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POWER UP: Buffalo Sabres officially sign D Owen Power

Ink has been put to paper.

Michael W.

The bad news is that the Buffalo Sabres have officially been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoffs contention for the 11th straight season. But the good news is that they have visions of ending that streak of futility soon.

They've officially inked 2021 1st overall draft selection Owen Power to a 3-year entry level contract. And Buffalo's Twitter account commemorated the occasion with a pretty neat graphic. 

The defenseman from the University of Michigan Wolverines elected to return to Ann Arbor for another year of collegiate hockey rather than make the jump to the NHL, and he recorded 32 points in 33 games (three goals, 29 assists). Additionally, his .97 points per game were good for third among all NCAA defensemen, while his plus-27 rating was tied for 14th overall in the country. 

"Going back another year, I can get a lot of development, being able to dominate games at the college level," Power told the Sabres during his pre-Draft interview. "And then how good the team's going to be next year, we're going to have a really good chance at winning a national title."

"Owen's extremely self-aware of his game, what he does well, what he wants to work on," said Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said in January. "Whenever I go watch him play and I talk to him after a game, he immediately gives a breakdown of his games: 'I liked what I did here, I think I need to do better there.' 

"It's impressive at a young age to see that. And I think part of his mindset of going back for this year was to grow and he's attacked the season. This player to me sums up the type of people we want on the Buffalo Sabres and in our locker room, people that get up every day and want to be better."

Source: NHL.com