BUFFALO – Popular former Sabres defenseman Jay McKee won’t return for a second season as an assistant coach with the club’s AHL affiliate in Rochester.
The Sabres didn’t renew the 34-year-old’s contract, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. Coach Ron Rolston wouldn’t elaborate to the paper, only saying it related to McKee’s “fit.”
Prior joining Rochester last season, Rolston had worked with his other top assistant, Chadd Cassidy, for years with USA Hockey.
McKee, a first-round pick by the Sabres in 1995, played 582 games with the team from 1996 to 2006. Following his retirement in 2009, he began coaching as a volunteer assistant at Niagara University.
