By Budd Bailey
Eight players changed hands when the Sabres and Winnipeg Jets got together in 2015 for a major trade. One of them was Jason Kasdorf, who might have been the most anonymous of the bunch. Kasdorf didn’t make much of an impact in the Buffalo organization, but years later he is still in the hockey business in a very unusual job.
His story begins when the Winnipeg native played for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League in 2011-12. Therefore, he must have been pleased when the Jets drafted him in the sixth round of the 2011 Entry Draft (No. 157 overall). The timing was excellent, as the team had just moved there from Atlanta that spring.
Rather than join Winnipeg immediately, he headed to play college hockey at R.P.I. outside of Albany. Kasdoft had a terrific freshman year in 2012-13, putting up a 14-5-2 record and a 1.62 goals-against average in 23 games. He was on the ECAC’s Rookie of the Year. Jason only played two games in 22013-14, but bounced back to become the team’s No. 1 goalie again in 2014-15.
During that season, his playing rights were moved to the Sabres’ organization with Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian in a trade for Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux and a first-round draft pick. Naturally, Kasdorf stayed put and remained at RPI in 2015-16. As a senior he posted a 2.30 GAA. When that season was over, the Sabres opted to give him a look. He signed an entry level contract on March 14, 2016, and brought him to Buffalo. “I was injured a little bit leading up to my debut,” Kasdorf said. “Once I got back on the ice, there were only a couple of games left in the season. One day at practice a coach told me, ‘You’re in.’”
Jason was the starter in the Sabres’ last home game of the season on April 8, and about 17 family members and friends made the trip to Buffalo to see him wear No. 33. Kasdorf allowed four goals on 30 shots in a 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. “It’s something you dream of as a kid, since I was six” he said in a podcast. “Almost 20 years later … I fulfilled that dream.
“Everything looks a little brighter, a little crisper,” he added about the NHL. “You’re looking at the opposing team, and you realize it’s the highest level of hockey in the world."
The goalie signed with the Sabres in the summer of 2016, but soon headed to other parts of New York State for the 2016-17 hockey season. He spent most of the year with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL, suffering through a 5-20-0 season with a 3.96 GAA. Jason was called up to Rochester for three games that season, but he struggled with an 0-3 record, 5.75 GAA and an .828 save percentage.
Jason was better a year later. He spent almost all of the season with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, going 13-11-1 with a 3.04 GAA. That was it for North American hockey, as the Sabres released him. He received a look from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) in training camp but was released. Kasdorf crossed the ocean and played a couple of games with the Lausitzer Foxes in a German league.
The story ends where it began in Winnipeg, as he was signed to a tryout contract with the Manitoba Moose on March 1, 2020, as goalie insurance. Kasdorf never played for that team. He’s kept some sticks, masks and sweaters from his pro hockey days.
But you never know when he might be able to add to his statistical ledger. Jason took a job as the Jets’ emergency backup goaltender, which he still holds, and there’s always a chance lightning might strike again.
(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)
Comentários