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Rochester Americans Relieve Chadd Cassidy of Head Coach Duties

ByMelissa Kania|

The Rochester Americans have relieved Chadd Cassidy of his duties as the AHL team’s head coach, the team announced Friday afternoon.

Cassidy was fired after his second season behind the bench as head coach of the Rochester Americans. The Amerks failed to make the playoffs and had an overall record of 29-41-0-6 with Cassidy leading the way.

The Rochester Americans finished this season 14th in the Western Conference, with 64 points on the season. They were 23 points out of a playoff spot and had a minus-73 goal differential.

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    • Prior to Friday’s move, Cassidy had been with the Rochester Americans for four seasons. He was brought on in 2011 after serving as an assistant coach of the U.S. National Under-17 team.

    Cassidy served as an assistant coach for the Rochester Americans from 2011 until 2013. He was brought on as the head coach of the Amerks when Ron Rolston was promoted to the Buffalo Sabres and served as full head coach for the past two seasons.

    In the 2013-2014 season, the Rochester Americans had a 37-28-0-11 record in the regular season with Cassidy behind the bench as the head coach.

    The team made it to the Calder Cup playoffs as the seventh seed in the Western Conference, but fell in the first round.

    Buffalo Sabres general manager Tim Murray made the announcement of Cassidy’s firing on Friday afternoon. He said:

    "“I’d like to thank Chadd for all of his hard work and contributions during his time with the Amerks,” said Buffalo Sabres and Amerks general manager Tim Murray. “With the organization as a whole continuing to move forward into a new chapter, we have decided to make a change at that position and will begin the search for a new Amerks head coach immediately.”"

    So, what does this mean?

    All in all, it opens up yet another question for the Buffalo Sabres organization. Not only do Murray & Co. need to find a new head coach for the Sabres at the NHL level, now they also need to find a new bench boss for the Rochester Americans at the AHL level.

    Is it possible that the team could decide to level up and promote one of the Rochester Americans’ assistant coaches to the head coaching position for next season? The assistant coaches this season were Chris Taylor and John Wroblewski.

    While it is possible that one of those guys could be brought up to the head coach status, it’s also possible that Murray brings in someone from elsewhere in the Sabres or Rochester Americans organization, or someone from elsewhere completely. It’s also possible we could see someone come in from the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals organization.

    Either way, it’s an interesting move that will further shake things up in the Buffalo Sabres organization, and it’s another question for Sabres fans going forward.

    Next: Building a Winner

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