Sabres pick Ilia Morozov in first round after USHL path

Buffalo used the 20th pick in the 2026 NHL Draft on Ilia Morozov, a selection that fit the modern USHL-to-college-to-NHL blueprint as cleanly as any first-rounder in this class. The Sabres got a 6-foot-3, 205-pound left-shot forward who entered last season as the youngest player in NCAA Division I hockey and still produced 20 points in 36 games for Miami University, finishing with eight goals and 12 assists.

That scoring line was enough to put Morozov on first-round boards, but Buffalo was buying more than production. NHL Central Scouting ranked him 10th among North American skaters, while the scouting profile attached to his name pointed to pace, precision, strong edges, quick hands, a deceptive release and a mature defensive conscience. Craig Button’s comparison to Carolina captain Jordan Staal told the rest of the story: Buffalo was not just drafting a scorer, it was drafting a center who can tilt all three zones.

Morozov’s rise makes the USHL pathway look even more valuable. Born in Moscow, he moved to the United States at 14 to chase an NHL future, then sharpened that game with the Tri-City Storm before taking off at Miami in Oxford, Ohio. Tri-City listed him as the youngest player on its opening-night roster in 2024-25, and he answered with 22 points in 59 games as a 16-year-old, a five-game point streak in November 2024 and his first multi-goal game on Jan. 17, 2025.

The development curve did not flatten there. NHL Central Scouting had Morozov up to No. 8 among North American skaters in its January 2026 midterm rankings, a jump that matched the way he kept stacking evidence against older competition. The USHL said 67 league players appeared in that midterm list ahead of the draft, and Morozov was among the USHL alumni invited to the 2026 NHL Scouting Combine, another sign that the league is still a serious launchpad for elite draft stock.

Miami’s own description of Morozov as a two-way center with skill, size, skating and compete lined up with the rest of his profile. NHL.com also reported that he entered Miami at 16 to study finance after leaving Russia, graduating high school in two years while training in MMA, a detail that only sharpens the picture of how aggressive his development path has been. Buffalo did not draft a finished product at KeyBank Center. It drafted time, upside and a player whose USHL roots already translated into NCAA impact.