Buffalo Sabres General Manager Jason Botterill has announced that Head Coach Phil Housley has been relieved of his duties.
There is enough blame to be passed around. Don't pin it all on Housley.
It wasn't supposed to end like this for Housley, who was hired two years ago to guide the Sabres out of the darkness of the NHL cellar and to the light of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Hall of Fame defenseman leaves Buffalo's bench with a lopsided 58-84-22 record in two seasons.
Housley seemingly was given a mulligan for his team's 25-45-12 (62 points) record in 2017-18.
The 31st place finish earned the Sabres the lottery pick that became first overall selection Rasmus Dahlin, who under Housley's tutelage exceeded all expectations with his 9 goals and 35 assist in 82 games played. Dahlin thrived under Houlsey and Sabres D coach Steve Smith. Were I Botterill, I would hold on to Smith and fire Housley's assitant coaches Davis Payne, Chris Hajt, and Tom Ward.
Housley’s sophomore season started well. After a successful month of November, which included a 10-game winning streak, the Sabres were #1 in the NHL standings.
However, from that point, Buffalo went 16-33-8 and failed to win in regulation during March.
On Saturday night, the Sabres smashed the Detroit Red Wings 7-1, and in so doing, won consecutive games for the first time since December 11, 2017. How the Hell does and NHL go four months without winning back to back games after winning ten straight games?!
Does Houlsey deserve 100% of the blame? No. Botterill failed to trade for a legit second line center after Patrik Berglund quit professional hockey while leavng $13 million in guaranteed cash on the table in the process. Rookie Casey Mittelstadt was forced to play 2C when he really was best suited to play 3C in his first season in the NHL.
Botterill will immediately begin the search for Buffalo's sixth head coach since Lindy Ruff was turfed in 2013.
Is it any wonder the Sabres have missed the playoffs the past eight seasons? Where is the continuity in head coaching?
Why did Housley fail in Buffalo this season?
He had two centers in All Star Jack Eichel and Casey Mittelstadt.
Goaltending started strong but fell off the brink of Niagara Falls at Christmas time. Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark combined for a sub par 3.27 GAA (24th).
The power play was bad and finished the season in 16th place.
The penalty kill was rated 12th in the NHL.
Botterill could have and should have called up rookie scorers Victor Olofsson and Alex Nylander in February, while the playoffs were still an attainable goal for the Sabres.
On the bright side, pending UFA Jeff Skinner potted a carerr high 40 goals and is now going to leverage Botterill for 8 years and $72 million. If Botterill capitulates, he will lose Skinner to a higher bidder on July 1.
Jack Eichel scored a career high 82 points (28G,54A).
Samson Reinhart had a career high 65 points (22G,43A).
Unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good for the 2018-19 Buffalo Sabres.
What this team needs now is a swift kick in the ass.
I'm trading veteran right D Rasmus Ristolainen for a legit 2C.
Its time to trade Rasmus Ristolainen for a legit second line center #Sabres pic.twitter.com/H26pYK8Z3S
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) April 7, 2019
Eichel and Company need a head coach that isn't afraid to hold all players accountable everyday of the season. Rip the players who deserve it, prop the ones who are deserving.
Here is my short list of candidates I would like to see be given serious consideration to replace Housley:
1). Todd McLellan, formerly of the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks. McLellan was in his fourth season as head coach of the Oilers. The team qualified for the playoffs once during his time with the organization. Hire McLellan then target Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for a trade at the NHL draft.
Friday, I met with a respected NHL scout. He and I agree that Todd McLellan will be perfect for #Sabres. A disciple of Mike Babcock in Detroit, McLellan is all busisness. He's an excellent mentor and teacher for the kids. He's good with the vets. He holds all players accountable
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) April 7, 2019
McLellan would inherit a slow, old, cap-strapped team in LA. Who'd ya rather? Phaneuf, Brown, Carter, Quick? OR Eichel, Dahlin, Skinner, Reinhart, Mittelstadt, Montour, et al?
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) April 7, 2019
McLellan has a relationship with Eichel having coached him at World Cup of Hockey.
McLellan coached Eichel, McDavid, MacKinnon, Matthews Scheifele, etc. for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.
Team North America GM Peter Chiarelli:
"He (McLellan) is able to capture the attention of players. What I see in Todd is he makes the players ask questions and I think that's important for engagement and I think that's important in a shorter period of time."
2). Rikard Grönborg, who is currently the head coach for the Sweden men's national ice hockey team. Grönborg started his coaching career as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Grönborg has coached Sabres players Alex Nylander, Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Asplund, Victor Olofsson and Linus Ullmark on Sweden's U-20 World Juniors squad. The Sabres will meet the Tampa Bay Lightning in two regular-season games November 8-9 in Stockholm, Sweden. It will be Buffalo's first trip abroad since 2011 and a showcase for Sabres Swedes Rasmus Dahlin, Lawrence Pilut, Alex Nylander, Victor Olofsson, Linus Ullmark and Tampa's Victor Hedman, the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's best defenseman and also a native of Sweden.
3). Alain Vigneault, who was most recently with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. Vigneault has previously coached the Montreal Canadiens and the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL, as well as in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
4). Clark Donatelli, whom Botterill hired, the current head coach of the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Donatelli, a Boston University alum.
I'm not even suggesting the Sabres hire Joel Quenneville because he will be taking over for the Panthers from the terminated Bob Boughner in Sunrise, Florida.
Dale Tallon is not going to allow Q to go to Buffalo. Tallon is putting the Chicago blues band back together in Sunrise
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) April 7, 2019
5). Adam Oates, former co-head coach for the New Jersey Devils and former head coach for the Washington Capitals.
Adam Oates is a candidate name to watch with relation to #Sabres
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) April 7, 2019
Oates has been skills coach Eichel during his NHL career
I will be at locker clean out day on Monday in Buffalo.
I will ask individual players about their interactions and relationships with Housley.
Jason Botterill will meet with media at 3:00pm EDT on Monday.
Botterill has a ton of work between now and early May when he will be spending three weeks in Slovakia as GM of Team Canada's entry at the IIHF World Championships.