Looking forward to draft day, the Buffalo Sabres have a lot to consider. There are looming potential trades of JJ Peterka and Bowen Byram, shortcomings in nearly every facet of their game, and the fact of reality that they have a number of top prospects already in their system. With that in mind, if they choose to keep the ninth overall selection in the 2025 NHL Draft, they have a lot of great options to choose from. With plenty of depth at each position in their prospect pool, they should be looking to strengthen specific traits of their team, and to shore up the shortcomings that showed repeated patterns throughout the season. With that in mind, a player that stands out to fit the bill extremely well is Brantford Bulldogs center Jake O’Brien.
O’Brien Is the Best Playmaker in This Draft
O’Brien has elite skills with the puck, and easily has some of the best hockey IQ out of any of the prospects in this upcoming draft. As the game gets faster and tougher, it is rare to see a player who is able to adapt well and still play with a high level of skill when their speed does not keep up with the rest. He is not a short player by any means, standing at 6-foot-2, but he is slightly undersized in regards to his weight being around 172 pounds. Considering his speed does not match his frame, he will have to bulk up once he makes it to the NHL. Fortunately, his size and speed are his only major drawbacks.
He has some of the best vision out of any prospect in this draft, and the way he develops plays reminds me of a young Sam Reinhart. He is not afraid to go to the net, and he is always looking to make the right pass, however, he is not scared to shoot the puck if afforded the right opportunity. This mindset he has developed over this past season has seen him grow excellently, and his point production reflected it as he put up 32 goals and 98 points in 66 games. As one of the leading point scorers in the OHL (finishing 8th overall), he was consistently producing most of those on the power play, which is an area that the Sabres could use help with desperately.
O’Brien Fits Nearly All the Sabres’ Needs
The Sabres desperately need help in a number of areas, but what they really need is character. O’Brien presents as the kind of player with a “never say die” mentality, and he plays with a tenacity that is sorely lacking on the Buffalo roster. Would he be an immediate candidate to make the team? No, but he would be the perfect kind of prospect to bring up in the system and build around, and have other prospects and young players be around as they build the right culture. If O’Brien makes the jump sooner rather than later, it would be largely due to his own efforts, and due to any major improvements to his weight, speed capacity, and his faceoff abilities. With the Sabres lacking in the faceoff dot, he would not likely be a candidate to be taking draws in his current state, as he is below the 50% marker for his career.
Beyond that, O’Brien has another huge benefit to him that should be appealing: youth. He is one of the youngest players in this draft since he is still 17 (though he will be 18 by the time the draft comes around), so the Sabres can be extremely patient with him. They already have this luxury due to having an abundance of top center prospects, but they really do not have any rush on their hands with a player like him due to his work ethic. He will develop well at his own pace, and they will get an amazing player.
O’Brien Would Be the Perfect Fit
The Sabres already have their captain set for a while in Rasmus Dahlin, but if a future prospect ever screamed out “captain material,” it would be this kid. He would make a stellar 1-2 punch down the middle of the ice in the future with fellow prospect Konsta Helenius, and with how good of a playmaker he is, it really makes me consider how lethal of a pair he could be with someone like Jiri Kulich. Combining the vision and passing abilities of O’Brien and the raw shooting talents of Kulich is a scary thought, but a very fun one if you are a Sabres fan.
On top of all of that, O’Brien would be the perfect fit for the Sabres’ power play when he eventually makes the team. As a right-handed shooter on a predominantly left-handed shooting team, he would have an easy slot on the second unit as the main distributor, and he would be the perfect man for the job. Between his decision-making abilities on when to pass and when to rip the puck, the power play would improve just by having the kid be there. Keeping all that in mind, when the Sabres make their pick at the draft later this month, Jake O’Brien would be one of the best choices for their team, hands down.
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