NEW YORK — Jason Pominville didn't even know the Sabres were playing in the 2018 Winter Classic this summer when the franchise that drafted him in 2001 and traded him in 2013 reacquired him this offseason.
But boy, was he happy when he found out.
"I was excited and happy about coming to Buffalo, and then it was actually one of my buddies that told me, 'Man, you guys are playing in that,'" Pominville told Sporting News. "And I was like, 'Sweet.' I had no idea about it."
This story actually begins 10 years ago, on a snowy New Year's Day in Orchard Park. In 2008, the Buffalo Sabres were coming off consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference finals. It's hard to believe for the casual or recently tuned-in NHL fan, but a decade ago, the Sabres were one of the powers in the NHL.
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That season, though, the team had a different feel after losing both Chris Drury and Daniel Briere that summer. Defenseman Brian Campbell was shipped to the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline, and the Sabres missed out on the postseason by four points.
"The team had changed at that point a little bit," Pominville said. "The team was obviously in transition losing those two guys, but still found a way to dig deep and almost make the playoffs."
The Penguins weren't too bad themselves. Coming off a loss in the 2007 Stanley Cup Final, the Penguins had a 20-year-old named Sidney Crosby and a 21-year-old named Evgeni Malkin. When the NHL announced it would host a new annual event called the Winter Classic, the two franchises were easy choices for the marquee. Pittsburgh had the young star power and appeal for a national audience, and Buffalo had the backdrop and the hockey-crazed fans to elevate the event.
"Tickets went on sale and they sold within less than 10 minutes," Pominville said. "We knew it was going to be a pretty special game."
In the 10 years since, things have gone in dramatically different directions for the respective franchises. But as the Sabres prepare for their second Winter Classic a decade later, they do so with one holdover from that 2008 game, Pominviile, whose NHL journey has come full circle in his return to Buffalo.
"I never thought I'd have to put the jersey on again and get the chance to do that and find out that you're playing in the Winter Classic," Pominville said. "And it's the 10-year anniversary — that didn't cross my mind — to have a chance to do it, it's pretty unique for sure."
When he re-joined the Sabres this summer, he did so with the Sabres again in transition, but on the other end of the spectrum. Since 2013, Buffalo has accumulated the fewest points of any NHL franchise.
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There was hope though that this Sabres team may finally take the next step in its rebuild. With a centerpiece in 21-year-old Jack Eichel flanked by a few other talented forwards, the Sabres were expected to at least try to push their way out of the NHL's cellar, if not finally take a big step back on the ground floor coming off a 78-point season.
But approaching the new year, it's clear the Sabres are destined for another season looking up at the rest of the Eastern Conference. Buffalo enters 2018 last in the Eastern Conference and second-to-last in the NHL, on the way to missing out on the playoffs for a seventh consecutive year.
"We've made strides lately and hopefully we can keep making strides, and keep improving," Pominville said.
Buffalo is 2-1-0 after enduring a 3-11-5 stretch from Nov. 10-Dec. 19, which also featured a four-game losing streak. The Sabres were shut out in three consecutive games.
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"Our bench, and our vibe and the atmosphere and everything around us has been better the last little while," Pominville said. "Even though we hadn't won games, it was still getting better, and it's going to help us win for sure."
If the NHL was banking on the Sabres dusting off a few inches of the avalanche they've been caved in by the past four seasons and bringing some intrigue into this all-New York outdoor affair, the snow pile is still just as high in 2018. The Sabres will become the first team in the history of the Winter Classic to enter the game with a losing record.
A decade later and the Sabres are still mired in the transition Pominville found himself in during his first tour in Buffalo, still trying to claw its way out from the bottom, though he knows the two teams aren't quite the same.
"Hopefully there are similarities," Pominville said. "We were losing players at the time, and now guys are arriving, which usually helps make the team better and helps them improve the culture, and everything around it. It's similar in ways and different in others."
For Pominville, though, this latest Winter Classic only evokes good emotions. He spent time on the Citi Field ice with his family, skating laps with 8-year-old son Jaydon and 8-year-old daughter Kaylee. He hopes Sabres fans can likewise find enjoyment from the event.
"It's a hockey game — that's what people want to see and that's what they came for," Pominville said. "Fans of our team, fans of the Rangers, it's a great day for hockey. It doesn't get any better than this. You're playing outdoors. This is where everyone as a kid played, either on a pond or at a rink outside somewhere. It brings you back to being a kid, and there's no better place to play hockey than outside. You just walk out there and it kind of makes you smile, and look around, and to see the environment it's pretty cool to be a part of."
The backdrop on Monday will likely be different for the Sabres. The 2008 Winter Classic, which so many players consider to be the best version ever of the game — Kyle Okposo and Phil Housley both said as much Sunday — had the snowy backdrop ("It was almost like playing in a snow globe. It was crazy," Pominville said), the storybook ending, and the intrigue of being the first of its kind.
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Pominville said it's been incredible to see how the NHL has tweaked the product since its first Winter Classic, now incorporating a behind-the-scenes television show, and said it's a game every player wants to play in.
"It's really a celebration of hockey," he said.
For the Sabres, it's about all they can ask for as the calendar flips to 2018. They're a far cry from where they'd hoped to be at this juncture, with a long way to go.
"You can kind of take your mind of the day-to-day routine of playing, and it kind of breaks that," Kyle Okposo said. "It puts a really special emphasis on one game, and you can kind of forget everything else for a few days. I grew up outside. I've had some experience with that; it's where I fell in love with the game. Going through tough times in the game now you just think about those times when you're outside, and how much you love the game. That's the place you always go."
A forgetful season for Pominville will still evoke memories of what was, and possibly what could be in Buffalo should the Sabres ever crack the code to taking the next step in their transition.
"We're lucky to have Jason Pominville on our team," Housley said. "He's got a lot of great memories from that game."
Monday he'll create one more.