AMERKS TOP FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM THE MONTH OF APRIL
May 5, 2021By Suzie Cool
The Rochester Americans 2020-21 season may be condensed to just three-and-a-half months, but April was a month that felt like a lifetime at The Blue Cross Arena. Between 11 games, NHL debuts, a new general manager and newcomers trying to earn their spots in the American Hockey League, there’s a lot to cover when it comes to the Rochester’s month of April. It’s time to dive into the Amerks Top Five Takeaways for the month of April.
1. JASON KARMANOS BECOMES AMERKS GM
On April 16, the Amerks were officially given a new general manager in Jason Karmanos and how this came to be comes as no surprise when you look at the history between he and Buffalo Sabres General Manager Kevyn Adams.
Adams and Karmanos have known each other since they were in their teens and teammates with Team USA dating all the way back to the 1994 World Junior Championship. As both went on to have professional careers within the world of hockey, Karmanos would turn over to the front office after 16 games in the ECHL when he became the assistant general manager for the Carolina Hurricanes in 1998.
Karmanos when on to be a part of the Carolina front office for 14 years and it was within that timeframe that their paths would intersect again, when Adams was acquired in a trade with the Florida Panthers in 2002. As both went on to win a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes four years after the fact, it’s making significant moves like this that Adams hopes Karmanos can bring to the table for the Sabres organization.
Karmanos followed his 14-year stint in Carolina with a six-year stint in Pittsburgh, where he was vice president of hockey operations for the Penguins' Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017. He spent the past three seasons as Pittsburgh’s assistant general manager.
2. GETTING THEIR SHOT IN BUFFALO
Coming into the final month of the regular season, the Amerks have seen 13 different players recalled to the big club. While four of those individuals have made their NHL debuts, three of those moments came just last month for forward Arttu Ruotsalainen, defenseman Mattias Samuelsson and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Ruotsalainen was the first to make his debut as he was recalled to the Buffalo taxi squad on April 5 and made his NHL debut just four days later when the Sabres took on the Washington capitals.
It wasn’t before long that Ruotsalainen would continue to prove his productivity, when in just his second game he recorded his first NHL goal against the Flyers on April 11. Since that first night at the KeyBank Center, Ruotsalainen has went on to produce five goals and one assist in the 13 games he’s played with Buffalo while averaging 19 shifts a game.
Luukkonen was the next Amerk to make moves, getting his first recall to the taxi squad on April 16, although it would be a week until Luukkonen got his first nod for Buffalo.
On April 23, the long wait was over as Luukkonen made his NHL debut at the KeyBank Center in front of a crowd of anticipating Sabres fans. It feels as if Luukkonen’s time in the NHL has been long-awaited by the fan base and he gave them exactly what they wanted in that first night that he took the crease in the blue and gold. As Luukkonen stopped 36 of the 40 shots he faced in net, he helped lift his new squad to a 6-4 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Last, but not least, Samuelsson was the final Amerk of the month to earn his first recall to Buffalo and to make his NHL debut.
When Samuelsson was recalled on April 17, he was immediately thrown into the action the very next day as the Sabres took on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Being a defenseman, it took Samuelsson a little longer to find the scoresheet than Ruotsalainen but when he did, he found it twice on the same night with a pair of assists against the Bruins on April 23. Since his debut, Samuelsson has gone on to play eight games for the Sabres and has collected two assists.
3. QUINN’S FIRST SEASON COMES TO AN END
In any other year, this season would not have been the one where rookie forward Jack Quinn made his American Hockey League debut.
COVID-19 has thrown a lot of curveballs this year, but it’s also been seen as a major opportunity for many players who have raised a case as to why they should undoubtedly be in this league or for players to have the opportunity in the first place. For Quinn, Buffalo’s eighth overall pick in this past year’s NHL Draft, it was the latter, and realistically should’ve still been playing juniors at just 19-years-old.
Now, if it were a normal season, Quinn would’ve still been in the OHL (Ontario Hockey League) tearing things up with the Ottawa 67’s and waiting to make his pro debut. However, with the OHL being completely shut down this year, the AHL provided an exemption for underage players like Quinn to get a head start on his pro career.
Quinn went on to appear in 15 games with the Amerks this season, scoring two goals and adding seven assists over that time. In his AHL debut on Feb. 18 against the Utica Comets, Quinn not only notched his first pro point with an assist but netted the shootout-clinching goal to lift Rochester to a 4-3 win.
As Quinn seemed to immediately make an impact over his short time with the squad, he ended the season centering the second line in his last two games, something he had wanted to start working on as the season progressed. Unfortunately, that work came to a halt on April 22 when underwent season-ending hernia surgery.
4. NEWCOMERS MAKING AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Since joining the Amerks lineup over the last few weeks, defenseman Nick DeSimone and forwards Brendan Warren, Brent Gates, Jr. and Brandon Hawkins have made an immediate impact on the scoresheet.
Despite having been thrust into the lineup without a full team practice under his belt, DeSimone made the most of his Amerks debut on April 24 with a team-high two assists against the Crunch. Prior to being acquired by the Golden Knights, the fifth-year pro appeared in 14 games with the San Jose Barracuda (AHL) to begin the season, recording five assists during that time.
Starting off the month of May, Saturday night was just the third time in seven games that Gates, Jr. failed to record a point since joining the Amerks back on April 14. After recording an assist in his Amerks debut, he notched a point in three straight games from April 21-24, including a multi-point effort against Syracuse.
Playing on the opposite wing from one another, Warren and Hawkins each have three points through their first five games with Rochester. Both scored in their Amerks debuts against Syracuse on April 21.
5. BUSIEST MONTH YET
The 2020-21 season is unusual in the sense that it’s condensed down to just 32 games over a three-and-a-half-month span.
To kick off the shortened year, the month of February only had six games in which the Amerks started off the season strong, going 4-2-0-0. Now, when we look at the month of March, that’s where things began to get a little complicated with COVID-19 protocols kicking into place and a 16-day layoff as a result.
Over the course of March, six games were played and five were postponed and pushed into the last month and a half of the 2020-21 campaign. Of those five that were postponed, just one was made up towards the end of March against the Syracuse Crunch, leaving four unanswered tilts for April and May.
When April hit, the Amerks hit the ice with 11 games over a 30-day span. Over the course of these four weeks, Rochester had three, three-in-four weekends and ended the month with back-to-back action between the Utica and Syracuse. Not to forget, six of April’s 11 tilts were played in the Flower City.