Leone expressed his excitement to work with the Sabres prospects during an introductory press conference on Monday.
Jason Karmanos had over 100 coaching candidates reach out to him expressing interest in the Rochester Americans’ head coaching job, which he said is a testament to what the Buffalo Sabres’ organization has been building.
The Sabres’ associate general manager and Amerks’ general manager talked at length with “probably 25 of those individuals” and narrowed it down to five final candidates that he, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams, and Sabres assistant general manager Mark Jakubowski interviewed before they found the one they believe is right for the job.
The long and rigorous process culminated with Michael Leone being appointed as head coach of the Americans last Thursday.
“Proud to see so many people really interested in this job,” Karmanos said during Leone’s introductory press conference on Monday. “We took a wide lens to the process. We didn’t pigeonhole ourselves into thinking that the next coach of the Amerks had to be someone with a certain background.
“Couldn’t be more excited about the person that we’re bringing in.”
Karmanos was looking for a coach who could build strong relationships with his players in order to continue building on the culture and winning environment in Rochester that Seth Appert had shaped in his four seasons as head coach of the Amerks. Appert was promoted to the role of assistant coach in Buffalo last month.
Karmanos said it was Leone’s personality and experience that made him stand out from all the rest.
“I think the type of person he is, the communication skills that he possesses, how he builds relationships talking to people that he’s crossed paths with over the years,” he said. “I think in talking to him, you hear a person that listens very well, that learns from the people that he’s around. You could say that’s good fortune to cross paths, but I don’t believe it’s just that. I think a person like Leo ends up putting himself in those positions by the way he impacts the people that he works with prior.”
Leone’s previous experience as an assistant coach at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (NTDP) for three seasons and his most recent experience as both the head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League were other reasons why Karmanos felt he was the best person to help the organizations’ talented prospects grow and develop into Sabres.
“I think in particular, his work at the program and then his work the last couple years in Green Bay was important to us,” Karmanos said. “He was the GM and head coach there – without prior experience – and did an outstanding job. When you’re thrown into a role like that, especially a dual role like that without years of experience under your belt, that’s an incredible challenge, and he did a tremendous job. And we think that that prepares him for this job in a way that some other roles maybe can’t.”
Leone led the Gamblers to consecutive 30-plus win seasons as well as back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in over a decade and is looking forward to embarking on a new journey with Buffalo’s deep prospect pool. Forwards Matt Savoie, Jiri Kulich, and Isak Rosen - three first-round selections - made their NHL debuts for the Sabres last season. Kulich and Rosen led Rochester in goals and points, respectively, while Savoie led the Western Hockey League in points per game and is eligible to play in Rochester next season. Noah Ostlund (first round, 2022) and Anton Wahlberg (second round, 2023) both joined the Americans upon the conclusion of their professional seasons in the Swedish Hockey League and made an immediate impact in Rochester by scoring goals during the Amerks’ playoff series.
“There's a lot of talent, which always helps out a coach, which is always nice to see,” he said. “But a lot of really talented young players that obviously have had a lot of success in years past, guys trying to make it to the NHL. It’s an exciting time for the organization and especially as a new, young head coach to get to work with these players.
“I can’t wait to get started working with them.”
The Dearborn Heights, Michigan native will be focused on implementing his relationship-based and development-based approach to coaching by first getting to know his players off the ice to foster success on the ice.
The philosophy has helped him build strong relationships with his players over the years, including Artyom Levshunov and Julian Lutz, who came to Green Bay from Belarus and Germany, respectively. Leone believes his experience with both players will help him find success with the Sabres’ several international prospects as well as his familiarity with Appert, who he worked with at the National Program in 2019-20.
"He's a great person. He's a great communicator. He really cares about individual people," Leone said when asked about Appert. "He's got a positive growth mindset approach. I learned a lot from him just on the day to day. I think anyone that played for Seth would understand that they love coming to the rink every single day and being around him, whether there's going to be hard times throughout the course of the season for sure. But Seth had a way of people gravitating towards him and that was the one takeaway from being around him just the energy that he brings every single day to the office and the rink and whether you're a player or staff member, you really enjoyed being around that type of person and coach.
“I think talking to staff members this past week and the assistant coaches, how things were ran were very aligned of I think how we did things at Green Bay as far as the development purposes of how we practice, how the training is. I worked with Seth for one year in the same building and I've talked to him a bunch the last week, just on certain things, and there's a comfort level. I felt like talking to the people in Rochester right now, it almost felt like I was working there already. And I'm just really excited to get started.”
