Buffalo Sabres Top 25 Under 25, #19: Marcus Davidsson

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Davidsson comes in at #19 after another underwhelming season in Sweden

The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. It was a combination of seven staff writers and over 250 fans that ranked players under the age of 25 as of July 15th, 2020. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production to rank each player. This is our 2020 pre-draft rankings.

Marcus Davidsson is one of the more interesting Buffalo Sabres prospects. His development path has been a roller coaster ride over the last few years. His D+1 season was his best performing year with Djurgardens in the SHL. That season he registered 21 points in 39 games as a 19-year-old playing against men in the Swedish pro league.

However, every year after that, his production has declined. After a down year in 2018-19 and limited ice time with Djurgardens, he moved over to play for Vaxjo this past season. I had high hopes for him with more opportunity and playing under arguably the best coach in the SHL in Sam Hallam.

Unfortunately, his production did end up where he would have liked this past season. He scored seven goals and 13 points in 31 games. It is important to note that he battled with a concussion issue this season that likely had an impact in his on-ice performance With one year remaining on his contract in the SHL, he’ll play next season in Vaxjo.

The 21-year-old forward remains unsigned and the Sabres need to make a decision on him. I wonder if he’s a player they’d consider floating out in trade scenarios this offseason. They only retain his rights for one more year and if the new staff doesn’t have long-term plans for him they could look to maximize on his value now.

His ceiling looks to be a bottom-six forward and the Sabres do have a handful of those types of forwards in their prospect cupboard.

Data via Rank King