By Mike Harrington
South Buffalo native Tim Kennedy looked set for a long NHL career after playing 76 games as a rookie for the Sabres in the 2009-10 season, collecting 10 goals and 26 points. But he got some bad advice from his agent when he took his hometown team to arbitration the following summer and demanded a one-way contract. The Sabres balked, buying out the contract and sending Kennedy on a series of moves around the hockey world.
Since then, Kennedy has played for Hartford in the Rangers organization, Rochester and San Antonio in the Florida chain (with 33 games with the parent Panthers thrown in) and San Jose's farm team in Worcester, Mass.
He got a big break Tuesday, getting the call to San Jose and instantly getting put on the struggling Sharks' second line between Logan Couture and Ryan Clowe for a 1-0 loss at Nashville. Kennedy played 15:33 and had two shots on goal for the Sharks, who are 0-3-3 after a 7-0 start.
Kennedy, 26, was tied for 21st in the AHL this season with 37 points and led his team in goals (13), assists (24), points and plus-minus (plus-8). He was named the AHL Player of the Week on Dec. 3 after scoring five goals in three games.
