Buffalo Sabres select Daxon Rudolph with fourth overall pick in 2026 NHL Draft
WKBW • • sports
Key Points:
- The Buffalo Sabres selected defenseman Daxon Rudolph with the fourth overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft; Rudolph is an 18-year-old from Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.
- Rudolph played his final WHL season with the Prince Albert Raiders, scoring 28 goals and 50 assists for 78 points in 68 games, ranking third among WHL defensemen.
- He led all WHL defensemen in the playoffs with 27 points and earned a gold medal at the 2025 Under-18 World Championship and a bronze at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
- Rudolph, a 6-foot-2 right-shot defender, was ranked fifth among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting and was the first defenseman selected in the draft; he will start his college career at the University of Denver this fall.
- Later in the draft, the Sabres picked 17-year-old forward Ilia Morozov with the 20th overall pick; Morozov scored 20 points in 36 games as a freshman at Miami University (Ohio).
