Despite trading away some of their prospect depth, the Sabres still stand strong in ESPN's annual prospect rankings.
For the past few season, the Buffalo Sabres have led the NHL in very few on-ice statistics. But one place they've excelled is trading away established players for draft picks, and then turning those draft picks into highly touted prospects. It's been all about the future in the recent past, and now those efforts are starting to come to fruition.
The Sabres ranked third overall in Corey Pronman's annual ranking of farm systems around the NHL for ESPN.