Buffalo Sabres forced to make coaching change on Saturday.

The Buffalo Sabres have been forced to make a coaching change on very short notice.

According to an official announcement on Saturday, the Sabres will not have head coach Don Granato behind the bench today when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets due to Granato being sidelined with an illness. No details regarding the nature of that illness have been disclosed.

Here is the Sabres official statement unedited and in full:

Due to an illness, head coach Don Granato will be unable to coach in today's game against Columbus. Rochester Americans head coach Seth Appert will assume Granato's responsibilities behind the bench. today.

In an interesting move, the Sabres will not be using one of their regulars behind the bench to replace Granato but will instead deploy Seth Appert to fill Granato's role in the interim. Appert is currently the head coach of the Sabres American Hockey League affiliate team the Rochester Americans, and this would appear to speak to the organization's confidence in his abilities.