Every general manager from San Jose picking at No. 4 to Arizona taking a second pick at No. 12 — excluding Philadelphia taking Matvei Michkov at No. 7 — will rue the day it passed on Benson. In just a few short days, you could tell he is already the most skilled prospect in the Sabres’ pool following the graduation of Owen Power, Jack Quinn and Devon Levi.

In each drill he showed off his speed, puck skills and how quick his decision making is, but plenty of players are capable of excelling in practice. It was in the 3-on-3 tournament where he shined brightest. His point totals in juniors this past year — he scored 36 goals and 62 assists for 98 points in 60 games — showed he certainly knows how to play with the puck, but fans who aren’t familiar with prospects prior to the draft were treated to how hard Benson works to get the puck back on his stick.

One particular rush that stood out during the championship game of the 3-on-3 tournament unfolded as follows: Benson carried the puck into the zone entering the left wing laterally and then cut across the slot before letting off a dangerous backhander on the right hashmark.

The tricky shot was blockered away, but Benson didn’t peel off there. After following his shot to the net, Benson chased around from behind the goal line and back-checked the defender, who collected the rebound. While Benson’s linemates backed off, he chased down the puck carrier and did a textbook stick lift from behind to allow himself to quickly steal the puck and pivot back into the zone with speed for another dangerous rush into the low slot.

Buffalo defensive prospect Maxim Strbak advances the puck in a drill on Monday at the LECOM Harborcenter. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

Benson’s team ended up winning the 3-on-3 tournament on Thursday morning, but it was not just him doing all the work. Standing out were late-round prospects Viktor Neuchev (No. 74 pick, 2022), Viljami Marjala (No. 159 pick, 2021) and Nikita Novikov (No. 188 pick, 2021).

Neuchev is another Russian winger and, like Alexander Kisakov last year, will make his move from the KHL to Rochester in the American Hockey League this year. However, unlike Kisakov, there is much more excitement for the Neuchev, and this week he showed why with his smooth skating and his ability to turn on a dime and zoom away from forecheckers. He is a dual threat with a quick release and decent vision coupled with quality passing ability.

Marjala is a 6-foot Finnish left-winger, and after a dominant season in the Finnish junior leagues and a nice showcase in the men’s league will look to build off of that. Despite not being a massive player, Marjala had no problem going to the dirty areas, like the front of the net where he benefitted, slamming home a couple of goals in the tournament. He is still far away from ever taking an NHL spot, but the Finn had a promising week.

Novikov is competing with Ryan Johnson (No. 31 pick, 2019) as the Sabres’ top defensive prospect, and the 6-foot-4 left-shot Russian showed why. Novikov is not expected to be an offensive defenseman at the NHL level, but he displayed promising puck skills against his peers. At only 19 years old, Novikov played the entire season with the men’s club in the KHL. Novikov certainly is ready for the competition in the AHL. It is just about how quickly the development staff can get him acclimated to the North American style of game.

Benson and company worked together to win the 3-on-3 tournament on Thursday, but Buffalo’s full crop of prospects was not even there because of deep playoff runs in the QMJHL and AHL. Benson would have still stood out, but fans that just watched this year’s camp can’t forget about the likes of Matthew Savoie (No. 9, 2022), Jiri Kulich (No. 28, 2022), Noah Ostlund (No. 16, 2022) and Olivier Nadeau (No. 97, 2021).

Savoie started the year still nursing an injury, but finished strong as he helped lead the Winnipeg Ice to the WHL Finals against the Seattle Thunderbirds. A teammate of Benson, Savoie finished tied for second in WHL playoff scoring with 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points in 19 games while Benson scored 7 goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 15 games. With the injury of Jack Quinn, Savoie should get the first look from management to fill those shoes because he is ineligible to play in the AHL yet.

Kulich quickly became a fan favorite with his highlights, making waves on Twitter as he effortlessly blasted shots past goaltenders in the AHL this year, finishing with 24 goals and 22 assists for 46 points in 62 games at just 18. He kept it rolling in the playoffs, scoring 7 goals and 4 assists for 11 points in 12 games on the way to a conference finals berth. Kulich is looking to be one of the steals in the 2022 first round, but still needs to add more elements to his game with another year in the AHL, to prevent becoming just a power-play specialist in the NHL.

Ostlund played a full season in the second division of the Swedish professional hockey league, Allsvenskan, and he scored 8 goals and 18 assists for 26 points in 37 games. The short Swedish center was absent from camp and is gearing up for his first season in the top flight of Swedish pro hockey with Vaxjo Lakers HC.

Nadeau is a 6-foot-2 power forward and helped the Gatineau Olympiques win the QMJHL, scoring 22 goals and 24 assists in 34 regular-season games, then finishing with 7 goals and 8 assists in 13 playoff games. Nadeau will be another one to watch develop with Rochester where he will need to add more elements to his game and prepare for the physicality of a men’s league.

After Benson in this year’s draft was Swedish forward Anton Wahlberg at No. 39, Slovakian right-handed defender Maxim Strbak at No. 45, Clarence Center native right-handed defenseman Gavin McCarthy at No. 86, Canadian winger Ethan Miedema at No. 109, Canadian goalie Scott Ratzlaff at No. 141, American left-shot defender Sean Keohane at No. 173 and German right-shot defender Norwin Panocha at No. 205.

With how far along Buffalo is in its rebuild, the only two to worry about after Benson are the 6-foot-3 Wahlberg and 6-foot-2 Strbak. It is confirmed that general manager Kevyn Adams was trying to trade back into the first round to select Wahlberg as early as pick No. 20, but he fell to Buffalo in the second round. Wahlberg is a bit of a project, but there is no doubt he has an attractive NHL frame for the playoffs and his skills are refined like most high-end Swedish prospects.

Strbak is the new prize of the answer to the defensive prospect pool questions and he looked really good in his first camp with the Blue and Gold. Strbak is above average in every skill category for a defenseman, but the question is his consistency with decision making. There are times, like at the World Juniors, Strbak looks like an elite player who is capable of playing on a top pair in the NHL, but then you look at his USHL numbers and wonder how he struggled to get his name on the stat sheet. In Buffalo’s case, the points from him will not matter unless something happens to Dahlin and Power, but it was a contributing factor to him being a second-round pick.