020 seventh-round pick kicks off tier five in our rankings.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Jake Richard

Anthony – Aaron Huglen

Eddy – Mats Lindgren

Austin – Alexander Kisakov

Fan Vote: Tyson Kozak

22. Oskari Laaksonen | RD

Laaksonen’s slide down the board ends at 22.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Tyson Kozak

Anthony – Tyson Kozak

Eddy – Prokhor Poltapov

Austin – Linus Sjodin

Fan Vote: Oskari Laaksonen

23. Linus Sjodin | F

The Sabres 2022 seventh-round pick was someone that we had intrigue in thus getting him on the top 25 list this year.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Topias Leinonen

Anthony – Topias Leinonen

Eddy – Linus Sjodin

Austin – Aaron Huglen

Fan Vote: Linus Weissbach

24. Jake Richard | F

The Sabres 2022 seventh-round pick was someone that we had intrigue in thus getting him on the top 25 list this year.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Linus Sjodin

Anthony – Stiven Saradarian

Eddy – Stiven Saradarian

Austin – Olivier Nadeau

Fan Vote: Filip Cederqvist

25. Albert Lyckasen | RD

The run on seventh-round picks continues with “Big Al” commencing our top 25 rankings.

xB Staff Member Ranking

Chad – Albert Lyckasen

Anthony – Albert Lyckasen

Eddy – Nikita Novikov

Austin – Jake Richard

Fan Vote: Matteo Costantini

Individual Staff Top 25 Rankings

Final Top 25 – Fan Vote

Photo Credit: Jim Pierce/Northeastern Huskies