WGR: Botterill: It was my decision

[Buffaloed]

It's significant that the Pegulas weren't involved. I have to give Botterill credit for stepping up and dealing with this in a decisive manner. He's made mistakes but this is a giant step in the right direction. There's reason for optimism in Sabreland.

Botterill on where the decision to fire Housley came from:
"[The Pegulas] were not involved with the firing of Phil. I had discussions with them about where I was at in my thought process, I made my recommendation this morning to them, they accepted it, and then I obviously had the tough conversation with Phil."
"I did not look for the players' input on this. This was my decision. I'll have some interaction with the players, but when it came to making a decision on the coach, this was my decision."
Botterill: 'This was my decision' to fire Housley

This is from The Athletic, it's behind a paywall

After the firing of Phil Housley on Sunday, general manager Jason Botterill showed he was in charge. Botterill didn’t consult with owners Terry and Kim Pegula.
“They were not involved in the firing of Phil,” the GM said in KeyBank Center. “I had discussions with them about where I was at in my thought process. I made my recommendation this morning to them. They accepted it, and then I obviously had the conversation — the tough conversation — with Phil.”
And Botterill says he didn’t let the players sway him
“First off, I did not look for the players’ input into this,” Botterill said. “This was my decision. I’ll have interaction with the players, but when it came to make a decision on a coach, that’s my decision.”
In 'results-driven business,' Jason Botterill is out to find...

Click to read more...

 

[jc17]

I dont expect many level-headed responses after reading a couple pages of the Botterill press conference thread.

I get that people are frustrated but its to the point where people are so jaded they are looking for every opportunity to show his ineptness and will not entertain that he can make good decisions. Going to be a long off-season

 

[Chainshot]

I’m glad he took action prior to the clean out day. It puts more focus on the players even if but for a day for the outcome, for Phil taking the fall for how they played.

 

[Ace]

I couldn’t care less whose call it was as long as it was made. These last two years have been an utter waste of time aside from winning the Dahlin lottery and likely getting another high quality player in the top 8 this year. And the Montour trade. Big fan of that going forward.

No need to waste any more time.

 

[Montag DP]

I dont expect many level-headed responses after reading a couple pages of the Botterill press conference thread.

I get that people are frustrated but its to the point where people are so jaded they are looking for every opportunity to show his ineptness and will not entertain that he can make good decisions. Going to be a long off-season

Agreed. People were going to flip out no matter what. We know by now that Botterill is never going to reveal his true thought process to the media, which is a good thing. I don't know what fans expected him to say, but I do think a large part of the outrage is pure confirmation bias. What percentage of these people expected Phil to be fired the day after the season ended or even before the start of next season? I think it was pretty low, based on comments here leading up to the end of the season. Yet, he did what everyone knew had to be done, and the reaction is just more of the same "Botterill is an idiot" garbage.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

You'd have to read pretty far into this article to confirm the theory that Housley was a Pegula hire. Regardless of who hired him, it's a very significant moment for Botterill to tell them what needs to happen and for the pegula's to trust in his decision. First it says that Botterill isn't afraid to stand up for his vision even if it means disagreeing with his bosses. Secondly, it's on him now. Whatever happens moving forward, his job is tethered to the success and failure of this team. Hopefully he knocks the coaching hire out of the park and gets us someone who can lead these kids in a way Housley couldn't.

 

[Djp]

I think he read this board

 

[jBuds]

I don’t believe it. I’m sorry.

I’d call this Botterill taking one for the team - the noise about the Pegulas being too involved and not smart enough is real (and loud), and I think they tried to be in front of it in this manner.

 

[Ace]

I only have one person on the record saying they are tired of firing people and that’s Terry Pegula.

My fear was retaining this disaster because he’s afraid his reputation of firing people quickly will be a problem

I completely believe Botterill told them he had to go.

 

[Duddy]

Good, now he just has to take care of the mess of a roster he build.

 

[TehDoak]

As much as I agree with the decision to fire Housely, given how the season ended, it wasn't as if he actually had a choice in the matter.

The team was 24-18-6 at the all star break.

They went 9-21-4 post all star with almost zero major long term injuries.

No major assets were sold off. In fact, they added a top 4 d-man. And that didn't move the needle at all.

Buffalo was in playoff position and then fell off the map.

We aren't an expansion team, we aren't at the bottom of the rebuild. That is inexcusable.

As much as I'm glad the GM made the obvious decision, I don't think we need to go out of the way to praise him for it either.

 

[Sabre Dance]

It's probably his best move. He only gets one more shot at this. Don't screw it up.

 

[GellMann]

Good news on the owner front, and also with our GM's first decision this offseason being the correct one.