The Buffalo Sabres followed the hockey bloodlines strategy used on day one of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft when they took Sam Reinhart, the son of former NHL defenseman Paul, in the first round by selecting Brandan Lemieux with the 31st pick overall and the first in the second round.
Lemieux is the son of longtime NHL forward and agitator Claude.
“I was disappointed—I expected to be a first round pick—but things have a way of working out,” said Lemiuex. “There were a few teams that passed me over and I’m just going to make it harder on their guys and just use it for fuel. I’m one of the more fiery guys in the draft so I’m definitely excited.
“My dad is my biggest role model on and off the ice. I’m proud of the career he had, the way he played and how hated he was. I want to follow in his footsteps and I want to be that guy who steps u in the playoffs and come up big when it counts.”
The Sabres followed later in the second round by taking Peterborough center Eric Cornel 44th overall and Czech winger Vaclav Karabacek 49th overall.
Cornel had 62 points in 68 games this season, including 25 goals and added seven points in 11 playoff games.
“I am a two-way center; I try to model my game after Jonathan Toews,” said Cornel. “They (the Sabres) have a great opportunity with this draft with a high pick in the first and a bunch in the second, so they’re really going to benefit from this draft.”
6’4” Swedish goaltender Jonas Johansson was taken with the first pick in the third round and followed with defenseman Brycen Martin via Swift Current in the Western Hockey League with the 74th overall selection.
“I waited a little bit longer than I expected to, but all-in-all it doesn’t matter where I go it’s what I do from here that matters and I’m happy to be a part of the Buffalo Sabres,” said Martin.
“They are definitely looking for a bunch of pieces in their rebuild, so I’m glad that they want me to be a part of that and hopefully I can fulfill everything they expected.
“I definitely run a two-way style and I like to run the power play and I like to jump up in the play.”
Brown University bound forward Maxwell Willman was the top choice in the fifth round. The Williston-Northampton High School product in Massachusetts is 5’11”, 185 lb.
They stayed with the high school route in the sixth round as well with Christopher Brown from Cranbrook-Kingswood HS in Michigan. The 6’0, 179 lb. forward is committed to Boston College, where his uncle in the Associate head coach—former Sabres defenseman Greg Brown.
With their final selection, Buffalo took smallish (5’7”, 157 lb.) forward Victor Olofsson from Sweden.
Sabres General Manager Tim Murray was generally happy with the assets collected over the two days.
“For what we did yes—I think you know that the original plan was to get an extra pick in the first round and we weren’t able to do that; other than that I thought it went pretty well,” said Murray in the media area.
“I think we went after potential. They certainly are not ready-made players and like every other team at this draft, we like what we got.”
“We got a potential top-two center who could play for us next year and we added a lot of assets.”
