Zach Bogosian, I get it

Remember back in 2015 when, of all teams, the Buffalo Sabres acquired Evander Kane? Kane was thought to be a nuisance in Winnipeg, clashing with coaches and teammates, but still quite talented. He was delivered to Buffalo, where the Sabres Sabred, and he then was passed along to the Sharks where he currently lives happily in the Pacific’s cellar.

In fact, everyone other NHLer involved in that trade has moved on, getting out of Buffalo or Winnipeg, depending on their circumstances. Tyler Myers is in Vancouver, Drew Stafford has skipped to Boston and then New Jersey. Joel Armia went to Montreal, while Jason Kasdorf was most recently seen in Germany

But Bogosian carried on in Buffalo, the last man standing with his new team after the trade that is now almost 5 years on. This week, he was sent to Rochester after clearing waivers, and refused his assignment, and was suspended by the Sabres. Funny that after all these years, it’s Bogosian that ran afoul of management, isn’t it?

Here’s something interesting about Bogosian. Aside from a rehab stint with Chicago when he was in the Atlanta Thrasher organization, he has never played in the AHL He was the Thrashers’ youngest player, even younger than the notoriously youthful Ilya Kovalchuk. Since he was 18 years old, Bogosian has been an NHL player. Now, at 29, it must be a hard pill to swallow to be told you aren’t good enough, and that it is time to be sent down.

Imagine you are in a growing family, who suddenly has to put more people at the kids table, which is done by age. Suddenly, the cut off moved from 18 to 23 thanks to new spouses of aunts and uncles, and suddenly you get bumped from the main table to the kids table for the first time. The irony is, the more upset you get about the indignity of it all, the more the rest of the family that relegated you to cousin Timmy’s table feels like they made the right decision.

Even if Bogosian is justified in being slighted by the Sabres maneuvering, he makes it look like Buffalo made the right decision in getting him off the NHL roster the more noise he makes about it.