In his early days as a coach, Jay McKee said he visualized success the same way he had as a player. The popular former defenseman, a linchpin on some beloved Buffalo Sabres teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s, wanted to reach the highest level as quickly as possible.
“As a former athlete … you strive to be at the top level,” said McKee, who played his first NHL game at 18 and secured regular duty before his 20th birthday. “All your training, all your focus, you try to achieve your top level as quick as you can.”
Today, having grinded and paid dues for 12 years in the Ontario Hockey League, he understands he possessed the wrong mindset.
In May, the New York Islanders named McKee coach of the Hamilton Hammers, their new AHL affiliate.
At 48, having won an OHL championship with the Brantford Bulldogs and enjoyed success at all three of his stops in arguably the world’s premier junior league, McKee seems destined to coach in the NHL someday.
His first foray behind the bench in pro hockey, a gig with the Rochester Americans under Ron Rolston in 2011-12, lasted one season.
A year and a half removed from his playing career, McKee was raw as a coach. He joined Rolston and assistant Chadd Cassidy, who had spent years together. Instead of running the defense, McKee handled the forwards.
McKee said the “dynamic didn’t work.” When his one-year contract expired, he took time off to reassess what he wanted to do next.
“I didn’t enjoy the experience as much as I thought I would,” he told the Times Herald. “Part of me was still in player mode. I think there was things that I had to learn at the time developing as a coach.”
Following his brief stint in Rochester, the two seasons he spent as a player-coach with the Dundas Real McCoys, a senior team in Ontario – he won a championship, the Allan Cup, in 2013-14 – helped reignite his fire.
McKee joined the Erie Otters, an OHL team led by Connor McDavid, as an assistant the next season.
He quickly learned junior hockey can be a fertile training ground for a young coach. He realized he needed to stay put in the OHL, a league he played four seasons in as a teenager, and gain as much experience as possible.
“I just felt like I learned so much as a coach, and I flipped my mindset of getting to the top level as quick as possible to growing an appreciation for how much you learn as a coach, and I wanted to play the long game,” he said. “Instead of jumping in, I wanted to feel more than prepared, not just, ‘I think I’m ready,’ before I made the next jump.”
McKee took over as head coach of the Kitchener Rangers in 2016-17 before winning a championship in his first season with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2021-22. He accompanied the Bulldogs franchise when it moved to Brantford in 2023.
The Bulldogs reached the Eastern Conference final last season, losing to the Barrie Colts in seven games.
Now, having run his own bench nearly a decade, McKee said he feels “more than prepared” to make the jump to pro hockey. His teams made the postseason eight times.
“I just grew a great appreciation for how much you learn,” he said of the OHL. “I really feel you have to go through great experiences and then challenging experiences, and that’s where you learn.
“And when you face that same challenging experience, you have the previous challenges, you’ve learned from them and you can adjust quicker. You become a more efficient coach.”
McKee, who makes his home in Wilson, knows he’s lucky to have played for coach Lindy Ruff, who’s in his second tenure with the Sabres, for much of his career.
Over the years, McKee developed a strong appreciation for Ruff, who has become a friend and mentor.
“Certainly have some of his drills and some of his concepts,” said McKee, who utilizes the “Lindy One Touch” and “Lindy 2B2” drills in practice.
McKee said he felt nostalgic watching Ruff’s Sabres end their 14-year playoff drought and win the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division last season.
“You could see the energy in the city,” he said. “… It brought back kind of those great feelings and emotions that we all went through as players. Even seeing those highlight- reel films from the past and the things they were doing this season, it just kind of brought you back as a player and reminded us all (that) was the time of our lives back in the years of 2005 and 2006.”