Sharpen Up: June 22, 2017

The NHL Expansion Draft is behind us, and the Vegas Golden Knights selected William Carrier from the Sabres.
In addition, the Sabres also sent a sixth-round pick in this weekend's Draft to Vegas to sway the Golden Knights from selecting another one of their other unprotected players.
Carrier, a second-round pick by St. Louis in 2013 who was traded to Buffalo as a part of the deal that sent Ryan Miller to the Blues, made his NHL debut for the Sabres last season. He went on to score eight points (5+3) in 41 games in Buffalo.

Among the other notable selection made by Vegas were goalies Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh) and Calvin Pickard (Colorado), forwards Jonathan Marchessault (Florida) and James Neal (Nashville), and defensemen Marc Methot (Ottawa) and Brayden McNabb (Los Angeles).
You can find the entire list of transactions made by Vegas here.
Now, it's time for the rest of the clubs to deal. The League's trade freeze has ended as of 8 a.m. EST, freeing teams to make moves ahead of the start of the Draft on Friday.

Sabres home opener has been announced

For the second straight season, Buffalo's first opponent will be the Montreal Canadiens. The Sabres open the 2017-18 season against Montreal at KeyBank Center on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.
Stay tuned for the release of the full schedule at 3 p.m. this afternoon on NHL Network.

Drafts over Drafts - Part 2

The full feature with Sabres alumni Danny Gare and Marty Biron is now available. Lauren Hall sits down with the guys to discuss to their respective drafts in Part One, and then quizzes them on pop culture from their eras in Part Two. Check them out below.

And here's a bonus clip with a story from Marty:

Prospect Avenue: The Goalies

In the final installment of this year's Prospect Avenue series, Brian Duff and Kris Baker discussed the goaltenders who are available this weekend. Watch it below:

You can read more about Michael DiPietro, who discussed his family and his run to the Memorial Cup this past season, here.

Baker's countdown concludes

When Nico Hischier checked in at No. 2 on Kris Baker's top 31 list on Tuesday, you probably guessed who'd be No. 1. Here's a bit of what Baker had to say about Nolan Patrick, who he thinks is the top prospect available for the 2017 NHL Draft.
With high-end skill and a very detail oriented game, Nolan Patrick is a do-it-all player who, when healthy, consistently excels with a mature 200-foot style in the mold of longtime NHLer, and 2003 second-overall pick, Eric Staal.
Like Staal, Patrick plays a power style using his body to win battles and leveraging his long reach to shield the puck. He has excellent speed in open ice with an ability to let shots fly accurately from all angles. Patrick mixes in a little finesse as well with a soft-handed passing game.
You can read his full profile of Patrick here.