It’s rare to find a 17-year-old college hockey player who already looks built for the next level, but Ilia Morozov has been that kind of prospect from the start. Buffalo made the Russian center the No. 20 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, and the Sabres clearly liked what they saw during his freshman season at Miami (Ohio).
Morozov checked in at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, a frame that stood out even against older NCAA competition. He backed it up, too, posting 20 points in 36 games for the RedHawks with eight goals and 12 assists. For a player in his first college season, that was enough to cement him as one of the draft’s notable names.
Jarmo Kekalainen didn’t hide his excitement in the latest episode of Buffalo Sabres: Embedded, where he was shown discussing Morozov with Terry Pegula and Jerry Forton.
"The Russian kid that came over here, didn't speak English. Now he's an A student," Kekalainen said.
"He's built like a Greek God and work ethic through the roof. It's all pretty good.
Every category he's like a beast."
Forton added: "Really good tester, too. Good athlete."
That kind of praise fits the direction Buffalo has been pushing. The Sabres have spent years trying to reshape the roster, and the latest rebuild - the one tied to Kevyn Adams’ time in charge - has put a premium on compete level. Kekalainen appears ready to keep leaning into that identity.
Buffalo already looked harder to play against last season, and a big part of that came from players like Zach Benson and Josh Doan, who bring nonstop pressure on the forecheck and backcheck. Morozov fits that same profile. A lot of his production at Miami came from simply refusing to lose puck battles and outworking opponents for loose pucks.
He put that mindset into words at the 2026 NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo.
"I believe that life is fair," he told reporters at the 2026 NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo. "If you put (in) honest work, if you do 100% every time … you'll get the result.
That's my experience. If I wasn't doing something right, it was going the wrong way.
If I'm doing right, it's going the right way. So that's, personally, just my experience.
And I believe I did lots of work to be here."
For now, Morozov is staying put in college. He’ll return to Miami for at least one more season before making the jump to pro hockey, with the Rochester Americans likely waiting on the other side. The long-term projection points to a middle-six NHL center, but his immediate goal is simpler: leave the RedHawks program "even better than it used to be."
"I think it's a great opportunity, because this is going to be my second year," Morozov told the team's official website. "...
I already have that experience, and I know what college hockey looks like. I know what I have to be ready for...and I think our team is going to be really good.
I'm excited for that as well: To win some big games, some tournaments, and just enjoy hockey."
He should also be in line for a bigger two-way role this season. If things go as planned, Morozov could sign his entry-level deal with Buffalo after the NCAA season and maybe even get a few games with Rochester before the end of the 2026-27 campaign.
Miami opens Oct. 2 with a two-game road series at Northern Michigan. The RedHawks play at the Goggin Ice Center in Oxford, Ohio, about a seven-hour drive from Buffalo, and Sabres fans looking for a trip should mark Feb. 12 and Feb. 13 on the calendar.
That’s when the University of Denver, home to Buffalo’s other first-round pick, No. 4 overall selection Daxon Rudolph, visits Ohio to face Morozov and the RedHawks.
For the Sabres, the hope is simple: Morozov and Rudolph keep developing, and one day they’re both wearing Blue and Gold for a long time.
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