Shortly after the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Penn State forward Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 overall pick in front of Justin Bieber and several hockey fans at KeyBank Center. The Buffalo Sabres picked Canadian defenseman Daxon Rudolph with the No. 4 overall pick on Friday night.
"It's an incredible feeling to be selected by Buffalo in Buffalo. It means a lot. And just hearing the applause was a really cool moment," said Daxon.
Rudolph, 18 years old, a right shot, a 6-foot-2 defender who can score goals. He just finished his second and final season with the Western Hockey League's Prince Albert Raiders, collecting 78 points, including 28 goals and a WHL finals appearance where the Raiders lost in the Ed Chynoweth Cup championship to the Everett Silvertips. Daxon credits getting drafted to his time in Prince Albert,
"I think that's the thing, they helped me so much to prepare for the NHL. It was so much fun there, playing there, going to the finals."
Rudolph added, "I think what I developed most over the years is just being hard to play against, and I think my offensive game took a jump this year as well. So those are two kinds of things that I worked on a lot this season, and so fortunate to play hockey in Prince Albert,"
He was the first defenseman taken in this year’s draft and was the fifth-ranked North American skater in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings.
Rudolph will be playing NCAA hockey this upcoming year as he is heading to Denver this fall for his freshman season with the reigning NCAA national champions.
Daxon sees himself being ready for the NHL within 1-2 years. As far as playing for an organization with a strong uptick from last season, Rudolph is excited to be part of the buzz around Buffalo.
"I think just the energy in the building, like I said, during the playoffs, it was something so cool to watch, and I mean them being back in the playoffs, and with the team they had competing. It's going to be fun to be a part of that and to play for those fans," said Rudolph.
Despite trading defenseman Bowen Byram to Chicago to land the 4th pick, the Sabres look to continue to get even better by drafting Daxon. Rudolph enjoyed watching the Sabres defensive core last season.
"I watched a lot of them this year, and during their playoffs, and the way those guys play the game is fun to watch. "Daxon added, "They're all really talented players, I'm just excited to join them."
Buffalo went offense with their second first-round pick. The Sabres took two-way forward Illia Morozov with the 20th pick on Friday night.
Morozov started last season as the youngest player in the NCAA and still played well enough under pressure as a freshman at Miami University of Ohio to get drafted in the first round, posting 20 points in 36 games.
Morozov is a native of Moscow, Russia, but moved to the United States at age 14 to pursue his dream of playing in the NHL.
"That's an amazing feeling, that it was. I was waiting for that for a long time, and I'm really happy with that. I'm really happy to join the Sabres organization. I saw how wild the fans are, and I'm excited just to play in this building to feel this atmosphere of hockey. I think that's going to be unbelievable," said Morozov.
When asked what the most surprising part of the process of getting drafted was, Morozov said, "That took a while. I thought that would go a little faster."
The 2nd round of the NHL draft begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
