Sabres Promote Seth Appert to Assistant Coach

The Buffalo Sabres announced a pair of promotions within the organization Monday, including Rochester Americans head coach Seth Appert joining Lindy Ruff’s coaching staff with the Buffalo Sabres as an assistant. Appert is coming off leading the Amerks to the AHL North Division Semifinals before being eliminated by the Syracuse Crunch. The Sabres also promoted Amerks video coach and team manager Amir Gulati to video coordinator.

This news adds to the club’s coaching changes this offseason. Head coach Don Granato, assistant coach Jason Christie, and video coordinator Matt Smith were relieved of their duties on April 16th. Ruff was hired six days later as the team’s new head coach.

Appert the Assistant

Appert’s promotion will likely have him serving behind the team’s bench, as Matt Ellis’ role with the Sabres is expected to be reshuffled. As of now, Marty Wolford’s job as an assistant appears to be intact. He improved the defensive play and penalty kill this past season. That would leave Appert to focus on the forwards and powerplay.

The Rochester Americans went 123-94-32 with Appert as their head coach over four seasons. In 2023, he led the club to the AHL Semifinals in the Calder Cup Playoffs. It was their farthest run in 19 seasons. He was key in developing Buffalo’s young talent, including JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn, Peyton Krebs, Mattias Samuelsson, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

After Granato’s firing, Appert was considered a potential candidate for the Sabres’ head coaching position. General manager Kevyn Adams announced they were looking for a candidate with NHL head coaching experience, debunking any notion of that happening.

Instead, he’ll now join the Sabres as an assistant.

Before Rochester, he was a head coach at the United States National Team Development Program for three seasons. Appert was proficient in the college ranks, with 11 seasons as the head coach at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and nine seasons as an assistant at the University of Denver.