Buffalo Sabres defense prospect Nikita Novikov displayed special offensive instincts throughout his first regular season in North America. “Borderline high-end,” said coach Seth Appert, whose Americans open the Calder Cup Playoffs on Friday at Blue Cross Arena in a best-of-five series against the Syracuse Crunch.
Instead of pouting over a surprising demotion, Americans defenseman Riley Stillman has chosen to embrace his first stint in the minors in three seasons.
BUFFALO – The Sabres’ leading scorer in the Prospects Challenge wasn’t Zach Benson, Jiri Kulich, Isak Rosen, Matt Savoie or another talented young forward.
The Buffalo Sabres have drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL (Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Dylan Cozens), and the club under former GM Jason Botterill and current GM Kevyn Adams have been able to replenish the organization with young prospects.
The Buffalo Sabres signed yet another exciting prospect on Friday, this one coming in the form of a defenseman, and a physical one at that. Earlier in May, forward Viktor Neuchev signed with the Buffalo Sabres.
In this edition of Buffalo Sabres News & Rumors, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen picks up his first win of the season, Rasmus Dahlin records the first multi-goal game of his career, and Nikita Novikov is named to Team Russia’s final roster for the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Russia is notoriously stingy when it comes to allowing draft-eligible players to make the team, usually choosing instead to bring along the more polished, committed, 19-year-old national program options.