It was reported Friday afternoon that the Sabres’ General Manager, Kevyn Adams, hired former USA Hockey National Team Development Program’s Seth Appert to become the new head coach of the Rochester Americans.
Although Appert has no experience in professional coaching, he has spent the last two seasons coaching both the Under-17 Team and the Under-18 Team at the USNTDP.
In that time, the Under-18 team won the Five Nations Cup and finished first in the USHL regular season in the 2018-19 season.
The 46-year-old also coached Rensselaer Polytechnic Institut from 2006 to 2017. At that time, he had a record of 152–221–48 and only made the NCAA tournament once.
With two decades of coaching under his belt, Appert has helped develop 23 players that went on to make the NHL — including a development model that produced an NHL-record 17 draft picks last June, eight in the first round, including the first overall pick Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils.
Appert will be replacing Chris Taylor, who the Sabres fired in June. In three seasons with Taylor as head coach, the Amerks went a combined 116-65-33 and were on pace for a third consecutive playoff appearance — after being swept out of the first round both completed seasons — when the coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Nothing official has been stated by neither Sabres nor Amerks organization, but it has been said that the announcement will be made next week.