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Sabres Clear Out Coaches; Nolan Adding Ex-Sabres To Staff?? |
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The expected cleaning out of the Buffalo Sabres coaching staff occurred on Wednesday, as the club announced they were not renewing the contracts of assistant coach Teppo Numminen and goaltending coach Jim Corsi, along with Ron Rolston’s assistants Joe Sacco and Jerry Forton, who have been offered the choice to stay with the organization in a different capacity.
Numminen played the final four years of his 20-year NHL career with Buffalo and re-joined the Sabres as part of Lindy Ruff’s staff in 2011, while Corsi had been with the organization working with the likes of Dominik Hasek and Ryan Miller since 2001.
Sacco(the former head coach of the Colorado Avalanche) and Forton(longtime college assistant with Harvard, UMass Lowell and Niagara University) were additions to Ron Rolston’s staff in the summer of 2013.
Head Coach Ted Nolan, with a newly signed three year contract in hand, will now go about putting together his staff during the offseason, with the focus on teaching the influx of young players coming into the organization in the near future.
Former NHL goaltender Arturs Irbe appears to have the inside track on the goaltending coach position. The 47-year-old netminder, who played for four teams(San Jose, Dallas, Vancouver and Carolina) over his 13 year NHL career worked with Nolan as a part of Team Latvia’s staff and has worked with Dynamo Riga of the KHL and the Washington Capitals.
Speculation regarding additions to Nolan’s staff includes two former players from his previous coaching stint with the Sabres; Michael Peca and Bob Boughner.
The 40-year-old former Sabres captain has enjoyed shown an ability to work with young developing hockey players in a successful run as head coach of the OHJL’s Buffalo Jr. Sabres sand stayed decided to stay in Western New York instead of climbing the coaching ladder due to family reasons.
Boughner won consecutive Memorial Cups with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires in 2009 and 2010 and spent one season as an assistant coach on former Sabre Scott Arniel’s staff in Columbus before returning to coach the Spitfires in 2011.
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The Sabres announced Wednesday that they signed an affiliation agreement with the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals.
Per a press release from the Sabres website:
“Proper development is essential in maintaining a competitive roster at the NHL level,” said Sabres general manager Tim Murray. “Having Elmira as an additional source to develop our young talent will certainly help our entire organization going forward. We’re proud to have the Jackals as part of our organization and, with the Amerks in Rochester, we now have the added bonus of working with minor-league affiliates that are no further than 150 miles from Buffalo.”
The Jackals, founded in 2000 as part of the United Hockey League, have been a member of the ECHL since 2007 and were the league’s regular-season champions in 2011-12. The team is located in Elmira, N.Y. and has been affiliated with several other NHL clubs including the Columbus Blue Jackets, Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators and, most recently, the New Jersey Devils.
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