Q&A: Sabres' Jason Karmanos on how Rochester Amerks have won while developing players

Karmanos brought expertise gained through his 20-plus years working in NHL front offices. He owned three Stanley Cup rings, including one as assistant general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 when Adams was a difference-maker on the ice, and understood how to build each department in an organization.

Karmanos worked with Adams to restructure and replenish the scouting staff. The analytics department was prioritized and supplemented, led by Sam Ventura, who was with Karmanos in Pittsburgh and holds the title vice president of hockey strategy and research. Karmanos also collaborated with Rochester coach Seth Appert and the development staff to prepare the Amerks to be a successful feeder program once the American Hockey League returned to normal in 2021-22.

The results have been transformative. The Amerks need one more win to advance to the Calder Cup playoff conference finals for the first time since 2004. They’re ahead 2-0 in the best-of-five series against the Toronto Marlies and play at home Wednesday night.

Prospects have developed in Rochester under Appert and Karmanos, then succeeded with the Sabres. The Buffalo News spoke to Karmanos recently about the Amerks’ progress over since his arrival:

Q: How are you winning in Rochester with prospects in prominent roles when people often think that’s impossible?

JK: Yeah, that's a good point. I think that's fading away, not just because of what's going on in our organization, but I think that thought process isn't as prevalent as it used to be. It's just the way the game is now everywhere – faster, more skilled. These players that are coming into the game today, they're so much better than they used to be, quite honestly. I know that would offend players from bygone eras, but it's true. I think most people admit that just by comparison. That younger up-tempo enthusiastic game, it's the same here in the American League as it is in the NHL. It's younger and you can have success earlier.

It doesn't mean it's not hard. It's very, very hard. And dealing with the ups and downs and the emotions of a full season, and then once you get into the playoffs with the roller coaster of emotions that you deal with in the playoffs, the heightened circumstances. It's a challenge and still more of a challenge for the inexperienced guys, but I just think the way the game is played there's a better chance for younger guys to make an impact. And honestly, they have more energy lots of times. Their bodies are built to take more because they haven't been as beat up as some guys that have been around for a while. I think those are the factors, but it's fun to see.

Q: Have you needed to adjust your strength and conditioning program in Rochester with more young players who need help in that area to prepare for the NHL?

JK: That's part of our setup here that we're really proud of. Nick Craven, our strength and conditioning coach here in Rochester, is really great. He does a tremendous job. It's a big part of what we tried to do. I'm kind of a broken record on this, but it's worth saying over and over and over again, both up top with Donny Granato and down here with Seth Appert, we have two coaches that come from the national team development program. Their background, the experiences they had working with the most elite players in the United States at those tender, young ages, they brought the best parts of what they learned from those experiences and they're applying them to our group here.

Part of that is the practice time, making the most of the practice time that we have. Fortunately, in the American League, you have quite a bit more than in the NHL, but another component of that is making sure that the season doesn't go by without finding time to work on strength gains in the gym, off the ice. Nick Craven is exceptional in his role here. I think that's part of it, too. I think we've seen a couple years in a row here where our youngest kids have improved over the course of the year, clearly, and a big part of that is getting stronger, both mentally and physically, but especially physically at the ages that they are. There's just a lot of changes their bodies are going through, so it's good to see. It's very rewarding for us on the management side to see the progress and that's really what you want.

Q: What is your reaction to the progress since you arrived?

JK: It's exciting. When Kevyn brought me on board here, it was already in process and it was a difficult time for the whole world and for our sport just kind of just trying to get back on track. The last couple of years, especially this year, has been what I would say is totally normal again. You can concentrate just on the most important things and developing your players, it's really exciting to see. It's two years of the same thing, building through the season, getting better. Not just winning games but winning games the right way. Putting in the work. It syncs up with what Kevyn's message is up top. Take each day, get better each day and grow as a group. That's what's going on down here and I truly believe it'll help the Sabres in the future.

Q: How has Seth Appert impressed you in his role as coach of the Amerks?

JK: Kevyn hired Seth and Seth didn't have any pro coaching experience, so this was all new to him. A bit of a leap of faith there, but I think it was a tremendous hire. What goes along with that is Seth and his staff, they put in the work. They apply the lessons that they learned from their prior backgrounds and apply them to the goal of developing players for the Sabres and that is the ultimate goal. The winning is a nice byproduct of doing things the way that we want to do things. We do feel that the most important thing is the players develop, but part of that is a winning environment, which really helps with development as well. You can't sacrifice development for winning, but if you have the two go hand in hand, that's ideal. Fortunately, for a couple of years now we've had that go in that direction. It's exciting to see and fun to be a part of.

Q: Can winning in the American Hockey League have an impact on an organization’s NHL team?

JK: I think so, for sure. The most relevant example that I have from my past is when the entire NHL was shut down in the '04-05 season, I was working for Carolina at the time, we had Eric Staal, Cam Ward and several others playing in Lowell, and that experience, we didn't win a championship, but we had a good run, and we had a great season overall. That absolutely translated to what happened the next year. I don't think we expected to win the Stanley Cup the next year, but we did. That experience, especially Eric Staal ended up leading the whole playoffs in scoring that year and Cam Ward won the Conn Smythe, so there you go. Two guys that came right from the American League before had success, had success together as a group, and then came up to help the big club. That's what we're hoping for here.

Q: Your veteran players’ contributions in Rochester probably aren’t discussed enough. How have you and Seth found the right mix over the past two seasons?

JK: It might be overlooked from the outside, but it's certainly not overlooked inside. It's an absolutely key piece of the puzzle. You're speaking about guys like Michael Mersch, the captain, Ethan Prow, all of them, honestly. What we try to find is the guys that aren't on NHL two-way (contracts) that can't be called up. You need to find the right players in terms of their mindset. Guys that come to work each day and want to get better, even though they know that the NHL is not necessarily in their future. It's probably part of their past. We're looking for types that we refer to as culture drivers. Older guys usually that have experience, that can show our younger players what it means to come to work every day. There's a professionalism that doesn't usually just come with a player.

We draft players at extremely young ages and they're just kids. Usually, they get a couple more years before they turn pro, but in the case of Jiri (Kulich), he showed up, right here day one. And for those types, it's incredibly important for them to see those examples on a daily basis. The coaches obviously provide guidance, day in and day out, but players really do look to their peers. Look to how their own teammates are behaving. That's what you see happening up in with the Sabres as well. We're trying to do a very similar thing here.

Q: What did it mean to you and others in the organization to see prospects like Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka help the Sabres this season after developing their game in Rochester?

JK: I'm proud to be a part of that – I think we all are. It’s fun to see them have success at this level and then when it translates up top and where we think we can get to with this group, it's really exciting."