Trevor Kuntar didn’t need much time to turn a rough night into a reminder of why the Buffalo Sabres keep him on the radar.
A game after Rochester coach Mike Leone told the Williamsville native he had to raise his standard, Kuntar answered with the kind of effort that has made him one of the Amerks’ most reliable forces. He hit, fought and scored Friday in Syracuse, helping Rochester beat the Crunch 3-2 in overtime.
The finish was the kind of play that fits Kuntar’s game. He flew down the left wing, beat a defender and drove the net before burying the puck after it slid to him in the slot. Leone said the 6-foot, 200-pound winger looked like a “beast” in how he powered the sequence.
“I thought he was from the drop of the puck arguably our best forward, and he got rewarded in overtime,” he said.
That response mattered because it came on the heels of a quieter performance in a 5-3 home loss to Utica last Wednesday. Leone said Kuntar had been challenged directly after that game, and the winger didn’t hide from it.
“We have a great relationship, and I really challenged him,” Leone told the Times Herald prior to Wednesday’s game against the Hershey Bears in Blue Cross Arena.
Kuntar said the message landed.
“I certainly took it personal,” he said of Leone’s challenge.
The Syracuse game showed the full range of what Kuntar brings. Early in the first period, he delivered an open-ice hit near the goal line that dropped Tomas Kralovic. When Michael Callahan came after him, Kuntar dropped the gloves with his former teammate from the Providence Bruins.
That edge has become part of his identity. Kuntar has built himself into a forward who plays with bite, and that style has only sharpened over time.
“It gets you emotionally invested into the game,” he said. “So that’s a side of it that I really like. … It’s just not really something I did when I was younger, but it’s something I kind of grew into just from the way that I played.”
Leone said Kuntar has to walk a line with that edge.
“It’s a game within the game with Trevor,” he said.
Kuntar’s production has matched the effort. He entered Wednesday with four goals and eight points through his first eight games, tying captain Matthew Peca for the team lead. Assistant coach Scott Moser said that output traces back to the winger’s competitiveness.
“His production has just been a result of his competitiveness, honestly,” said Moser, a Tonawanda native. “He pushes our practice intensity on a daily basis. I just think that makes him ready for what games entail.”
Kuntar’s rise has been steady. He followed a breakout 21-goal season with an NHL contract early in the campaign and his first big league action. Now, he looks like one of the Sabres’ strongest options when they need a forward call-up.
The path to that point has been busy. A third-round pick by Boston in 2020, 89th overall, Kuntar has already signed four contracts, including an AHL deal with Rochester before the Sabres gave him a two-way NHL contract almost a year ago. His latest agreement, a two-way, two-year deal worth $200,000 per season in the minors, underscored how much the organization values him.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen said after Kuntar signed on July 1 that he believes the Boston College graduate can play in the NHL.
For now, Kuntar’s role in Rochester fits what he does best. If he gets another shot in Buffalo, the fourth line would be the natural landing spot, where his hard-nosed style can do its work.
That style, Kuntar said, is rooted in being relentless.
“That starts with competing, being the hardest worker on the ice,” he said. “And I think for me to be effective, especially at the next level, I need to hone into my unique skill set, which is getting underneath the other team’s skin.
“I think that’s when I have the chance to hit somebody, you hit them and you hit them hard. I think it’s being hard on the puck, winning your battles. I think it’s taking pucks to the net.”
He has already played one NHL game last season before returning to Rochester, and the possibility of another chance is very much alive.
“I want this more than anything,” he said. “… But I’m also focused on making the most out of every single day and being where my two feet are because I know if I do that, then good things will happen and eventually that time will come.
“But, yeah, I mean, the dream feels alive.”
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