The Buffalo Sabres have utilized their relationship with USA Hockey in order to secure what they hope will be an improvement to their strength and conditioning program.
The association’s director of sport science, Brian Galivan, will be brought aboard for the Sabres’ newly established role of “director of performance,” according to a person close to the team who was speaking Friday. The announcement has not yet been made.
Galivan succeeds Ed Gannon, who was the team’s strength and conditioning coach since 2015 but was let go following the season concluded last month. Galivan is a known face to a number of players of the Sabres organization and specifically to assistant coach Seth Appert, who served as a head coach for National Team Development Program in the 2017-18 campaign and has held various roles for USA Hockey since 2007.
The Sabres’ strength and conditioning program became the topic of discussion in the latter half of the season as coach Lindy Ruff came right out and questioned the players’ conditioning after a January defeat in Seattle.
Ruff and general manager Kevyn Adams spoke again about the need to improve strength and conditioning during a “Blue and Gold Insights” gathering with season-ticket holders on the last week in March in KeyBank Center.
One indication that there was a problem in the zone could have been the fact the Sabres were one of the NHL’s poorest third-period teams this year, as their 107 goals allowed were 30th in the league and ahead of only Chicago and San Jose.
Buffalo was 7-8-3 when tied after two periods, with the 11 defeats one shy of the NHL-record in those positions.
Galivan’s appointment is important as it introduces a hockey-specifically trained individual into the position. Galivan has been working in his present position with USA Hockey for the past six seasons and is overseas working as sport science coach for Team USA at the IIHF World Championships in Stockholm. Sabres leading scorer Tage Thompson is one of the players on that roster.
Gannon, who was hired by the Sabres in 2015, had previously spent 10 years as the lead strength and conditioning coach of the Leicester Tigers, a top division professional rugby club in England.
Galivan − along with his wife, Gabriela, and brother, Patrick − is a co-founder of GVN Performance and Revitalab, a high-profile Chicago gym, and has consulted with elite athletes worldwide in both hockey and other sports to prepare them for the Olympics and other premier competitions.
No doubt near the front of Galivan’s priority list with the Sabres will be 6-feet-6, 215-pound defenseman Owen Power, who has had a tough first three seasons trying to provide a physical presence in his own zone to balance the exceptional offensive abilities in his game.