By Warren Kozireski – NY Hockey OnLine Magazine –
As promised the Sabres moved aggressively to start day two of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft as they traded defenseman Mark Pysyk and two draft picks (38 and 89) to Florida for defenseman Dimitry Kulikov and the 33rd overall section—the third pick of the second round.
They used that pick to select center Rasmus Asplund from Sweden. Asplund played with Farjestad last season against much older competition and scored four goals with eight assists in 46 games. Against players his own age at the World Junior tournament, he scored three goals with a pair of assists in seven games.
“I think I’m a strong-skating two-way center who sees the ice very well and makes the guys I play with better,” Asplund said.
The former linemate of Buffalo first round choice Alexander Nylander looks forward to continuing their chemistry. “Really good—I think that’s the guy I have the best chemistry with my whole career, so I’m real excited for that.”
Asplund plans to spend one more year in Sweden before pursuing his pro career.
In the third round the Sabres selected Cliff Pu from London of the OHL. After his 31 point regular season, the right wing racked up 13 points in 18 playoff games to help the Knights win the Memorial Cup.
Their second third rounder went undrafted last year—his first eligibility—but a solid freshman season with Boston College put him back on the map. The son of former NHLer and current New Jersey Assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald, Casey Fitzgerald, had a 27 point season on the Eagles blueline.
“After last year I had no expectations and came out here for my friends and my cousin, Matthew Tkachuk,” Fitzgerald said. “I said if I go, I go and if I don’t I’ll be fine so I really didn’t have any expectations. I just came in here with my eyes open and hope for the best.”
Penn State commit Brett Murray was their fourth rounder. The 6’4”, 216 lb. power forward had 46 points in 48 games with Carleton Place (CCHL) last season.
“In my meeting with the Sabres he (Tim Murray) asked me if that was the Irish or the Scottish Murray and I guess I answered the wrong one, but I guess he doesn’t care now,” Murray said.
Buffalo selected a pair of defenseman in the fifth round in Sweden’s Philip Nyberg, who will play for the University of Wisconsin this fall, and Prince Albert’s Vojtech Budik—a teammate of Sabres prospect Brendan Guhle.
47 point rookie scorer Brandon Hagel was their sixth round selection out of Red Deer (WHL) before they went back-to-back at picks 189 and 190 in the seventh round.
The largest roar of day two came as East Aurora native and former Jr. Sabres Austin Osmanski was selected with a group of 30-40 friends and family on hand. The defenseman played last season with Mississauga where he scored ten points with 53 PIM in 65 games.
“I said to our guys at the table, there is no way to measure what a local kid – and he wasn’t picked just because he’s local, he does play major junior hockey which is a feeder system to us and he’s a good prospect – but there’s no metric to measure that he’s going to be in this building every day, in our gym, trying to become a Buffalo Sabre. He’s going to go above and beyond,” Tim Murray said.
Center Vasily Glotov of St. Petersburg, Russia was the final selection.
