Confirmed with Link: HOUSLEY GONE

[Ralonzo]

 

[joshjull]

 

[GellMann]

If Terry had any part in writing that I'll eat my hat lol

 

[krt88nc]

I don’t get this at all.... he worked with Kane and Toews just damn fine...

2010 roster was actually somewhat young, only 5 guys 30 and above

2013 and 2015 they were much older teams and he didn’t use the younger players in key roles much.

 

[valet]

yeah, kind of sucks when a franchise legend returns to coach the team and he isn't really a good coach. But that's the reality.

 

[TheStorm]

I'm super happy that Housley got fired. I think I'll stay over on this part of the forum because at least I can be happy about how things are going in this regard.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Wow

 

[TheStorm]

Honestly didn't think the team would do it. Suprised me a lot more than Bylsma getting canned.

 

[oldgoalie]

Thank God.

 

[Mike McDermott]

About damn time. I was traveling today so just crawling out from under my rock.

 

[brian_griffin]

Did the Pegulas AND Botterill do this? Or was this Botts on his own initiative?

it could have been an intelligence test for Botterill given by the pegulas, but I’m thinking not.

I mean theres a high chance pegula was in on hiring housley maybe they give botts his own guy this time

agreed

I have no idea, but I'm praying Botterill was forced to be compliant with the Housley hire, and this symbolizes the Pegulas admitting their mistakes and turning it over to Jason who hires a good coach

the easy part is done. Now for the hard part.

I think the clock had already started on Botterill. With this move he may have bought himself an extra year. Had he stuck with Housley and next year had gone as the past two, then the Pegulas may well have fired both of them. The Pegulas are not likely to fire another head coach a year from now, so Botterill probably gets two more years to right the ship.

I'm sure that Botterill would acknowledge there are holes in the roster and my guess is that today he will go out of his way to clarify this is not all on Housley (no consolation to the guy who got fired). But I don't see firing the head coach as an indictment of the roster. Keeping Housley would have been an indictment of the roster as it would have been a signal that the roster was the issue and not the coaching. With this move I think the signal is that Botterill expected more from this team.

I see no reason why we can't be next year's Montreal or Carolina or even New York Isle. To say that the 10 game win streak was a fluke or that the roster has holes in it, is just to state the obvious. Any 10 game win streak in professional sport contains an element of luck and more than 1/2 the teams in the NHL playoffs have areas where they could use significant roster upgrades. The Sabres were a 50 point team at the 40 game mark which means they had 30 combined points in the 30 first-half games that fell on either side of the 10 game winning streak. Keep that pace over the final 42 games and we finish with 92-93 points on the year and Housley still has a job. That would not have been an unreasonable expectation. Instead we got only 26 points over the last 42 games. Coaches do not survive that sort of collapse.

I have no hard feelings towards Housley. I'm certain he worked his hardest and that every decision he made was intended to better the team and get closer to the goal. I have no doubt he is immensely disappointed today. I wish him well. This was a necessary change though.

if Housley indeed worked his hardest, then clearly that was insufficient.

I was outside all day. Came in for a shower and dinner 8:30 and already my week is A++. Playoffs and Draft lottery Completely off my mind now.

What a difference 24 hours makes.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Decisive decision making.

The timing was appropriate (conclusion of the regular season) and a modicum of grace, sincerity and respect was applied.

This raises the regard candidate coaches and players will have for the Buffalo Sabres as an organization and a destination.

Good for you Botterill. Well done!

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

This is extremely exciting.

Botts now has to put up or shut up. He fired the coach on his own and now has to make the playoffs or face the same firing squad. He made it clear that he will be adding skill and scoring into this lineup at all costs.

God, even if we can just win #2 that would jump start this off season. This is going to be the most pivotal and active summer for the Sabres in a very long time. He is going to make a move for a impact top 6 forward. Hopefully with Skinner still here. If Skinner walks then Botts should be on thin ice. Skinner should only be walking if this team is somehow adding 2 7+ mil cap hit forwards.

Botts firing Housley on his own is great. If Botts wasn't proactive Pegulas keep Housley for year 3. That is scary.

 

[toomuchsauce]

Obviously we're all happy, because the organization arrived at the right conclusion.

But, I think there are still red flags in the process. Most notably, the fact that reports came out from credible national sources suggesting that Phil would be retained because the owners don't want to change coaches again. Why would that come out? Very little gets out (as we can see from the Skinner contract negotiations). Why that? What purpose did that serve? It's not like that created some leverage for either side.

All that does - the only possible message - is to show that the owners want it out there that, "Hey, this is all on the GM, leave us out of it."

Okay...but, that's odd. The message itself is actually completely normal and fine. They could have just come right out and said that themselves. "Jason is the GM and he makes the decisions with regard to personnel." Or something like that. Nobody would think that is weird. Why leak it? What is the point? They want to put their own GM on an island? Okay, great, but - they're the ones who decide whether to fire the GM, so...what's the point?

EDIT: the owners confirmed this on the record. "It was Jason's decision." Great. So, again, what was the point?

Also, every organization does the "vote of confidence prior to firing the coach." That's not even a weird thing anymore. But why do the Sabres have to constantly act like they're completely baffled by the question? Like, "Huh, what? We haven't won a game in a month, but...the coach???? You think we should fire the coach??? I mean, lol, I haven't even...like...that didn't even cross my mind! But, you know what, maybe we'll talk about that, at some point. You know, we talk about everything. It's great. We have great communication. We're always communicating. We communicated so well this month, better than last month, even, it was amazing. The communication."

It is literally the episode of Seinfeld when George's girlfriend wants him to take an IQ test and he tries to have Elaine do it for him by climbing out the window, and when he's called out on it, he's like, "Yeah, I needed to go outside for some fresh air, so I climbed out the window. Lol, the door? Why would I even...lol, the door? lol"

On top of that, the constant protesting too much about "communication" leads me to believe they either do very little of it, or that something about it is weird.

It's just all so f***ing weird, I give up.

 

[SabresSharks]

Good on Botts for making the correct move promptly.

 

[K8fool]

My interest in this offseason just skyrocketed.

Good on Botts for pulling the trigger.

And now that the problem is gone they can sign Skinner after a coach and win the month of July and maybe a good ncaa signing as well.. The pieces to the dissent puzzle are becoming clearer..

 

[K8fool]

I don't know, but I have seen lots of Nashville fans posting how tweeting that they want to see him back as an assistant for the Preds. I can't wrap my head around it.

He is a good assistant / teacher just not enough consistency nor the personality to deal with conflict that inspires/shames those to buy in and follow through adeversatity.. or the balls adjust his own beliefs to fit a new situation to sacrifice the same way he asked of his former team.. Hopefully good news for us , is that the room is tight and they are much better than they played..

 

[K8fool]

Botts also admits team is close by giving into their pressure instead of dismantling.. So his ass is out there to prove to team and Skinner and FA with the new hire and that he has their back.. I see a tougher team that can protect the talent we have, and the talent on its way.. SDS from other board is wrong about protecting players , team honor and should be lynched by the other board as a social engineering schill and just ban himself from his own board .. Violence in protection will always have a place in hockey .. as self defense in life .. I like Mr Eichel on our team ..

 

[Buffaloed]

The gum chewing was Housley's undoing. Half the players couldn't understand a word he was saying and the other half was too distracted to pay attention.

 

[K8fool]

This is extremely exciting.

Botts now has to put up or shut up. He fired the coach on his own and now has to make the playoffs or face the same firing squad. He made it clear that he will be adding skill and scoring into this lineup at all costs.

God, even if we can just win #2 that would jump start this off season. This is going to be the most pivotal and active summer for the Sabres in a very long time. He is going to make a move for a impact top 6 forward. Hopefully with Skinner still here. If Skinner walks then Botts should be on thin ice. Skinner should only be walking if this team is somehow adding 2 7+ mil cap hit forwards.

Botts firing Housley on his own is great. If Botts wasn't proactive Pegulas keep Housley for year 3. That is scary.

Skinner was in on the strike with his team...I hope this is true and he signs after the coach.. We will need him to land other FA.

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

Hearing reports that the below was playing over the KeyBank Center PA system as Housley was escorted from the building:

 

[Eicheltower]

The hair cut was too distracting for the players. I hope someone with a pulse this time.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Botts definitely gets half the blame for bringing in Housley but lets be real the Pegulas were all for it. Botts firing Housley all on his own also deserves a lot of credit.

It is scary that the Pegulas were expecting Housley back for year 3. Clearly Pegulas existence quote now means jack shit. Pegulas care more about One Buffalo brand and being the "saviors" of the city then caring about a winning hockey club.

When the Buffalo Bills are more successful then your other franchise you got some issues. Pegula has been the ultimate disappointment. Who would have thunk after getting a deep pocketed owner like the big boys we would be where we are...sickening.

 

[Icicle]

Obviously we're all happy, because the organization arrived at the right conclusion.

But, I think there are still red flags in the process. Most notably, the fact that reports came out from credible national sources suggesting that Phil would be retained because the owners don't want to change coaches again. Why would that come out? Very little gets out (as we can see from the Skinner contract negotiations). Why that? What purpose did that serve? It's not like that created some leverage for either side.

All that does - the only possible message - is to show that the owners want it out there that, "Hey, this is all on the GM, leave us out of it."

Okay...but, that's odd. The message itself is actually completely normal and fine. They could have just come right out and said that themselves. "Jason is the GM and he makes the decisions with regard to personnel." Or something like that. Nobody would think that is weird. Why leak it? What is the point? They want to put their own GM on an island? Okay, great, but - they're the ones who decide whether to fire the GM, so...what's the point?

EDIT: the owners confirmed this on the record. "It was Jason's decision." Great. So, again, what was the point?

Also, every organization does the "vote of confidence prior to firing the coach." That's not even a weird thing anymore. But why do the Sabres have to constantly act like they're completely baffled by the question? Like, "Huh, what? We haven't won a game in a month, but...the coach???? You think we should fire the coach??? I mean, lol, I haven't even...like...that didn't even cross my mind! But, you know what, maybe we'll talk about that, at some point. You know, we talk about everything. It's great. We have great communication. We're always communicating. We communicated so well this month, better than last month, even, it was amazing. The communication."

It is literally the episode of Seinfeld when George's girlfriend wants him to take an IQ test and he tries to have Elaine do it for him by climbing out the window, and when he's called out on it, he's like, "Yeah, I needed to go outside for some fresh air, so I climbed out the window. Lol, the door? Why would I even...lol, the door? lol"

On top of that, the constant protesting too much about "communication" leads me to believe they either do very little of it, or that something about it is weird.

It's just all so ****ing weird, I give up.

They wanted to quash the stories that lingered last time that it was either Eichel or Terry’s decision to fire the coach. It was Terry’s decision last time, but the GM went down the boat with him. The statement was just to make it clear to speculators it was all Botterills decision.

 

[Dreakon13]

Obviously we're all happy, because the organization arrived at the right conclusion.

But, I think there are still red flags in the process. Most notably, the fact that reports came out from credible national sources suggesting that Phil would be retained because the owners don't want to change coaches again. Why would that come out? Very little gets out (as we can see from the Skinner contract negotiations). Why that? What purpose did that serve? It's not like that created some leverage for either side.

All that does - the only possible message - is to show that the owners want it out there that, "Hey, this is all on the GM, leave us out of it."

Okay...but, that's odd. The message itself is actually completely normal and fine. They could have just come right out and said that themselves. "Jason is the GM and he makes the decisions with regard to personnel." Or something like that. Nobody would think that is weird. Why leak it? What is the point? They want to put their own GM on an island? Okay, great, but - they're the ones who decide whether to fire the GM, so...what's the point?

EDIT: the owners confirmed this on the record. "It was Jason's decision." Great. So, again, what was the point?

Also, every organization does the "vote of confidence prior to firing the coach." That's not even a weird thing anymore. But why do the Sabres have to constantly act like they're completely baffled by the question? Like, "Huh, what? We haven't won a game in a month, but...the coach???? You think we should fire the coach??? I mean, lol, I haven't even...like...that didn't even cross my mind! But, you know what, maybe we'll talk about that, at some point. You know, we talk about everything. It's great. We have great communication. We're always communicating. We communicated so well this month, better than last month, even, it was amazing. The communication."

It is literally the episode of Seinfeld when George's girlfriend wants him to take an IQ test and he tries to have Elaine do it for him by climbing out the window, and when he's called out on it, he's like, "Yeah, I needed to go outside for some fresh air, so I climbed out the window. Lol, the door? Why would I even...lol, the door? lol"

On top of that, the constant protesting too much about "communication" leads me to believe they either do very little of it, or that something about it is weird.

It's just all so ****ing weird, I give up.

You may be overthinking it a little.

How about this. Let's just be glad that they came to the right conclusion this time, wasted no time getting it done once the season ended... and take the info surrounding it (pressers, reports from "credible national sources", etc) with the appropriate amount of salt because there's just no way to know 100% who is feeding what information, and what info might be intentionally held back/distributed for what reason. Otherwise you'll just drive yourself nuts for no reason.