Buffalo Sabres: Alexander Nylander Enjoys High Tempo Start to Camp
By Paul Taylor
Buffalo Sabres 2016 first round draft pick Alexander Nylander takes to the ice for the first time and enjoys high energy practice.
In the lead-up to June’s draft, the prevailing feeling was the Buffalo Sabres would target one of their most urgent needs on the roster, and select a left-shot defenseman. As such, it was somewhat of a surprise, when they instead opted for Alexander Nylander with the eighth overall pick.
However, once the initial shock had worn off, most hockey analysts accepted that going for the left winger was an excellent decision. Certainly, it’s hard not to be intrigued by someone who is described as having “a ridiculous set of hands” and “jaw dropping passes”.
Fast forward to Wednesday, which marked the first opportunity for fans and media alike to see Nylander on the ice, on the opening day of Sabes development camp. He spoke to Amy Morritz of The Buffalo News and the rest of the media about the experience after practice.
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Nylander said: “It’s been a lot of fun. Tempo was high so it got your pulse up (with) fun drills, good drills to get going for the upcoming scrimmages and other practices and I just enjoyed it.”
The 18-year old was part of the second group, which included Hudson Fasching. The former Los Angeles Kings draft pick was impressed with his new teammate, as he told Jourdon LaBarber of Sabres.com.
Fasching said: “He’s got great skill – you can kind of just tell if you pay a little extra attention to him that every puck he shoots, you know it’s crisp, it’s in direction. He’s aiming for a really small area and a lot of times it looks like he’s hitting it.”
Nylander definitely looked comfortable on the ice, with a big part of the reason likely coming down to speaking with his older brother, William: “I’ve been expecting it. My brother went through it with the Leafs.
“He sorta taught me what development camp is like…(It was) just a lot of fun today.”
Another aspect which probably helped the Calgary, Alberta native, was having Austin Osmanski and Daniel Muzito-Bagenda alongside him. Osmanski and Muzito-Bagenda were teammates of his, when he played for the Mississauga Steelheads.
Nylander said: “It’s a lot of fun having teammates here of course. Osmanski and I, we’d always hang out with each other because we also have school with each other.
“He’s a funny guy. Daniel is also from Sweden so we knew each other a bit coming into Mississauga and we’ve always been friends.”
Just like most of the other prospects, the Swedish international’s goal is to make the NHL next year. However, he realizes it will take a lot of hard work, and is focused on impressing the coaching staff during development camp.
Nylander said: “This is one step. Take one step at a time and this is very important since you’ve just been drafted and you’re trying to get better as a player and try to develop as much as possible here and learn from the staff here that can help you for the upcoming season.”
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Where you one of those fans lucky enough to see Nylander take part in his inaugural Sabres practice? What were your takeaways from the first day of development camp? Let us know in the comments section below.