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As the draft gets closer, players begin to have a good sense of which teams are picking where and when. Any feelings Rudolph had about the NHL Draft over the last few weeks, however, were shattered on the first night when Buffalo got the Top 5 pick and was seeking the final forward, which was Rudolph.
Rudolph is now part of a blueline that is not only one of the strengths of the Sabres‘ roster but also has some premium prospects waiting in the wings, including Radim Mrtka. As for Rudolph, he isn’t in a hurry to get to the NHL and will be heading to the University of Denver this season.
Marco D’Amico of RG.org recently interviewed Rudolph to talk about many different subjects. One of those subjects was what Rudolph is currently doing in order to get better as a player and, in hopes, one day, getting a chance to play for the Buffalo Sabres.
“Just defending the rush, a little bit of habits, zone exits and blue line exits from the offensive zone, and kind of starting my defence from there,” Rudolph explained. “So I’m in my own zone less.”
Rudolph showed flashes of potential last season with the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL, notching 78 points in 68 regular-season games and chipping in 27 points in 19 playoff games.
Rudolph is likely to be playing significant minutes for the University of Denver once again as the team is among the top programs in the NCAA.
Denver has 20 Frozen Four appearances (1 vacated) in the history of their program, which have come in four of the past five seasons. They won the national championship in three of those seasons, including this past year.
It will be interesting to see how Rudolph handles this sort of pressure game for the Sabres. Buffalo brought an end to their playoff drought last season, so the Sabres are expected to be playing a lot of playoff hockey in the future.
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