2024–25 Time On Ice Stats
Ice Time
Power Play
Short-Handed
Past Fantasy Outlooks
Tarnasky played 74 games for the Rochester Americans, Buffalo's affiliate in the AHL, last season scoring 16 goals with 10 assists while accumulating 138 minutes in penalties. That last statistic is Tarnasky's calling card. He has a reputation as a tough guy and a fighter, though his 16 markers last year was his most since his final junior season in 2003-04. He'll open the season at Hamilton of the AHL.
Tarnasky signed with the Sabres in July after spending last season in the KHL. He's a veteran of 245 NHL games, but was brought in to add depth to the Sabres' AHL affiliate in Rochester. He is a candidate for a mid-season recall, but is unlikely to contribute much offensively, with 13 goals over his NHL career and last played with the Panthers during the 2009-2010 season.
Tarnasky will likely only see occasional game action as he wraps up a long-term deal originally signed with the cross-state Lightning. He won't contribute to the fantasy world.
Tarnasky (6-2, 233 lbs) is a great team guy, willing to go to the wall for anything. The trouble is his hands -- they're pretty much chunks of lead. He could find himself on the Bolts power line with other big men Evgeni Artyukhin (6-5, 254) and Chris Gratton (6-4, 231). If so, that's a whole lot of muscle and energy, and that spells excitement on the ice. Too bad their lead hands won't get them points to match their PIMs.
Tarnasky is hockey's version of a dirt monkey. You know, that scrappy kid on the baseball diamond who always played beyond his talent and ended up with a dirty uniform by the end of the first inning. Tarnasky is the working man's hockey player but that doesn't translate in the fantasy arena.
