Adams - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Coach Seth Appert confident Amerks can develop talent for Sabres and win

After 11 years at RPI, Seth Appert said he started to slip. The coach of a small college is responsible for the entire program, meaning he is essentially a CEO.

“There’s so much you do that isn’t coaching that can grind you down that you don’t even realize,” Appert said on a Zoom call Tuesday, shortly after the Rochester Americans announced him as their new head coach.

Appert recruited more kids than the premier NCAA ... Read the full article

Report: Sabres hire Seth Appert to coach Amerks

The Buffalo Sabres have hired Seth Appert, who coached the last three seasons in USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, as the Rochester Americans’ new head coach, according to The Buffalo News.

Appert, 46, spent 11 years as R.P.I.’s coach before joining the NTDP in 2017.

Kevyn Adams fired former Amerks coach Chris Taylor and his staff hours after taking over as Sabres general manager June 16. Taylor, who was hired by former Sabres ... Read the full article

Impressive AHL season earns Sabres prospect Brett Murray NHL contract

Forward Brett Murray has parlayed his strong rookie season with the Rochester Americans into a contract from the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres today announced the 6-foot-5, 236-pound Murray has signed a two-year, entry-level deal. Murray, 22, played on an AHL contract with the Amerks last season, scoring nine goals and 24 points in 55 games.

“Brett acclimated very well to the AHL and showed continued improvement throughout the season,” Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said ... Read the full article

Former Sabre Sean Malone ready for fresh opportunity with Predators

If the Buffalo Sabres hadn’t cleaned house last month, firing 22 people, including the AHL coaching staff he had built a strong relationship with over three seasons, center Sean Malone would’ve considered re-signing in the organization.

Kevyn Adams, Jason Botterill’s replacement, is the Sabres’ fourth GM since they drafted the West Seneca native in the sixth round in 2013.

“It’s hard to keep climbing up the ladder when you’re starting over new every ... Read the full article

West Seneca’s Sean Malone signs two-way contract with Predators

Forward Sean Malone’s time in the Buffalo Sabres organization has ended.

The West Seneca native has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Nashville Predators for the 2020-21 season, the team announced today.

Malone, 25, spent the last three seasons with the Rochester Americans, compiling 28 goals and 65 points in 169 games. The Harvard graduate played one game with the Sabres, jumping straight to the NHL shortly after his college career ended in 2017.... Read the full article

Trusting his talents: Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has history of taking risks

As Kevyn Adams moved up and around the hockey world during his unlikely journey to becoming the Buffalo Sabres’ general manager last month, he kept challenging himself and taking risks.

Instead of taking a job in an NHL front office after the Sabres fired him as an assistant coach in 2013, Adams accepted Terry and Kim Pegula’s offer to start the Academy of Hockey at Harborcenter from the ground up.

His work establishing the program ... Read the full article

Sabres GM Kevyn Adams showed signs of bright future during career at Miami

One by one, after listening to George Gwozdecky’s gut-wrenching address, the stunned players embraced their former coach inside Miami University’s dressing room.

At first, Gwozdecky had no intention of leaving the upstart program in Oxford, Ohio. When the University of Denver approached him following the 1993-94 season, he rebuffed them.

In five years under Gwozdecky, Miami had morphed from a doormat into one of the Central College Hockey Association’s elite teams, winning the conference in ... Read the full article

Sabres will have chance to take special prospect with first draft pick

The Buffalo Sabres have just 6.5% odds to nab the top pick in tonight’s NHL Draft Lottery, so they likely won’t win the right to select winger Alexis Lafreniere, the ultra-talented prospect who has been projected to go first overall for two years.

Lafreniere is such a dynamic threat he began dominating the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as a 16-year-old rookie, scoring a career-high 42 goals in only 60 games for Rimouski Oceanic, ... Read the full article

Sabres name Kenmore’s Jeremiah Crowe director of scouting

The Buffalo Sabres today named Jeremiah Crowe their new director of scouting and elevated Jason Nightingale to assistant director of scouting.

Nightingale also serves as director of analytics.

The moves, some of Kevyn Adams’ first as general manager, illustrate the “leaner” version of the Sabres owner Terry Pegula mentioned when the team fired GM Jason Botterill, amateur scouting director Ryan Jankowski and 20 other members of its hockey department June 16.

Most teams ... Read the full article

GM Kevyn Adams has long to-do list as he begins trying to transform Sabres

Right now, Kevyn Adams has a precious commodity as he begins his unlikely tenure as Buffalo Sabres general manager: time.

Being a rookie GM is difficult enough for front office veterans. Adams, 45, was hired to replace Jason Botterill last week having never worked in an NHL hockey department.

Adams, of course, knows the hockey world and his bosses, Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula, well. The Clarence native played 10 seasons in the NHL ... Read the full article