Michael Leone Joins Sabres Live | Buffalo Sabres

Michael Leone Joins Sabres Live | Buffalo Sabres

Friday edition continues of Sabers live as promised amar’s head coach Michael Leone is with us after the announcement yesterday that he has become the next in line after Seth appert’s excellent run of which Seth is now a member of the Sabers coaching staff Michael congratulations welcome to the show thank you no thank you guys uh happy to be here and uh really excited to get started okay I’m gonna start you with this one when I this is funny to me if I go to like Elite prospects right now to dig in for information and I look at the 2425 Rochester Americans there is only Zack metah Riley Fiddler Schultz and you listed because everybody else needs a contract or is on entrylevel contracts which mean they could be playing for NHL you know what I mean so I saw that is it super exciting like when you when you have this and again it’s your first uh head coaching uh job in the pros like it’s it’s an interesting and dare I say an open canvas to a certain extent right yeah no I’m I’m really excited I’m grateful for the opportunity they uh the last 48 hours have been uh my phone’s been blown up from past players and uh going back to even when I was a volunteer at Bowling Green and uh just really excited and grateful I can’t wait to get started and I’m so lucky to be in this organization and work for great people and um I’ve heard nothing but great things obviously uh been getting a lot of texts on the prospects that are in the OR organization and I am familiar with some of them and I’m I I’m grateful and I’m excited hardest question you’ll ever have to answer right coming up right now Mike that’s Michael that’s the way it is when I came into Buffalo I followed a guy named Dominic Hasek everybody kept asking me what does it feel like following hashek following hasik you’ve followed some pretty good names either in Green Bay and now coming into Rochester I mean Don Granado we all know him obviously from his time here in Buffalo John Cooper Derek L long they were coach of the Green Bay gamblers uh before you and now set AER who’s done a fantastic job with Rochester and up with Buffalo so what’s the like approach to saying oh I’m following up in some big shoes I remember saying hashek took his shoes with him and I better wear my own shoes to the to the locker room so how do you approach that yeah I think you said it best I think the biggest thing if I learned so far in my coaching journey is you got to be yourself I’ve been really lucky uh I actually played for Coupe and uh Derek Alon and I I know Seth uh we worked in the same building for a year and obviously he’s done an unbelievable job but I think you know the culture is in place or it’s set now I have to come in I obviously every coach has new ideas but uh I think we share a lot of the same values and in beliefs on uh how we practice and how we train and um you know it you just got to be yourself with that being said what do you think you um taken with you from all of your stops along the way here and what is still a relatively short coaching career yeah I think uh you know you take bits and pieces uh from everyone and like I said I’ve been really fortunate to play for really good coaches but I think the biggest thing I’ve learned uh when I went to the National program um obviously the new age of of player and how skilled the game is and in in learning how to coach those young talented kids from my time in Green Bay then getting the getting the opportunity in Green Bay to run your own program and you know we had really talented kids there I was fortunate to coach ardan left shof who was going to be a high draft pick uh we had Julian Lots last year and um I think it’s a it’s really important to develop relationships with players so they can trust you and I think that’s the biggest thing and one of my strengths and um you know I can’t like I said I can’t wait to get started what is the biggest challenge uh you feel is uh going from Juniors and your time at the national team development program and moving to the pros it’s it’s obviously different right but what is the biggest challenge you think when you look at dealing with young kids and juniors and now dealing with Pros that want to get to the NHL yeah I think it’s uh you know managing personalities managing people I think is one of my strengths and obviously there’s there’s a lot of things I don’t know about Pro Hockey so it’s really important for me to lean on the the people that have been there and and my mentors that have helped me um but I think at the end of the day you’re you’re managing people everyone has high expectations to get to the next level and it’s my job and responsibility to help them ultimately get uh become a buffalo saber um and I and I think it’s just really leaning on the people there’s really good people in that organization that are there great assistant coaches um you know Seth laid the foundation and it’s my job to come in and continue that and uh I’m going to do it to the best of my ability so that is leading us to a fair assumption that Nathan pae and uh Vinnie prel are coming back yes okay so that’s good um what else do you what’s on the short-term to-do list for you here um well you know it’s a crazy time for me I actually have a um a newborn on the way my first child in the next month so so that’s coming up here um but no just reach out to uh you know I talked to Nathan paig last night um you know uh talked to Mets uh yesterday we’re having another conversation today but uh lot of media calls returning returning text and honestly just really en enjoying the moment I mean it’s a really exciting time for myself uh the organization my family so I I’m just really excited and I’m taking it all in okay so from Michigan last couple of years in Green Bay coming to the Western New York I would say Buffalo Bills region what is your like football fandom if we can say lies because you’ve been around some parts of the country that have different uh NFL teams yeah no I’m I’m actually a big uh football fan like so grew up a Michigan football fan but obviously uh Dan a huge Dan Campbell fan now what he’s done Detroit uh but no I’m a I’m a big Bill’s guy too like I uh really liked their head coach I actually had Josh Allen on my fantasy team so that’s uh get a lot of running running touchdowns so that’s good but I’m a I’m a I’m a huge sports fan in general so um really like the bills as well when you mentioned Campbell and the Lions um it leads me to ask whether you feel like you’re able to pull from being a sports fan and watching other leaders do their thing in their respective Sports and if so what might what might you draw from from people like Campbell and or others yeah I think uh no it’s a really good question I’m uh you know I follow a lot of coaches in in other sports if you look at uh Dan Hurley at Connecticut what he’s done there and his leadership and you know how hard the guys practice and how hard they play and even Dan Campbell watching it uh firsthand from afar even though I wasn’t in in uh Detroit at the time but but the culture that he created in the buyin and you kind of you kind of pull things from from different coaches and and you got to um you know do it your own way but yeah it really I’m a huge Sports guy so I I follow a lot of coaches and there’s other guys that I’m missing but you kind of come up with your own way to do things and uh that’s what I try to do in Green Bay and we were successful and I look forward to you know uh bringing new ideas and thoughts to um r Rochester and and continue what Seth built there so you mentioned Dan Hurley we have somebody on our staff that does not like Connecticut basketball very much uh in Tom Mecca sorry Mecca I threw you under the bus here but uh early potentially going to the Lakers right like there’s there’s always these guys that they have great sound bites after intensity I think of those two you talk early Campbell there’s an intensity behind them uh what’s your demeanor behind the bench is it one that we will be able to read your facial expression and the color of your skin or do you stay calm no I’m I’m pretty uh calm cool Collective like I I think it’s really important for at times you know you’re a competitor as a coach and person which I am and you see that emotion sometimes but I I’m a firm believer in that you know you take on the personality of your coach and the guys that I played for um was fortunate enough to play for learned a lot from them even though I was a player at the time of how cool and calm they were and that’s probably more my than than screaming at the refs or players leave that for Vinnie proo he he’s done his fair share of yelling at the refs before you just put him in charge he’ll take care of it um when you take your experience most recently in Green Bay which obviously included team building as a general manager how much of that skill set was developed in the last couple of years and how much yeah I know it’s if you look at um you know especially in USHL it’s a really volatile League like you especially with the NCA transfer portal we actually lost uh six kids in the middle of the summer um two drafted kids so we had to find a way to make trades and and uh we knew we had a really good goalie coming back but it’s really you you learn a lot um you know during that time I was never a general manager before so I was kind of uh it was on the go but uh you really realize you acquire really good people and and um talent and and good things are going to happen and you got to get the most out of your players I think that’s the biggest thing and I think we did a really good job of that but it really It prepares you you know you’re you’re on the phone a lot doing both jobs and and not many teams in the league had a um um coach general manager but I you know it really helped me grow as a person in in um dealing with agents and in players and you’re on the phone a lot but it I really enjoyed my time being a general manager but now I’m really excited just to be able to coach so how much cheese do you consumed in Green Bay and uh do you know know what a garbage plate is because that is a Rochester staple no yeah my uh my wife was uh you know looking through some of the tweets and she’s like what’s a garbage plate I was like I don’t know I’m gonna have to find I’m gon have to find out but cheese Cur yeah that was a big thing with the it was Packer football and gambler hockey that was that was the big thing there and then uh but yeah I don’t know what a garbage plate is well we we’ll have one waiting for you when you first come to Rochester I’m sure somebody’ll take care of that do you um when when I mean this is a as you said a big um time in your life with the new baby coming what what is the the kind of timeline as far as uh you know getting involved with the Amar slash the Sabers here over the the yeah so I’ve been in uh you know Jason and I obviously they have a really busy time right now that at the combine but uh we’re going to connect this uh next week and um you know talk about the roster and things like that the plan is to hopefully depending on when the baby’s born but to make it to the draft and and then development Camp after that so uh if all if all things play out hopefully that happens but you never never know what the time of the baby but uh yeah so we’re we’re going to connect uh next week I’m actually uh going back to Green Bay um we actually have main Camp uh this week to just to say you know talk to the players and management there um I’ll so tomorrow I’m going to fly out and uh you know say goodbye to the people that gave me an opportunity and then I’ll head back next week okay well the sports not that you are um who is going to win the standing Cup finals uh Florida Panthers obviously against the Edmonton oers I’m sure you’ve watched a ton of uh what’s happening so who’s your pick and how many games oh wow put me at the spot uh I’m gonna I’m gonna go with Florida in six games okay it’s not really putting you on a spot there’s two teams it’s not like I’m giving you the options from a hundred of them like there’s yeah I’m gonna say Florida and six Florida and six didn’t Shaya just say Florida and six as well du she did so I got Florida in seven and Duffer I don’t know who you got no you’ll have to stay tuned to the end of the show for that so okay good or maybe Monday or Tuesday you’ll no I don’t want to wait till the series is well underway Michael thank you so much for the time um best of luck in your budding family here in the the next few weeks and uh we look forward to seeing you oh thanks a lot I’ll be uh looking forward to the garbage plate when I get there yeah yeah wa maybe we can it could be a theme of one of our shows at development Camp although that would maybe fly in the face of development right Marty yeah that would not be good for the fat test for sure all right Michael thanks so much there he is Michael Leone head coach of the am [Music]

New Rochester Americans head coach Michael Leone joined Brian Duff and Martin Biron on Sabres Live to discuss his new position and working with Sabres prospects with the Amerks.

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