Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Rochester Americans wrapped up their season on Monday with exit interviews with head coach Seth Appert and general manager Jason Karmanos.
Karmanos confirmed what Kevyn Adams said last Wednesday that he will be directly involved in the process of hiring the Buffalo Sabres' next head coach. Granato did a good job of making the most out of a bad roster.
“He put himself in a strong position with how he coached and how he presents himself," Karmanos said during his end-of-season conference call. "He’s a person with a ton of experience as a coach, but not necessarily as a head coach, but he’s been a coach for a long, long time. With that said, there’s a lot of people out there, and through the process, we’ll get some clarity as to who the best fit is.”
Adams and Karmanos have to figure out what to do with Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Ristolainen and Linus Ullmark.
“There’s a lot going on right now, and we’re trying to get this on track, and get a culture and an identity for our club, and coach is a big part of that,” Karmanos said.
It will be interesting to see if Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Jacob Bryson or Mattias Samuelsson will be on the Sabres' opening night roster in the fall. Both showed good signs in their development. Luukkonen, at 22, finished his second pro season. Bryson is 23, and also completed his second year, while at 21, Samuelsson was in his first pro year.
Karmanos said it’s too early to tell if any of the three are ready for the NHL.
“They’re going to tell us in the fall," he said. "Everybody has a different timetable, and it’s about them playing full-time in Buffalo when they’re ready.”
The competition for this year is over. What they did during the season in both Buffalo and Rochester counts. However, Karmanos said something else will count more.
“It’s something that I believe very strongly is it’s determined by their play in camp," he said.
“We can make plans, but people have to come in and be ready to go. There’s some very good young players in this organization and there’s more on the way.”
There’s a reason that all three players got a chance to play in Buffalo this year. For Bryson and Luukkonen, it was because of injuries. For Samuelsson, it was the team thought he had earned a chance in the NHL.
“All three guys have made huge strides, and that’s all you want and expect,” Karmanos said.
When the Sabres sent the San Jose Sharks a fourth round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft to move up four spots to take J-J Peterka at No. 34, many wondered about it.
Between Austria and Germany, Peterka played 42 games this year betting 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points. He also played five games for Germany at the World Junior Championship and was stellar netting four goals and six assists for 10 points. The 19-year-old is also set to join Germany for the upcoming World Championship in Latvia.
Karmanos, who was working for the Pittsburgh Penguins at the time, was well-aware of Peterka even before the Sabres traded up.
“I know these guys and I’m excited they’re here, because these are guys that I liked on my own and my previous staff liked," Karmanos said. "Peterka was a great pick for the Sabres, and was a player that we would’ve taken in the first round.”
Pittsburgh didn’t have a first round pick as they traded the 15th overall selection to Toronto to get Kasperi Kapanen.
Buffalo's first round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft was Jack Quinn.
Since the Ontario Hockey League didn’t have a season, the 19-year-old was able to play in the American Hockey League with the Amerks. Karmanos didn’t see him play, because hernia surgery in April ended his 2020-21 season. Quinn scored two goals and seven assists for nine points in 15 games.
Karmanos enjoyed talking to Quinn on Monday during his exit interview.
“Interacting with him today, he’s a really impressive 19-year-old," Karmanos said. "It’s just how he approaches his day-to-day and where he goes from here.”
Quinn had his moments, but Appert said he’s very coachable. Karmanos just feels like it was good for the kid to experience everything.
“It’s a big step for him," he said. "It’s been a big opportunity for him to be able to play in the American League and he took advantage of that.”
Everybody knows that to play in the National Hockey League, Quinn must get bigger and stronger to handle the grind.
“He needs to get stronger. He’s a 19-year-old kid still," Appert said during his end-of-season conference call on Monday. "He needs to put on strength and explosiveness on his frame.
“We need him to keep improving on his skating, not his north-south, but more his edge work and lateral agility, so he can be even more deceptive.”
Quinn has an elite shot, which is why he scored 52 goals in 62 games in his final year of junior. In the OHL, Quinn has a lot more time to get the shot off. Appert wants him to work on his release, because he doesn’t get that much time in professional hockey.
Luukkonen didn’t put up very good numbers in Rochester this season, going 7-5-2 with a 3.60 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage. Luukkonen did show well in Buffalo, and Appert said there were extenuating circumstances in Rochester.
“We thought he was really good here," the Amerks head coach said. "He was .909 save percentage before the pause that we had for COVID. Coming out of that, he stumbled a little bit, but that’s understandable considering the circumstances that he was coming back from, the long pause that he had.
“Those games were just getting his feet back under him, and then he started to play good again after a few games that were subpar. Then he got called to Buffalo, so I don’t look at his numbers as an indication of a non-strong year. I think that his year was trending really strongly before our COVID pause.”
Appert feels like Luukkonen is always striving to get better. He likes the work ethic of his young goalie, and he feels it was strong every day.
Appert said Luukkonen is the type of player that puts in extra work on the ice before practice and extra work in the weight room after practice.
In case you missed Karmanos' conference call, you can listen to it in its entirety below:
