Updated July 2nd… Birch’s contract expired June 30th and was not renewed.

As I’m reading up on the NHL Draft and the changes on the horizon for the Florida Panthers, one thing I noticed was that Jack Birch’s name is no longer listed as a member of the Florida Panthers staff. I used the term fired in the subject because that’s a little more catchy, but it could just be that His contract expired and was not renewed.

I was given the idea to look when I read on George Richard’s blog that Dale Tallon was going to be working on hiring a new director of player personnel.  Chances are no one outside of Rochester really cares all that much or would even notice the guy was gone.

Prior to being named as Director of Player personnel for the Panthers, he was involved in the scouting department for the team.

When Birch was given the position which was essentially the general manager of the Amerks, it was thought that he would bring some good decisions.  Turned out to be the opposite.  The only great move he pulled off was finding Mike Brodeur and getting him signed to help out the struggling Amerks.  The worst move was probably was the signing of Chris Beckford-Tseu to a two year deal, saying he was the best option at the time.

At the early stages of the 2008/2009 season, the Amerks had only won two games and were on the verge of losing their 14th in regulation we were given two classic quotes by Jack Birch that will probably live on forever.

Birch had been approached by myself and some other fans to try and discuss what was going on with the team, he responded trying to defend the roster saying, “we spend $2 Million a year on scouting.”  If they had been spending $2 Million a year on scouting they really needed to analyze the books because they had been doing something wrong.

His other legendary quote was to Kevin Oklobzjia — “Jack Birch assured me this afternoon that every possible avenue has been traveled, and will be traveled again, to find help.”

While fans of the Rochester Americans questioned the talents of Birch, a number of players often spoke highly of the way Birch treated them with respect.