As for the Rochester Americans, the team officially finishes the 2019-20 season with a 33-20-4-5 record (.605 win percentage) in 62 games, which is good for second place in the North Division behind the Belleville Senators.
The Amerks had been having a decent season at the point of the league shutdown, hoping to punch their ticket to a third consecutive playoff appearance. However, the team felt that the writing was on the wall for the season as time continued to progress and more knowledge became known about the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We've been tracking how this virus has spread, and have seen nationally and internationally the trends that have been happening, so it's not a surprise that the league ultimately had to cancel the season," said Amerks general manager Randy Sexton in a conference call held with the media on Monday. "It's disappointing because I think as an organization and as a team, we're making great progress, particularly in many areas of the game. But at the end of the day, the single most important thing is that we provide a safe environment for everybody. Our staff, coaches, our players, the fans, our sponsors, everybody. That has to take precedence. It's disappointing, but we clearly understand why the decision had to be made."
This season was Sexton's third season with the Buffalo Sabres organization, where he also serves as an assistant general manager to general manager Jason Botterill in Buffalo. In his three seasons running the team in Rochester, Sexton has been able to help build the Amerks back up into a playoff contender year-in and year-out. Rochester has been able to put up a combined 116-65-20-13 record in the regular season, but the team was swept in both of their opening round series in 2018 and 2019. In fact, the last time the Amerks have won a game in the playoffs was back in 2014.
There still remains a number of unanswered questions about not only the coronavirus, but of the direction of where the future of play across all of hockey stands. However, Sexton is fairly confident that the AHL will be able to get back up and running for the 2020-21 season.
"I believe we're going to play the 2020-21 season," Sexton said. "I don't yet know what form it will take, whether it will be a reduced league, a reduced size of the league... or if we don't start until November, December or January. I don't know that yet. We haven't had enough clarity on some of the key issues, however, the American [Hockey> League has been around a long time, and it's a very resilient league... I don't think the American Hockey League has ever been stronger, in terms of the depth of the league, the quality of franchises, the quality of ownership. I think 20 or 21 of our teams are owned directly by NHL teams, so that brings some additional stability. Clearly the owner and operators we have in place are astute business men and have the wherewithal to see the way through.
"We don't have all the facts yet, but I am optimistic that we're going to play. Although I think that we all need to recognize that it may take a slightly different shape or form over the short-term."
As for when the season can start up, the league has no timetable for a possible date or time when the 2020-21 season will be able to commence. Let alone, there has been no timetable set in stone for players to even be able to resume on-ice activities across the hockey world. Sexton believes, though, that there could be a chance for the AHL to get back to game action and start the upcoming season before the NHL, whenever they are able to get in the conclusion of the 2019-20 season.
"I don't know that the American League will start before the NHL. I can't say that that will happen, but I have been saying to a few people when you think about it, it's more likely that the lower levels of the game will start playing possibly before the NHL," Sexton said. "We're not going to go from any group more than 10, which is illegal to assemble, but if you think about it, it's more likely that the transition is 500 to 1,000 people who can get together far before 20,000 people... I don't know what the segments will be, but I do think as we transition back towards a more normal life than we used to live, the smaller the number of gatherings will enable the minor leagues and the junior leagues and others to get their game back on the ice, perhaps, more quickly with fans than the NHL."
Last season was a bit of an exciting year for the Amerks as they had a number of players break out for them, helping them to a second place finish in the North Division and a top-three finish in the AHL overall standings. This season was a bit of a different story as the team got more team scoring and some solid goaltending that got them as one of the top teams in the league again.
Before the season came to a grinding halt on March 12, the Amerks had been riding a bit of a rollercoaster with a long seven-game losing streak in January, immediately followed by a six-game win streak. In the 16 games played from Feb. 7 on, the Amerks remained streaky with a 6-7-2-1 record, but both Sexton and head coach Chris Taylor had liked how their team was responding and starting to turn a corner.
Now that the season is over prematurely and the team is disappointed with the end result, Sexton is looking for his group to find a way to turn this into a positive going into next season.
"It is a loss, for sure, but it moves all of us to find ways to turn a negative into a positive and not come up with excuses," He said. "I'm a great believer in when people tell me why we can do something, not why we can't. Each of our players have to take it upon themselves to continue to work on their game on and off the ice as best as they can. They need to be creative. We, as an organization, have to do the same, whether it's management, coaches, player development among others. I've been really pleased with the way our people have continued to work."
The Amerks this season were led by forward Jean-Sebastien Dea, who put up a team high 39 points (15+24) in 57 games. Andrew Oglevie was right up there with Dea with 15 goals this season, while defenseman Zach Redmond led the group with 25 assists in 59 games.
As for some of the younger players of note in the group, it was a bit of an up-and-down year. C.J. Smith was dealing with some nagging injuries throughout the season and only produced 27 points (12+15) in 50 games played. Casey Mittelstadt got off to a slower start with the Amerks after being sent down from Buffalo, but managed to rebound and put up 25 points (9+15) in 36 games. After a breakout season last year, Rasmus Asplund's offensive production slowed a bit as he split time between the Sabres and Amerks this season. The same could be said for defenseman Lawrence Pilut, who managed to put up 23 points (6+14) in 37 games in Rochester. Tage Thompson was having a good start to the season with six goals and six assists in the opening 16 games of the season before being called up and suffering a season-ending shoulder surgery with the Sabres.
One player that did have a good year was defenseman Jacob Bryson, who went on to score four goals and register 23 assists in all 61 games played this season. He ended up as Rochester's sixth-leading scorer on the roster, and went on to finish the year as the seventh-highest scoring defenseman in the AHL.
While the roster in Rochester will likely look a bit different next season, the goal for Sexton remains the same: build a roster with a perfect blend of young developing players and experienced veterans.
"We have been moving towards having a younger roster and injecting some of our younger players into the lineup. That's been our plan since we've arrived in Buffalo as a management team," Sexton said. "This is really the first full season of a full draft when those players are becoming eligible to be in Rochester. We've signed Mattias Samuelsson, we've got [Ukko-Pekka> Luukkonen and [Jonas> Johansson, and Bryson will be coming back and [Will> Borgen will be in the mix, and we sign some other free agents. So we're assembling the team that we will have in Rochester is part of a broader strategy in Buffalo, and clearly there is a trickle-down effect from Buffalo."
Some of the changes that could be seen on the Amerks roster heading into the 2020-21 season will be the inclusion of more younger players on entry-level contracts. Some of those players will include drafted players on entry-level contracts, as well as free agent players signed out of college or coming to North America out of Europe.
One notable European free agent that had been potentially linked to the Sabres this offseason was forward Eemeli Suomi, who had been playing in the Finnish Liiga with Ilves along with Laaksonen and fellow Sabres prospect Arttu Ruotsalainen. However, when asked if there was anything true about the rumors, Sexton would not comment on any free agents, saying, "It's just inappropriate at this time."
You can listen to the entire conference call below: