The Buffalo Sabres’ cupboards are full of prospects ahead of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft (June 28 and 29), and per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News, the Sabres won’t be signing these three prospects by Saturday’s June 1 deadline.
Mats Lindgren
The Vancouver native was selected in the fourth round of the 2022 Entry Draft, and at that time, it was seen as a steal by the Sabres. However, the blueliner hasn’t been able to take a leap forward in terms of production in the Western Hockey League after a career-high 44 points in 68 games during the 2021-22 campaign.
The 19-year-old’s point total dropped to 34 last season (2022-23), and slightly increased to 41 in 2023-24. Lindgren will be reinserted into this year’s draft.
Albert Lyckasen
The right-shot defender was taken by the Sabres 193rd-overall in 2020 and like Lindgren, hasn’t been able to show consistency in his game. In 2021-22, Lyckasen posted a career-best 19 points in 51 games at the professional level in Sweden, but then faltered in production the following season with nine points in 39 games, and 14 points in 36 games with BIK Karlskoga in Sweden in 2023-24.
Jakub Konecny
The Sabres’ prospect depth at forward is well documented, and Konecny falls victim to that as a center who was selected 23 picks after Lyckasen at 216th-overall in 2020. The 21-year-old has spent these last three seasons with Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga posting a mere 30 points in 121 career games.
The reality is, there are seven rounds in an NHL Entry Draft for all 32 clubs and as a general manager you can’t expect to hit on every selection you make at the draft table. However, a team can’t hand out more than 50 contracts which makes it difficult to sign everyone and that’s what we have here with the Sabres and these three prospects (Lindgren, Lyckasen, Konecny). Unfortunately for these young men, the decision for the Sabres to not sign them to their entry-level contracts is justified due to their lack of production in their respective leagues, but it doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be opportunities elsewhere in North America.
Related: 4 Sabres Mid-Round Targets in the 2024 NHL Draft
For a player like Lindgren who was seen as an individual who could’ve gone late in the second or in the third round, it’s possible that an NHL club could take a flyer on the left-shot defenseman, and invite him to their rookie camp. Plus, it would be cool to see another Mats Lindgren in the NHL once again (the first Mats Lindgren played between 1993 and 2003.) As for Konecny and Lyckasen, it will be more difficult for them given the fact that they were both seventh-round picks, but for American Hockey League teams who’re looking for depth additions, they’re maybes.
It’s a tough pill to swallow when you’re drafted by an NHL team and then go unsigned, but there could be more who follow suit because according to CapFriendly, excluding Arttu Ruotsalainen who will be a 27-year-old unrestricted free agent in 2025, the Sabres have 19 prospects to make decisions on between now and August, 2028. The draft is now less than a month away and the Sabres aren’t the only team to cut bait with a prospect or two, and will be adding to their prospect system with eight picks in the seven-round draft. The consensus around this year’s draft class is that there’s a drop off after the 20th-overall pick, so we’ll see what the Sabres will do rounds two through seven.
