Sabres Announce Cunneyworth, Forton, Devine Take on New Roles

[26CornerBlitz]

CUNNEYWORTH, FORTON, DEVINE TAKE ON NEW ROLES: http://sabresdigitalpressbox.com/2014/08/20/cunneyworth-forton-devine-take-on-new-roles/

The Buffalo Sabres today announced that Randy Cunneyworth, Jerry Forton and Kevin Devine have taken on new roles within the organization. Cunneyworth, who worked mainly in player development with the Rochester Americans last season, will serve the organization as a player development coach. Forton will assume a new role to focus on scouting the collegiate ranks as an NCAA scout and Devine will serve as director of player personnel.

Several other changes in the team’s hockey department have also been announced: Jason Long will serve as coordinator of player development; Corey Smith has been named video coach; Jim Kovachik has been named a pro scout; and Seamus Kotyk and Victor Nybladh have been named amateur scouts.

Cunneyworth re-joined the Sabres organization in November 2013 as a scout and then served as a special assistant and player development coach in Rochester. Prior to returning to Buffalo, he served as interim head coach for the Montreal Canadiens after being promoted to assistant coach of the Canadiens following a one-year stint as head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL). He was also coach of the Americans for eight seasons, from 2000-2008, after his 16-year career playing in the NHL.

Forton, who served as an assistant coach with the Sabres in 2013-14, has 18 years of collegiate hockey experience with coaching stints at Harvard, UMass Lowell and Niagara University.

Devine begins his 17th year in the Sabres organization, having served in several roles in the hockey department during his tenure. He joined the team’s scouting department in 1998 and has more than 15 years of experience as both an amateur and pro scout.

Long enters his third season with the Sabres after joining the organization in 2012. His responsibilities in player development have included the planning and implementation of the team’s rookie development camp and programs.

Smith, entering his 9th season with the Sabres, will be responsible for all of the video editing and analysis of games, as well as pre-scouting each opponent. He joined the organization in 2006 as a video analyst and most recently served as administrative assistant coach.

Kovachik joined the Sabres in 2012-13 and has served as an amateur scout for the past two seasons. Prior to the Sabres, Kovachik scouted for the Guelph Storm and Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

Kotyk has been in the Sabres organization since 2013, after a 13-year playing career in the AHL, ECHL, OHL, as well as in Austria.

Nybladh, who joined the organization before the 2012-13 season, has spent the past two seasons as a European scout for the team.

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[Jim Bob]

I'd love to know what Devine's role & responsibilities were before this change and what they are now.

I still worry that it's not long before he leaves the club.

 

[Rhett4]

I'd love to know what Devine's role & responsibilities were before this change and what they are now.

I still worry that it's not long before he leaves the club.

That's the same thought I had. The Sabres should attach a job description for all these guys. Seems to be a lot if redundancies in that department now.

 

[Jacob582]

I'd love to know what Devine's role & responsibilities were before this change and what they are now.

I still worry that it's not long before he leaves the club.

Looks like a move out of scouting for Devine.

 

[Jim Bob]

Looks like a move out of scouting for Devine.

Maybe not...

http://senators.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=58687

Pierre Dorion enters his seventh season with the Senators and his fifth as director of player personnel, after being promoted to the position on Aug. 26, 2009. Prior to that Dorion spent two seasons as the Senators’ chief amateur scout.

As director of player personnel, Dorion is responsible for managing the Senators scouting staff, both professional and amateur. Dorion also oversees all facets of evaluation for players both inside and outside of the organization.

http://bruins.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=98912

As Executive Director of Player Personnel, John Ferguson will be responsible for scouting at both professional and amateur levels for all Bruins personnel, including club prospects and current roster players. Ferguson will also assist and advise Chiarelli in evaluating potential trades, signings and other club transactions in his role.

 

[Jame]

we need an org chart...

 

[Husko]

Sounds like a promotion for Devine, now he runs the ammeter and pro scouting departments, with those respective directors under him.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

If I had to guess, it seems like they split the old "AGM" role into two separate roles. Devine will probably have a lot of the same duties since his expertise as AGM was scouting anyway. The new guy will probably leave all of the scouting management to Devine to have more time to focus on player development, trade negotiations, contract negotiations, etc. Not sure how much Devine was involved in that stuff anyway.

 

[CaptPantalones]

Sounds like a promotion for Devine, now he runs the ammeter and pro scouting departments, with those respective directors under him.

Rob Murphy and Greg Royce run the pro and amateur scouting departments, respectively.

 

[Ruckus007]

Sounds like a promotion for Devine, now he runs the ammeter and pro scouting departments, with those respective directors under him.

Eh, I'm not sure. If it's the same job description as Dorion and Ferguson then it sounds like he's responsible for scouting and tracking players already in the organization, as opposed to upcoming draft prospects. I can't guess the hierarchy but I'm not sure that Murphy/Royce have to report to him under that set up.

 

[Husko]

Eh, I'm not sure. If it's the same job description as Dorion and Ferguson then it sounds like he's responsible for scouting and tracking players already in the organization, as opposed to upcoming draft prospects. I can't guess the hierarchy but I'm not sure that Murphy/Royce have to report to him under that set up.

Not sure how you read that from Dorion's descriptions:

"As director of player personnel, Dorion is responsible for managing the Senators scouting staff, both professional and amateur. Dorion also oversees all facets of evaluation for players both inside and outside of the organization."

 

[Paxon]

Rob Murphy and Greg Royce run the pro and amateur scouting departments, respectively.

Right, and he was speculating that those two work under Devine.

 

[jamers]

we need an org chart...

Bring a protractor.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Maybe not...

http://senators.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=58687



http://bruins.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=98912

So...It actually appears to be a promotion for Devine from head of amateur scouting to head of all the scouting? I'm good with that. I've been really happy with what he's done as our head amateur scout. It would've been really disappointing to see him leave. Glad Murray is keeping him around.

 

[jamers]

So...It actually appears to be a promotion for Devine from head of amateur scouting to head of all the scouting? I'm good with that. I've been really happy with what he's done as our head amateur scout. It would've been really disappointing to see him leave. Glad Murray is keeping him around.

It makes sense that Murray would appreciate a good eye for talent.

 

[dotcommunism]

So...It actually appears to be a promotion for Devine from head of amateur scouting to head of all the scouting? I'm good with that. I've been really happy with what he's done as our head amateur scout. It would've been really disappointing to see him leave. Glad Murray is keeping him around.

Devine's most recent title was just "Assistant General Manager" I believe. Unclear just how his job's changing. Could be a lateral move, could be a demotion. I don't think it's a promotion but I'm not sure.

 

[Bps21*]

Assistant general manager isn't a job description it's a title. He went from being the head of amateur scouting to the guy that person, and the head of pro scouting, report to.

 

[Dex]

I think it's a promotion with a clearer definition of responsibility.

 

[dotcommunism]

Assistant general manager isn't a job description it's a title. He went from being the head of amateur scouting to the guy that person, and the head of pro scouting, report to.

Except we don't know who exactly reported to him as assistant general manager. We (or at least I) don't know exactly what his job description was after he went from Head of Amateur Scouting to Assistant General Manager back in 2012. Furthermore, we don't actually know what Devine's job description is now. We just know the job descriptions of other guys who have the same title in different organizations.