Sabres take five defensemen, one center in 2018 NHL Draft

There was one common theme throughout the 2018 NHL Draft weekend for the Buffalo Sabres and that was "defense".

The Sabres wound up drafting five defensemen between Friday and Saturday along with a center. They were originally supposed to have seven draft picks but traded their 6th rounder to Toronto for a 2019 6th round pick.

The Sabres took Rasmus Dahlin with the first overall pick Friday night. You can read more about him and the pick here.

On Saturday, the Sabres drafted the following:

• Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson in the 2nd round: Samuelsson spent last season with the USA Hockey NTDP where he finished with 31 points in 58 games. He's an incoming freshman at Western Michigan University where his older brother plays. 
• Center Matej Pekar in the 4th round: Pekar was last season's USHL Rookie of the year after ending the season with 54 points while playing for the Muskegon Lumberjacks. 
• Defenseman Linus Lindstrand Cronholm in the 4th round: Cronholm spent the majority of last season playing for Malmo's U20 team in Sweden where he finished with six assists.
• Defenseman Miska Kukkonen in the 5th round: Kukkonen recorded 12 points in 36 games over two seasons with Ilves of Finland's junior league.
• Defenseman William Worge Kreu in the 7th round: Kreu spent the majority of last season playing for Linkoping's U20 team in Sweden where he registered 14 points. 

Sabres fans won't have to wait long to see Dahlin on the ice. The team's development camp begins on Wednesday, June 27th at the Harborcenter.