Buffalo Sabres Players Year In Review: Zach Bogosian

Back a few months ago, General Manager Tim Murray shook the Buffalo Sabres roster up by trading away some established roster players, as well as a little bit of future. The trade that sent and inconsistent Tyler Myers, a demotivated Drew Stafford, some youth in Brenden Lemieux and Joel Armia, and a first round pick this year in exchange for an injured Evander Kane, Jason Kasdorf, and Zach Bogosian.

Related – Year in Review: Marcus Foligno

Everyone in Buffalo was weighing the pros and cons of the trade, but it didn’t take more than one game for the fans to come around. In his first game wearing a Buffalo Sabres uniform, the man who impressed everyone was defenseman Zach Bogosian. On his first shift on the ice, he threw a huge hit and continued all game doing so. It got the attention of every fan and made Tim Murray look like a thief for stealing this kind of player from the Jets.

Bogosian is a former first round selection (taken at 3rd overall in 2008. Yes, thats the draft that saw Steven Stamkos go at #1) and he was struggling a bit with he Jets. He had a lot of pressure on him to be a top level defender too soon. It seems like all it took for him to come around was a change of scenery.

While Bogosian had his short stint with Buffalo, playing only 21 games, he was a great contributor to the offense and defense equally. He posted 7 assists and no goals with the Sabres (but with how many chances he had, he should have scored about 5 at least) and he was a hitting machine. The hits were both heavy and often, and it was a style of defending sorely missed on the Sabres blue line. It was the style of play that was expected by Tyler Myers.

He finished the year overall with a total of 3 goals and 17 assists for 20 points in 62 games split between the Sabres and Jets.

Being handed the reigns as the top defender on the team, Bogosian ran with it and was an example for the rest of the team. He was parked up with the likes of Andre Benoit, and it worked out very well. Benoit had been struggling all year to find his game, but it seemed like he had some good chemistry with Bogosian.

With the ability to make a struggling player better, it is reassuring to have him on the team. Bogosian stands 6’3 and weighs in at 224lbs. With proportions like that, he is sure to be a continued intimidating force.

The question now is where he fits into the plans for Buffalo moving forwards. He is locked up in his contract for another 5 years, and that means he’ll need to mesh with one of the younger defender brought in. At the ripe age of 24, he is entering the prime years of his career.

Personally, I would love to see Bogosian play a good portion of the next year or two with Nikita Zadorov. The idea of having two defenders that average a height of 6’4 and weight in at 224 each is both enormous and scary. With both players having bombs from the point and having the ability to crush incoming offenses with big hits, the Sabres would be insane to not let Bogosian take Zadorov under his wing.

That’s my take. What do you all think?

Next: Could Phil Kessel Be Headed to Buffalo?

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