The future of the Buffalo Sabres is shaping up to be bright. With many young prospects such as Marcus Foligno and Cody Hodgson honing their game with the Rochester Americans and Mikhail Grigorenko proving he is more than ready to make the jump to the NHL. Now Sabres' fans can add the name Jake McCabe to the list of prospects to keep an eye on.
The Sabres drafted the American in the 2nd round of the 2012 draft, 44th overall, sliding in quietly behind Grigorenko and Girgensons. Many fans overlooked McCabe who is playing in the NCAA with the University of Wisconsin. Last year in his first season with Wisconsin, the defenceman racked up a solid 12 points in 26 games including 3 goals despite severing a tendon in his hand in October. This year as a sophomore he is looking to take on more of a leadership role and lead his team to a championship.
The 6 foot 1 defenceman originated out of the US national development program and has stuck close to the national team throughout his minor league career. He was a member of the U17 national team and has twice been a member of the U18 national team. In 2010 playing with the U18 national team McCabe put up 16 points and started to gain some attention.
Now adding to his resume McCabe will look to lead the American U20 team to a gold
medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships. If he succeeds in his mission it will be his 3rd consecutive gold medal while playing for the US national team. After a solid pre-tournament, team USA decided to name the long serving national team member the captain of this years squad. It was a bit of a puzzling move, choosing the young defenceman over J.T. Miller who was the early favourite. But the US team seems to have faith in the solid, two-way defenceman, enough faith to trust him to lead the Americans back to glory after a dismal 7th place finish in the tournament last year. When scouts and coaches try to describe the defenceman's style of play, often they say he's "wise beyond his years" and has brilliant hockey IQ. Which is likely what team USA saw and why they decided to give him the "C". He possess all the qualities needed to be a top notch leader and will be called upon to lead a team that is defensively focused.
McCabe is an exceptional skater, even as a defenceman he has the ability to kick it into another gear in addition to top speed, a quality needed to play in the NHL. His excellent skating skills help make other aspects of his game easier and he can prove to be a threat on the rush when he jumps up in the play. His only weakness would be his physical play. He's not much of a hitter and prefers to use his stick to check opponents, if he can up his physical play he can prove he is ready to play with the big boys.
The fact McCabe is coming from Wisconsin may not be a fluke. Over the last 4 years of the World Junior Championships, the last 3 team USA captains have come from Wisconsin. In addition to the 3 captains, 47 former Badgers were given the opportunity to suit up for the national team at the World Juniors. Now it's McCabe's time to shine and carry on the Badger torch. This year McCabe is 3rd on the team with scoring with 9 points in 16 points, now he'll need to bring that scoring touch over to the junior team.
Only time will tell if McCabe will be able to in fact lead team USA back to glory, or at least a medal. But as the underdogs of the tournament it will be no easy task, having to beat rivals Canada, the high flying Russians and the defending champions team Sweden. Anytime the young defenceman is looking for help leading the team he can call of fellow defencemen and alternate captains Seth Jones and Jacob Trouba.
With the majority of focus and leadership on the backend, team USA should be able to shutdown the opposition and make it a little easier on the forwards. With McCabe's latest captaincy Sabres fans may be witnessing the next young star.
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