Fansided

2018 NHL Draft: Report card grades for every team

By Jeremy Lambert

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes and Jesperi Kotkaniemi of the Montreal Canadians pose for a picture of the 2018 NHL draft on June 22, 2018 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes and Jesperi Kotkaniemi of the Montreal Canadians pose for a picture of the 2018 NHL draft on June 22, 2018 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 32
Next
DALLAS, TX – JUNE 22: Rasmus Dahlin poses for a portrait after being selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX – JUNE 22: Rasmus Dahlin poses for a portrait after being selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Buffalo Sabres – A

First Round Pick: Rasmus Dahlin (D) (1)

Not even the Buffalo Sabres were going to screw this up. Rasmus Dahlin is projected to be the greatest defenseman of all-time. His ceiling is Nicklas Lidstrom and his floor is Erik Karlsson. Rumor has it that he’ll be in the Hall of Fame within five years. Dahlin immediately slots as their best blueliner. It’s a compliment to him that he’s already the No. 1 guy and a knock on their current crop of defensemen. With Dahlin in the lineup, the Sabres have their superstar on the back end and up front. Unless they move Ryan O’Reilly in the coming weeks. Then they’ll have to settle for Jack Eichel being their best forward.

It didn’t matter who the Sabres drafted in Rounds 2 through 7. They were always going to get an A in this draft because they got the best player and an absolute stud.

Other Notable Picks: Mattias Samuelsson (D) (32)

Samuelsson is a solid pickup as the Sabres continue to build on the backend. Bode Miller would have been the more obvious choice in this position, but Samuelsson is a big kid whose offensive game has grown over the years. Matej Pekar, selected in the third round, gives them some center depth moving forward.

Again, the Sabres were never going to get anything less than an A in this draft. Maybe if they traded every other draft pick and only got Tomas Tatar in return, they would have gotten a B. But they held serve, didn’t do anything monumentally stupid, and walked away with a franchise defenseman. Now if they could just find a goaltender.

Home/NHL Draft