BUFFALO, N.Y. – It is mid-afternoon before a Buffalo Sabres game and the hosts on WGR 550 are engaged in an earnest discussion about which visiting players most deserve to be booed at KeyBank Center.
Brad Marchand? Unanimous approval. Auston Matthews? Hmmm, maybe. Sidney Crosby? Definitely.
They literally go team-by-team through the entire NHL before landing on the man they believe should be the target of the most intense hate from Sabres fans: Jimmy Vesey.
Vesey: A soft-spoken, Harvard-educated, 23-year-old who has played all of 25 career games for the New York Rangers. Vesey: A talented winger whose rights were acquired by Buffalo in a June trade even though it was widely believed he was going to use his right to become a free agent in August.
“At the end of the day I made one decision,” Vesey said Thursday. “It might have pissed some people off, I guess, but that was never my intention.”
There is a touch of irony that this is the same young man who inspired a hash tag that flooded social media during the summer months: #VeseyWatch.
It was a product of his situation rather than any personal desire to whip fans into a frenzy in several NHL markets.
By choosing to finish his college education instead of signing with Nashville – the team that drafted him 66th overall in 2012, and desperately wanted him to come aboard for the 2015 playoffs – Vesey had the rare opportunity to choose where his NHL career would begin.
And he took it.
“I didn’t even know that existed until a few years ago, right?” said teammate Rick Nash, a former first overall draft pick. “I thought you just get drafted and you go wherever you go, but obviously there’s loopholes.”
Vesey attended development camps with the Predators over the years and got to know their staff well. They were obviously disappointed when he refused their attempts to sign him, but at least recuperated a third-round draft pick by trading his rights to the Sabres.
It was a calculated gamble by Sabres GM Tim Murray, who had four third-round picks at his disposal in the 2016 draft. It gave him extra time to sell Vesey and his family on the merits of Buffalo, but ultimately left him with nothing when the player chose free agency instead.
Many in Boston believed the hometown kid was a slam dunk. Vesey was also strongly connected to the Maple Leafs, who employ his father Jim as a scout and drafted his brother Nolan in 2014. The Blackhawks showed serious interest; several others did as well.
When he officially hit the open market on Aug. 15 – a notoriously quiet time in the hockey news cycle – it was a major story. That put a bit of target on his back.
“It’s kind of a Catch-22,” said Nash. “I don’t think he wanted any of the pressure, but obviously by doing the big decision it puts a lot of pressure on him. When you get to know him personally, he’s a humble kid and he’s a kid that wants to be out of the spotlight, not in it.”
Other than his first visit to TD Garden in November and Thursday’s game in Buffalo – where he was soundly booed – he’s largely flown below the radar. The quiet life will be interrupted again on Dec. 17 when the Rangers play at Nashville.
If we’ve learned anything so far, it’s that the hype was warranted. He’s scored eight goals and 15 points already and he’s done it while playing on a team-friendly entry-level contract.
“We didn’t really know what to expect,” said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. “Management and our scouts knew that there was definitely a lot of upside there, but would he be able to contribute? Would he be able to play at this level?
“We soon found out that the answer was positive.”
“I’m not surprised,” said Sabres coach Dan Bylsma, who coached Vesey with Team USA at the 2015 IIHF World Hockey Championship.
“You watch tape on him and he’s been an opportunistic guy,” he said. “He’s been in and around the net, he’s followed up plays. His goal last game (against Carolina) is a good indicator of how he’s had success. It was a power-play goal, but it’s a misdirect play and he’s hunting around the crease, hunting in the offensive zone. That’s kind of Jimmy’s MO as a player.”
Like most rookies, Vesey is still finding his way.
This is the first time he’s ever lived outside of the Boston area and it’s the first time he’s had the opportunity to dedicate himself entirely to hockey. He earned a degree in government from Harvard and has found the pro life to be quite a bit different than his experience in college.
But when he reflects on the “long process” that saw two NHL teams own his rights before he signed with a third one, there are no regrets.
“I was just really comfortable with the (Rangers) people that I met with,” said Vesey. “They seemed to really want me as part of their team. I couldn’t be happier with my decision right now.”
Everyone else will just have to learn to deal with it.
