Sabres name Tim Kennedy new director of player development

Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres announced a number of promotions and additions to Jarmo Kekalainen's hockey operations department on Tuesday. One of which being former Sabres forward Tim Kennedy now serving as the new director of player development.

Kennedy played one season with the Sabres during the 2008-09 campaign, scoring 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points in 78 games.

The Buffalo native was forced to leave the team when he badly miscalculated what his worth to the team would be. He took the Sabres to arbitration and won an award of $1 million. Buffalo had to accept it, because it was under $1.6 million, but then waived him four days later.

Kennedy retired from professional hockey following the 2017-18 season after playing 60 games with the Binghamton Devils. In his post-playing days, Kennedy has been a development coach over the last five seasons.

After retirement, Kennedy knew this is the path in hockey he'd like to take.

"As you get older in your career, you kind of become a pseudo player development coach as an older player. You work with the young kids and prospects, because that's just how the game goes," said Kennedy while speaking at Sabres Development Camp on Tuesday. "At one point, you were that young player and older guys worked with you. I remember Mike Grier working with me, Shane Doan, Ed Jovanovski, older guys that if you're a really good veteran, you're really good to the young players. So you're trying to help these kids achieve their ultimate goal, because that's what you're here for."

All the Sabres players in the system have coaches that have systems. The Sabres have things they want their players to be doing, so Kennedy has to walk the line between two agendas.

"The approach we take is you work with the staff, every player that's drafted, you're probably going to have three or four coaches, so there's no one way to do it. And we want to put the kid in the best position to succeed, so working with the coach, making sure that we're on the same page is huge and that's our philosophy," Kennedy explained.

Last year's first-round pick Radim Mrtka played 11 games in the AHL with the Rochester Americans, to go with the 48 games he played at the junior level with the Seattle Thunderbirds. Kennedy is glad the 19-year-old got that AHL experience.

"I think it's a great experience, because there is that jump from the CHL to pro hockey," Kennedy said of the towering defenseman. "You go from playing against 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds and now you're playing against 32-year-old men who are trying to support their family. So it's just a huge dynamic, and I think just gaining that experience will help him this year."

Among the other hockey personnel changes announced Tuesday, Stacy Roest will now serve as the new general manager of the Rochester Americans. He will also serve as the Sabres' director of player personnel.

Roest was brought in by Kekalainen this past January to serve as a pro scout with the Sabres. He had worked for years in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization as general manager of the Syracuse Crunch and assistant general manager to Julien BriseBois.

The other additions made to the hockey operations staff included:

• Hiring Neil Komadoski as assistant director of pro scouting.
• Hiring Milan Lucic as a pro scout.
• Hiring Derek Dorsett as a forward development coach.
• Hiring Jarkko Ruutu as a European development coach.