Sabres picks balance defense, forwards

BUFFALO — The second day of the NHL Draft is moving along at breakneck speed with teams already in their seventh rounds of picks.

The Sabres selected Swedish center Rasmus Asplund with their second-round pick, which they had traded for earlier in the day with the Florida Panthers. The 176-pound 5-foot, 10-inch player was selected 33rd overall.

Sticking with offense, the Sabres selected Canadian right winger Cliff Pu with their first of two third-round picks — the 69th overall pick. The 6-foot, 2-inch player comes from the Ontario Hockey League. Then with their 86th pick, the Sabres went to the defense with Boston College’s Casey Fitzgerald. The American-born player is 5-foot, 10-inches tall and 186 pounds.

In the fourth round, the Sabres went back to the offensive side of things with Brett Murray, a left-winger from Canada. He’s 6-foot, 3-inches tall and 189 pounds. He was selected 99th overall.

Round five saw the Sabres take defensemen on consecutive picks — the 129th and 130th. First was Philip Nyberg, a 6-foot, 3-inch, 189-pound Swedish-born player. Then the Sabres selected Vojtech Budik of Czechoslovakia. He’s 6-foot, 1-inch tall and 202 pounds.

Brandon Hagel was Buffalo’s sixth-round pick. The 6-foot tall, 160-pound left winger hails from Canada.

Buffalo again had back-to-back picks in the seventh round, taking Austin Osmanski, an American-born defensemen, who played in the OHL last year. He’s 6-foot, 3-inches and 196 pounds, as well as Russian-born Vasily Glotov, a 5-foot, 11-inch center weighing in at 158 pounds.