By Russ Cohen
The Buffalo Sabres drafted center Melvin Novotny in the 7th round of the 2025 NHL Draft. After a summer of training, I was curious to see how he looked.
He is a winger, but he played top-line center yesterday with Tynan Lawrence out for Muskegon. Teams often experiment at the Fall Classic, and that’s what was happening here.
His skating needs some work. Just with mechanics. He gets from point A to point B just fine.
On the power play, I liked him in the bumper spot. He uses all of his 6’1″ frame. He was out there laying hits and trying to make plays, and he did grab an assist in his first game this season.
He has good defensive awareness and knows how to strip the puck and turn it into offense. He was good at draws as well.
Let’s see how he develops. I think he has potential third-line ability further down the road. Playing in the J20 in Sweden was good for him, and he will adjust to the USHL.
