The Buffalo Sabres made the right choice in hiring head coach Don Granato after they nixed the maligned Ralph Krueger in March 2021.
The Don Granato Effect took hold last season for the Buffalo Sabres. His presence resurrected the careers of Rasmus Dahlin and Jeff Skinner, and he also got the best out of Tage Thompson, who went on to lead the team in points.
Despite Granato’s ability to get the best out of a young and inexperienced Sabres team that many projected to finish in the NHL’s basement, there is another coach in the system that deserves credit. Seth Appert has bestowed a similar effect on his Rochester Americans. And he became an incredible complement to Granato.
Seth Appert has proven to be an integral part of the Buffalo Sabres system
Under Appert’s guidance, J.J. Peterka and Jack Quinn earned spots on the All-Rookie Team, becoming the first pair of teammates to earn the honor since Nika Noronen and Dmitri Kalinin in 2000.
And while Quinn has struggled to find his footing in the playoffs, the AHL Rookie of the Year’s 61 points in 45 games speaks dividends. Meanwhile, Peterka’s 68 points in 70 regular-season games paced the rookie class.
You also can’t forget about Brandon Biro and Linus Weissbach. Under Appert, the duo evolved into legitimate NHL-caliber players, culminating with Biro making his debut with the Sabres last season.
Players like Biro and Weissbach, the former of whom went undrafted, are not supposed to make it this far in their professional hockey careers. But at worst, they will now be major contributors in the AHL.
Shifting gears to the defensive side of the puck, Casey Fitzgerald and Mattias Samuelsson became permanent fixtures on the Sabres defensive rotation. Both love contact, with Samuelsson tallying 100 hits in just 42 games. Samuelsson also saw time on the first pairing with Rasmus Dahlin and he proved to be a stellar complement to the two-way defenseman.
Fitzgerald fell into the agitator role. The small, but feisty defenseman recorded 86 hits in 36 games for the Sabres. And upon his return to Rochester in late April, he has also shown two-way tendencies.
Overall, Appert deserves immense credit for the above players’ success. And his efforts have laid the foundation for what will be an incredible feeder to Granato’s Sabres moving forward.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference and Hockey DB)