How Brendan Warren developed into asset for Rochester Amerks and Sabres organization after almost losing career

ROCHESTER – Brendan Warren had nothing going on in his hockey career. The Americans winger couldn’t even find a place to skate.

Two NHL teams that had held his rights passed on signing him. After finishing an underwhelming tenure at the University of Michigan, he briefly latched on with the Indy Fuel, an ECHL team.

At the end of training camp in 2019, the Fuel cut him.

So Warren, a third-round pick by the Arizona Coyotes in 2015, went home to Michigan. At just 22, having never played a pro game, he felt like he might be finished.

“As the season was starting, I was home for two, three weeks with nowhere to play, nothing to do, and I didn’t know if my career was over,” Warren told the Times Herald following last Friday’s practice in Blue Cross Arena. “I was texting all of my old teammates who were on teams and seeing if they could ask their coaches if there was any space.”

Right now, Warren is enjoying a career year for the Amerks, who play Game 2 of their best-of-five AHL North Division final series tonight against the Laval Rocket, which won Wednesday’s opener 5-4.

His slick skating ability, tenacity and smarts have entrenched him in the lineup and earned the trust of Amerks coach Mike Leone, who has upped his ice time and boosted his confidence.

In the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, Warren’s goal in Game 1 ignited the Amerks, who trailed 2-0 at the time. After that, they outscored the Syracuse Crunch 11-0 to close the series.

Fittingly, Warren put the finishing touches on the three-game sweep for the Buffalo Sabres’ affiliate by scoring an empty-net goal.

“I’ve been talking to guys all year, like, he’s a … huge part of our team,” Leone said. “Like, huge.”

The genesis of Warren’s journey to Rochester can be traced to his texting frenzy in 2019. As he sat at home in Carleton, Mich., he said he “was pretty desperate.” He couldn’t even find ice to practice with anyone.

In what he called a “last-ditch effort,” he contacted Don Granato, who had coached him as a teenager at the US National Team Development Program, to ask for advice.

Granato, who was in his first season as an assistant coach with the Sabres, said he felt a responsibility to help Warren.

“He gave me everything a coach could ask,” Granato told the Times Herald. “He was ready every day. He accepted any role that I gave him. He was a great teammate. So it was easy for me. Those are the players, as a coach, you just want to keep working for because you know they just need opportunity.”

So Granato said he encouraged Warren to stay in hockey and called around to help him. Jason Christie, who would later join the Sabres as an assistant when they elevated Granato to head coach, quickly added Warren to the Jacksonville Icemen, the ECHL team he coached.

“I had to start from nothing and go to the East Coast League and work my way up,” Warren said.

Warren quickly established himself, earning a spot in the ECHL All-Star Game that season.

Late in the COVID-19-shortened season in 2020-21, he joined the Amerks for 10 games. That month and a half, his first taste of the AHL, transformed his career.

“I actually got a real opportunity to show what I can do,” he said.

Warren has signed one-year AHL contracts with Rochester in each of the last four seasons, earning more responsibility while often battling injuries.

Last season, he broke his jaw in his third game and later suffered a concussion. This year, he set AHL career highs across the board, scoring nine goals and 18 points in 55 games.

Over the years, the 6-foot, 194-pound Warren said he has evolved into “just a two-way, fast, physical forward.”

“A really good penalty killer and providing a little bit of secondary scoring, which has been really good,” he said of his style. “Yeah, I take a lot of pride in going to the hard areas, making the game harder on the other team.”

That’s part of what makes Warren, 28, such an intriguing talent. He possesses skill and plays an aggressive, sandpaper style.

“He has elite skating ability,” Leone said. “He’s a really good forechecker. He can kill penalties. Like, he has an impact on the game every shift with the speed. He knows what he is.

“(He) plays really smart, efficient hockey. (I) trust him in situations because you know he’s not going to make a mistake. The moment’s not too big for him.”

Warren was the 81st overall pick – the Coyotes eventually traded his rights to the Philadelphia Flyers – for a reason. He developed among an elite forward class with the NTDP, sharing the ice with Sabres wingers Tage Thompson and Jordan Greenway and NHL stars Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk.

Ten of the regular forwards on that team have played in the NHL. While Warren is still waiting for his opportunity, he fit in nicely in that ultra-talented group.

“As an example, his explosiveness, as measured at the NTDP, was in the range of Jack Eichel,” Granato said. “Nobody else was.”

Granato said Warren’s “power of stride would be elite among NHL players.”

“So if you would put him in the NHL, his explosiveness would be in the top, let’s say, 5 to 10 percent, for sure,” he said.

Warren’s NHL dream is still alive. It’s not crazy to think he can upgrade his contract.

“That’s why I’m still playing,” he said of trying to earn a two-way deal. “… I don’t feel old. I still think I have a lot of hockey left in me. I think I can keep improving and hopefully get a two-way contract, or if it ever comes to it, hopefully get some NHL games.”

Amerks assistant coach Vinny Prospal believes if Warren can stay healthy, he offers an NHL team an affordable option for its fourth line.

“You see the potential of a good skater, hard forechecker, heavy hitter, a guy who can really simplify the game in the sense of taking it to the net and being kind of like the (crap) disturber on the forecheck and reliable defensively,” Prospal said. “For me, there’s a potential … in the needs of the salary cap world, where you’re looking for somebody, let’s say, inexpensive to play the role of an energy, hard-forechecking, good skating forward. And he’s all of that.”