Amerks Coaching Staff Fired

[Andrew Amerk]

Tails and his staff actually were doing a good job. What, 120-65 over 3 years?

These moves seem to hurt the developing players. I’ve heard they spoke to Tails, Sexton, and Greeley often. Now these prospects have zero leadership to look to or a line of communication. 

Looks like a giant setback for our organization (if you want to call it organized). Fire people for doing a good job. Sounds logical. 

[Two or less]

4 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Tails and his staff actually were doing a good job. What, 120-65 over 3 years?

These moves seem to hurt the developing players. I’ve heard they spoke to Tails, Sexton, and Greeley often. Now these prospects have zero leadership to look to or a line of communication. 

Looks like a giant setback for our organization (if you want to call it organized). Fire people for doing a good job. Sounds logical. 

I think you're being a bit too dramatic.

Taylor was a good coach but let's not act like he was the next coming.

The Amerks under Taylor had one of the highest payrolls in the AHL. They filled that roster up with veterans. It was a team build to win in that league and not because Taylor was the coach. When Taylor was in Buffalo last season while Granato was sick, Dineen-led Amerks were something like 9-3-3. 120 wins looks great, but in the two playoff series they were 0-6. Not a single victory. Lance in the buffalo news writes that last season the Amerks had 8 players who combined to make $5.1 million but neither of them scored over 15 goals and Taylor still claimed those guys had big roles even though they weren't scoring.

The Amerks were a team with priority to win any way they could, to pad Taylor's resume for him to pack his bags and go to the NHL. Completely fine because that was the philosophy of Botterill and Sexton to build a winner in the AHL with vets and teach the prospects winning culture that was, but Adams has clearly said that is not how he sees to use the AHL. It's priority will be player development.

[Two or less]

On 6/16/2020 at 4:48 PM, dudacek said:

This seems like overkill, and is especially surprising given the praise Tayls got from Krueger.

On the other hand, is Victor Olofsson the sole graduate from JBott’s development school?

Krueger had Taylor on his bench to start the NHL season. He held a week long seminar with all coaches last summer to have everyone on the same page and keeps in touch with Taylor about players during the season. Adams said he will rely on Krueger a lot. To me, this seems like it was more Ralph's idea then some kind of savage move by Adams or the Pegulas.

 

On 6/16/2020 at 4:57 PM, Taro T said:

Not happy about Taylor getting canned.  Hope Adam's and Krueger have an actual plan. 

I obviously have no idea, but it's fun to speculate. One name of interest for me for the Amerks job is Cory Stillman. Played with Adams in Carolina, then went to be a development coach in Florida before accepting a gig as director of player development with Carolina, where he held the job for several years and worked a lot with their prospects, then leaving that job to be the head coach of Sudbury in the OHL, where he's been very successful.

 

On 6/16/2020 at 4:50 PM, That Aud Smell said:

Maybe gives a new sheen to Kim talking about how there's gonna be a long stretch of downtime?

Or are the people who've been fired still going to get paid under their contracts?

Yeah Taylor has a guaranteed contract but it expires on June 30th.

[Andrew Amerk]

14 hours ago, Reino23 said:

I think you're being a bit too dramatic.

Taylor was a good coach but let's not act like he was the next coming.

The Amerks under Taylor had one of the highest payrolls in the AHL. They filled that roster up with veterans. It was a team build to win in that league and not because Taylor was the coach. When Taylor was in Buffalo last season while Granato was sick, Dineen-led Amerks were something like 9-3-3. 120 wins looks great, but in the two playoff series they were 0-6. Not a single victory. Lance in the buffalo news writes that last season the Amerks had 8 players who combined to make $5.1 million but neither of them scored over 15 goals and Taylor still claimed those guys had big roles even though they weren't scoring.

The Amerks were a team with priority to win any way they could, to pad Taylor's resume for him to pack his bags and go to the NHL. Completely fine because that was the philosophy of Botterill and Sexton to build a winner in the AHL with vets and teach the prospects winning culture that was, but Adams has clearly said that is not how he sees to use the AHL. It's priority will be player development.

 

[jad1]

19 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Tails and his staff actually were doing a good job. What, 120-65 over 3 years?

These moves seem to hurt the developing players. I’ve heard they spoke to Tails, Sexton, and Greeley often. Now these prospects have zero leadership to look to or a line of communication. 

Looks like a giant setback for our organization (if you want to call it organized). Fire people for doing a good job. Sounds logical. 

120-65, but how many players graduated to the NHL during that time as regulars?  Two? Olofsson and Ulmark?

And did those guys really need a 'winning culture' to make it to the NHL?

Player development was supposed to be Botterill's forte, but all the franchise got was a bloated, under-performing scouting staff and an AHL team dominated by players who have aged out of prospect status.

Hard to blame Adams' decision to make massive organizational changes after the Botterill clown show of the past few years.

[Curt]

22 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Tails and his staff actually were doing a good job. What, 120-65 over 3 years?

These moves seem to hurt the developing players. I’ve heard they spoke to Tails, Sexton, and Greeley often. Now these prospects have zero leadership to look to or a line of communication. 

Looks like a giant setback for our organization (if you want to call it organized). Fire people for doing a good job. Sounds logical. 

I don’t think the AHL record played into it all that much.  I think it came down to a couple things.

1) There may not even be an AHL season, so why keep these coaches on payroll?

2) Were they developing players and turning them into useful NHLers?

[Drag0nDan]

On 6/18/2020 at 9:41 PM, Curt said:

I don’t think the AHL record played into it all that much.  I think it came down to a couple things.

1) There may not even be an AHL season, so why keep these coaches on payroll?

2) Were they developing players and turning them into useful NHLers?

This is how i look at it.  Spending money on AHL wins doesn't help grow the mittelstadts of the world.  Ideally you want someone like mittelstadt to have like half a season at the AHL level before he comes up.  Maybe a full season if he doesn't do well right away.  If JB promised him NHL time, that was a big mistake.  If getting rid of RoR was to make way for Mittelstadt, that's a criminal mistake.  

But at the end of the day - Nylander was a failure.  Mittelstadt looks like he'll be a failure.  Same with Thompson.  Their failure falls on JB, but also on the AHL coaches.  Were the scouts all that off on the talent?  Or did the coaching staff/development staff fail?  Accountability falls on players, but these guys are like 19 and this organization was lacking in leadership.  

Cozens seems destined for the same thing as mittelstadt - and I don't see any route where he doesn't end up starting at C.  I'm all for him doing it, but he should have to earn it, not get handed a 2/3C spot day 1 out of Juniors. 

[Drag0nDan]

On 6/16/2020 at 4:48 PM, dudacek said:

This seems like overkill, and is especially surprising given the praise Tayls got from Krueger.

On the other hand, is Victor Olofsson the sole graduate from JBott’s development school?

And was it JB?  Or his 4 years playing pro hockey in sweden from age 19-22?

[miles]

Why.. I thought the amerks were the only shining light in this whole garbage dump of a franchise 

[inkman]

1 hour ago, miles said:

Why.. I thought the amerks were the only shining light in this whole garbage dump of a franchise 

They ain't gonna pay fools who ain't working. Or can't.

[Sabre fan]

Jbotto sold everybody on his theory that it was important to have a great AHL (Rochester) just as Pittsburg does...but the difference is that Pittsburg continuously pumps out good young players that can fit right into the big teams lineup....instead JBotto just signed a bunch of overpaid vets at the end of their careers and clearly that was not working...oh and Carolina keeps developing good young guys too...

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

2 hours ago, Sabre fan said:

Jbotto sold everybody on his theory that it was important to have a great AHL (Rochester) just as Pittsburg does...but the difference is that Pittsburg continuously pumps out good young players that can fit right into the big teams lineup....instead JBotto just signed a bunch of overpaid vets at the end of their careers and clearly that was not working...oh and Carolina keeps developing good young guys too...

I just looked at Wilkes-Barre and they had about 18 players 25yrs old and up on the roster (remember Phil Varone?). I'm pretty sure we had a younger group.

Charlotte Checkers only had 10.

Edit...after further review we also had about 18.

Edited June 24, 2020 by MakeSabresGrr8Again

[inkman]

Cracking on the AHL staff for not developing anyone is laughable. Who the ***** did they have to develop?  Olofsson turned out fine. Borgen is on track. Aslpund is doing well. 

Nylander?  A half hearted benefactor of nepotism that was drafted about 20 spots too high.  

I saw someone mention Tage Thompson. He, of a grand total of 24 games with the Amerks, put up 21 points in those games, looking absolutely dominant.  

The cupboard's are bare. There hasn't been anyone to develop as they are already NHL players or are never gonna be NHL players. 

[Sabre fan]

It is almost embarrassing that this team has tanked and/or been awful (not on purpose) year-after-year for ten years running (missing playoffs) and we do not have anymore then 3 or 4 prospects in the AHL???? That almost seems impossible; that in itself is a true indicator of just how bad both exGM's TM and JBotto really were (and the scouting dept included). Totally agree that the young players there look good (Thompson, Borgen, Olofsson) so maybe this is not so much on the coaching (Taylor etc) but on the players they were given in Rochester. JBotto seemed more concerned with older vets to make that team look good then stocking it with good young players. We gave away ROR and Kane and there alone should have at least got some good young prospects to show for those trades (we got Thompson and the verdict is still out on him). And people actually wonder why the Pegulas are frustrated after spending an absolute boatload of cash over the years they have owned this club and have nothing to show for it but a team that continues to lose and a farm-team  where the cupboard is pretty-much bare...