A New Era to the Sabres Beat

If you peeped at the site at all yesterday, you may have noticed some new posts from a new face regarding last night’s Sabres game. Yes, I am joining Buffalo Hockey Now as the new site manager and Sabres beat writer. I couldn’t be more excited for the chance to cover the Buffalo Sabres again, and will be bringing a more modern lens to covering Buffalo’s hockey.

Who am I?

For those who are not familiar with my work, I am the founder of the NHL betting and fantasy analytics website, PuckLuck.com. I also used to write for Die By The Blade, which was SB Nation’s Buffalo chapter back then. What’s unique about my writing style is that I am also a data scientist, having developed the in-depth predictive model that currently serves as the central membrane of PuckLuck. I also previously have been interviewed for various NHL hockey operations positions.

Joining the beat and the National Hockey Now network is a great opportunity for me to showcase my skillset, while also bringing you coverage of the Sabres that no one else can currently match. I believe the beat should be fun, engaging, insightful, and of course, professional. I will be able to add all of these components by marrying traditional coverage with elements of predictive analytics, appealing graphics, live streams, and sports betting. It’s a new age in hockey and it’s time we treat it as such.

A Dream

All of this is sort of surreal right now, as I’m a lifelong Buffalonian and grew up reading some of the great sportswriters in town. My first NHL game was at The Aud at six years old, admiring the pure poetry of Alexander Mogilny, Trevor Linden, and Pavel Bure coming down the ice and getting robbed blind by Dominik Hasek. The voice of Rick Jeanneret lives on in my head, and I was there to witness Brett Hull’s foot in the crease in Game Six of the 1999 Stanley Cup Final.

We’re In This Together

While the fan in me has waned with the development of my career covering the sport, my passion for hockey has not. So please, join me as we embark on this journey of sharing in more priceless Sabres memories to come. We’re in a community starved for success, but it’s really the community itself that is what this is all about.

Follow me on X @PuckLuckJay and be sure to follow @sabreshockeynow