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Sabres name Cunneyworth AHL head coach

Randy Cunneyworth

What’s old is new again in Buffalo -- on Tuesday, the Sabres announced that Randy Cunneyworth will be the new head coach of their AHL affiliate in Rochester.

“We are happy to have Randy Cunneyworth move into the role of head coach of the Rochester Americans,” Sabres GM Tim Murray said in a release. “Randy has already established himself as a valuable member of our hockey department in his previous role as development coach, and his track record for winning in the AHL and developing young players make him the ideal candidate to lead the Amerks.”

Cunneyworth, 54, is certainly familiar with the Amerks organization, having both played (from 1980-85, then ’98-99) and coached in Rochester (from 2000-08). After missing the Calder Cup playoffs in ’08, he shifted to the NHL, taking assistant NHL gigs first with Atlanta, then in Montreal.

With the Habs, he was promoted to interim head coach during the 2011-12 campaign but found himself at the center of controversy because he wasn’t French-Canadian, and couldn’t speak French.

Following that ill-fated stint with the Habs, Cunneyworth caught on with Buffalo in a scouting role, and was later promoted to player development coach.