BUFFALO – Assistant coach Don Granato has been hospitalized with severe pneumonia and will be taking a medical leave from the Sabres, the team announced this morning.
To replace him, the Sabres have promoted Rochester Americans head coach Chris Taylor on an interim basis.
Amerks assistant Gord Dineen, 57, will take over Taylor’s coaching duties. Sabres development coach Adam Mair will also assist Rochester early in the season.
Taylor, 47, has coached the Amerks the last two seasons, leading the AHL club to two playoff appearances. Many believe Taylor, a former Amerks star who played with the Sabres, will eventually earn a promotion to the NHL, perhaps as a head coach.
New Sabres coach Ralph Krueger spoke last week about how he and Taylor are on the same page.
Krueger hired Granato, 52, in June.
“Don Granato is one of those lifer coaches I was looking for,” Krueger said in August.
Dineen played 528 NHL games as a defenseman. He has spent the last 16 seasons as an AHL assistant or head coach. He led the Toronto Marlies in 2014-15 and the Iowa Chops in 2008-09.
His brother, Kevin Dineen, coached the Sabres’ old AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates, from 2008 to 2011.
