According to Elliotte Friedman, the Buffalo Sabres have offered former Calgary Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan a job as Phil Housley's assistant coach.
Presumably, Gulutzan would replace Davis Payne on Housley’s coaching staff.
According to the Buffalo News, the Sabres are denying the report that Gulutzan has been offered a coaching position on Phil Housley’s staff.
Where there is smoke, there is fire.
***
If you are one of the dozens of people calling for Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill to trade workhorse centerman Ryan O’Reilly, give your head a shake.
It ain’t happening.
O’Reilly is competing in the sixth World Championships tourney of his nine year NHL career. He’s fed up with losing. ROR would much rather be playing Stanley Cup playoff games rather than compete for his native Canada at the Worlds.
On locker clean out day in Buffalo , after a brutal 31st place finish O’Reilly emoted about his struggles with losing during the 2017-18 season. He said he has to be better. He said there were times he lost his love for the game of hockey during the 2017-18 season. O’Reilly gave the world a glimpse of his soul and revealed his psyche. He was honest and true. He was steadfast. He caught sh*t for it.
Some of you turned O’Reilly’s comments into a negative.
Don’t hate the man for hating systemic losing.
In my the Dreger interview, ROR refused to back down from his break up day comments. He said he has spoken with Botterill and Phil Housley. He vows to be his better self next season. In Buffalo. O’Reilly says he wants to be more of a stand-up-in-the-room type of vocal leader. I believe he will achieve his stated goal.
He’s a winner. He wants to win. When the losses pile up like lake effect snow like they have in Buffalo the past three seasons, it’s hard to keep a smile on your face.
Cut the man a break.
O’Reilly became a father for the first time during 2017-18. He was trying to find equilibrium in his life l. By the end of the season he found his work-life balance. For those of you who don’t have kids, trust me when I tell you that it’s blissful.
O’Reilly scored 24 goals and 37 assists in 81 games this season. It wasn’t good enough. He demanded more of himself.
ROR has more to give and he will.
O’Reilly led the NHL and set a career high with a faceoff win percentage of 60%. It was the best season by a Sabres center since the league began publishing faceoff percentage in 1997-98:
Ryan O’Reilly – 60.0% (2017-18)
Paul Gaustad – 59.8% (2010-11)
Chris Gratton – 58.9% (2002-03)
Chris Drury – 58.8% (2006-07)
Ryan O’Reilly – 58.0% (2016-17)
O’Reilly also led the NHL in faceoffs won, edging Rod Brind’Amour (1,268 in 2005-06) to set an NHL record for the most by any NHL player in a season. His 954 wins at even strength shattered the previous single-season record (Brind’Amour, 870 in 2001-02).
His 29 faceoff wins on Feb. 11 vs. Colorado set a single-game franchise record and tied as the sixth most wins by a player since the league began tracking faceoff stats in the 1997-98 season.
O’Reilly became just the third player ever to win at least 1,000 faceoffs in a season while maintaining a faceoff percentage of at least 59 percent, joining Brind’Amour (five times) and Patrice Bergeron (two times).
When a player of O’Reilly’s ole plays on your NHL, you are better for it.
The 2018-19 vintage of the Buffalo Sabres will have a much more sophisticated look than the 2017-18 Sabres did.
The Sabres are the owners of the first overall pick in the June NHL Draft. They will select Swedish rock star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. Slick center Casey Mittelstadt will a lot in at the number two center role.
Botterill and Housley are salivating at the prospect of icing a nightly lineup the features a center rotation of Eichel-Mittelstadt-O’Reilly-Rodrigues.
Darren Dreger sat down with O’Reilly at the IIHF World Championships in Denmark.
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