Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
In 2020, the Buffalo Sabres hired Seth Appert with a direct mandate: develop young talent with the Rochester Americans as the NHL club rebuilds.
In four seasons as head coach of the Amerks, Appert – whose coaching background had included more than two decades at the NCAA level as well as time with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program – brought along players like Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Peyton Krebs and Mattias Samuelsson on their way to full-time roles in Buffalo. Jiri Kulich, Isak Rosen and Devon Levi are all poised to contend for promotions this coming season.
Appert was rewarded with a spot on the staff of new Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff. And Mike Leone was brought in to continue the work in Rochester.
Like Appert, the 36-year-old Leone’s background includes time with the much-heralded USNTDP, a three-year stay that featured roles representing the United States and multiple international tournaments and helped produce more than 40 NHL draft picks. The native of Dearborn Heights, Mich., has also been head coach and general manager with Green Bay of the United States Hockey League and was an assistant coach at Bowling Green State University and with Quad City of the ECHL. During Leone’s days as a forward with Texarkana and St. Louis in the junior North American Hockey League, his teammates included three-time Stanley Cup champion Patrick Maroon and current Cleveland Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber, and he played for future Calder Cup and Stanley Cup winning coach Jon Cooper.
In Rochester, Leone is walking into a situation that will offer some familiarity, given the NTDP ties that he shares with Appert. Assistant coaches Vaclav Prospal and Nathan Paetsch will be returning from Appert’s staff as Leone works to build relationships with his new club.
“I think it’s really important, especially with all of the young players now, to really care about the person first, the player second,” Leone outlined. “I think that’s how I started my coaching career. It’s what I believe in. Getting the trust level to work with the player… I think that’s really important, knowing why you’re doing things a certain way when you’re developing the athlete.”
There is more talent moving through the Buffalo pipeline, including a pair of recent first-round picks in forwards Noah Ostlund and Konsta Helenius. Ostlund, 20, made his AHL debut with the Amerks late last season; Helenius, 18, was taken 14th overall in this past June’s draft. Anton Wahlberg, a second-rounder in 2023, joined Rochester in March after finishing his season in the Swedish Hockey League. The Sabres are counting on those players and others to follow the familiar path through the AHL to make the organization’s rebuilding project a success.
Leone’s path is a familiar one as well. In addition to playing for Cooper in the NAHL, he played a season for Jeff Blashill at Western Michigan, and he was coached in Toledo (ECHL) by the Detroit Red Wings’ Derek Lalonde and the Grand Rapids Griffins’ Dan Watson.
“I’ve been probably the luckiest guy in hockey to play for the people that I’ve played for,” Leone explained. “They’re my mentors. They’re people that I lean on. Jon Cooper, for example – his relationships with his players, how he approaches hard conversations, his coming into the room just caring about you as a person, it went a long way. Jeff Blashill – playing for him in college and learning a lot as a player being around him. And then Derek Lalonde was a great communicator with the players. You always knew where you stood.
“I’ve been really lucky and kind of paved my own way as coach and have my own thoughts and ideas, but my core values are very aligned with the coaches that I got to play for.”
TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams has been on the American Hockey League beat for nearly two decades for outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, The Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and SLAM! Sports, and was most recently the co-host of The Hockey News On The ‘A’ podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
