Jake Richard’s first weeks in pro hockey have already given the Sabres a little something to watch.
The 22-year-old forward, a Buffalo sixth-round pick in 2022, has opened his Rochester Americans career with three goals and six points in 11 games entering Friday’s matchup with the Hartford Wolf Pack. For a player trying to carve out a path to the NHL, the early return has been encouraging - and it started with a goal that took a minute to sort out.
Richard scored in his AHL debut Oct. 2 at Blue Cross Arena, but even he wasn’t sure at first whether the puck should count for him or for Americans defenseman Gavin McCarthy, his close friend and fellow rookie. After teammates told him it was his, Richard checked the replay and saw the puck hit him while he was battling a Toronto Marlies defender for position in front of the net.
“Definitely not how you imagine your first goal,” Richard said after scoring in his AHL debut Oct. 2 in Blue Cross Arena.
It wasn’t pretty, but it fit the way Richard wants to play. At 6-foot-1 and 191 pounds, he’s already showing a willingness to work the dirty areas and make himself useful around the crease.
“I’m someone that likes to go to the net and find pucks in that area,” Richard told the Times Herald last week. “So they all count the same. So as long as they’re going in, that’s all that counts.”
The early signs have been promising beyond that first goal, too. Richard scored a power-play goal in his NHL preseason debut and added an assist in his second appearance, giving him a quick jolt of confidence as he moved into his first pro season.
For Rochester coach Mike Leone, the scoring is only part of the picture. He pointed to the work that doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet.
“He can make plays, but I think Richie’s biggest thing is to work on the intangibles of the games of winning pucks, getting in on the forecheck,” Leone said. “Those (are) things that when you’re in college and you’re playing 20 to 23 minutes a night, you’re asked to score. In our league, I think he can get points.”
Leone said Richard’s next step is proving he can handle the details that matter at the pro level.
“Is he good on the wall?” he said.
“Can he win battles? Is he willing to get into the battle, like, is he getting to the net front?”
He added that Richard has “really good tools.”
“He has really good hockey sense,” he said. “I think everyone knows he’s got to work on his first three strides.”
Assistant coach Scott Moser echoed that view, saying Richard has been effective in tight spaces and along the boards. When he gets into trouble, Moser said, he knows how to move the puck.
Moser also said Richard has “been getting to the net a lot.”
“He understands this is where I got to go to get rewarded, and he’s been there,” he said. “There’s been a lot of clips where we don’t score, but the goalie didn’t see anything because Richie was in the paint and he was in the right spot.”
Richard, for his part, sounds aware of exactly what he needs to keep doing. The rookie said the key is keeping things simple and leaning into the details.
“You don’t need to be doing anything fancy or out of the ordinary to produce or to get the results you want,” he said. “It’s the little things that work.”
The Sabres had Thursday off and host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday at KeyBank Center.
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