Phil Housley discussion thread

[debaser66]

Tortorella tried to get into the flames dressing room to fight Hartley a few years back

I remember, that was a funny scene!
It was a bit like watching the managers in show wrestling going at it in the locker room.

 

[Buffaloed]

What's Phil got to do, got to do with it
What's lines but an existential notion
What's Phil got to do, got to do with it
Who needs eRod when Tage has been broken

 

[joshjull]

I get you.

I've been burned so many times by the sales pitch from the teams about "culture change", "this year feels different" and all that. I would lean towards believing it this year because the proof is in the pudding and all that. I'm just not 100% there yet. Close.

Fair enough

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Botterill said in an interview a while back, maybe not too long after getting hired, that he gave a lot of weight toward having the right people with the right attitude around. That doing things right and winning was more than just talent. I know the offseason stuff with ex players was about instilling that concept, and I suspect some offseason moves were about that too. Berglund for ex has been viewed as a great guy, and not only that was important for Buffalo, but maybe being a veteran Swede was important also for the incoming invasion of Dahlin, Olofsson, etc.

Anyway, point is that the advanced stat crowd doesn't give much credence to morale. I know from my own experience the difference it can make in sports and at work. For a closer comparison look at what a common unifying factor did to provide a NHL team some motivation and morale boosting just last season. They went to the SCF.

Some vet Sabres weren't as bad as we thought, they just needed some time to learn a new system and a morale boost. Housley wasn't as bad as he looked last season either, but he needed a few better players and a roster that had some motivation again.

 

[wshahbaz]

I'm still not fully behind Housley. I think if Quenneville is available and willing to come there is no reason why we need to keep him. It's really a no brainer, you don't pass up on a HOF coach like that.

this is why its tricky if we do make the playoffs. Housley might be good enough to sneak in a few times but he isn't the man to build a dynasty team.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

But how do we know Phil can't be the guy? He has never been a head coach. He inherited a team that finished last 2 of the last 4 years and finished last his first season. Then in year 2 he finally gets a nhl level roster and has one of the youngest teams in the league in a top 5 position in the league. Not division, not conference but the entire league. It's nearly December and the Buffalo Sabres are a top 5 team.

I was one of the most bullish posters on their standing this year and even I only thought we would be a wild card contender. Most figured another button 5 finish was a lock. Instead they are the hottest team in the league.

 

[Sabre the Win]

He inherited a team that finished last 2 of the last 4 years and finished last his first season.

They never finished last with Bylsma, the only time they finished as bad as Phil did was in the tank season with Nolan. Two years prior to Housley taking over we finished 8th from the bottom and 5th from the bottom then we hired Housley hoping to get over the woes with Bylsma and did far worse.

You should add some context because those 2 years you speak of were tank years.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

This is a pretty revisionist history of that first season. We never really saw much in the way of varied situational usage or purposeful tinkering, and there doesn't seem to be too many lessons taken from it either.

Phil saw the role he crafted for O'Reilly tank his ES production and tried running it back with one of the worst players on the team. He still plays Ristolainen as if he were an effective defensive defenseman. He doesn't trust Evan Rodrigues even though he was the team's only reliable depth scorer last season. We're into another love affair with a low floor, low ceiling guy he perceives as "safe" in Sobotka. Etc.

And until we get some insight into what made him dead the whole faceoff specialist thing and go with a traditional 3a/3b checking line in the Malhotra/Kruger mold, it's hard not to credit the other voices into the room instead of yearly learnings.

Again, Housley's current tinkering would be fine if there was some logic behind it, but we're seeing a surprising amount of **** thrown at the wall for a team that should have 8 set lineup spots. You minimize his insistence on trying to fit Thomspon & Sobotka into the starting lineup, but the Sabres are currently 16th or worse in:

CF%
FF%
SCF%
HDCF%
xG%
PPGF/60

Pretty much purely off the combination of Sobotka's run and subbing quality for Thompson. Phil choosing between the depth chart's 12th and 13th forwards would be actually be a pretty significant improvement over his recent game plans. That inability to get stuff this basic right, and the team outperforming a gang of poor underlying metrics due to goaltending and shooting% is why it's pretty easy to remain skeptical about this team from a coaching perspective.

I gave the cliffnotes version, but it was not revisionist. What was Housley going to learn by deploying players and using them the way you preferred last season, when half of them weren't NHL caliber and weren't going to stay on the roster? No matter what way you want to slice (and criticize) it, last season was an evaluation year for both GM and HC. You can hate that all you want and debate to the Nth degree that it wasn't necessary, but that's what it was. If you ever choose to accept that, you could save yourself a lot of negative and wasted energy splitting hairs over the minutiae of what you disagree about usage and deployment, deciding both GM and HC are so stoopid and terrible at their jobs in the process.

Old GM tanked and accelerated the re-build into a concrete wall. New GM tanked and was/is more patient in many ways (Rochester, trading ROR for futures/depth, hiring new HC that needs some time to fine tune his skills as well). People don't like it...I didn't like it either but I believe in that process. I thought it would take another year to see results that mattered, but here we are watching the team get going much sooner. Crow about advanced stats all you want, they don't measure the expected (inevitable, actually) progress of current roster players, or the influx of better talent once AHL guys get their chance...the chance you can't be patient to wait for, or acknowledge the benefit of time in the minors for Euros who have just stepped foot into NA.

Once that happens, Housley will be running a roster with even more time and understanding of how he wants to play, with effective NHLers that are good options for usage and deployment that airmchair HCs clamor for. At least then, when Housley doesn't deploy guys the way the advanced stat crowd prefers, you can criticize more legitimately for not using quality players "properly", instead of 6-7 AHL lifers that shouldn't be in the NHL period.

 

[Aladyyn]

Housley is only under contract through this season, right?

 

[joshjull]

Housley is only under contract through this season, right?

No idea. For whatever reason it is hard to find any info on that.

 

[Dingo44]

https://www.diebytheblade.com/2018/...rs-an-early-favorite-for-the-jack-adams-award

For what it's worth, and posters can deny it all they want, but the Sabres are playing the system both Phil and Botts have been talking about since the beginning. The players are buying in, he's stuck with decisions that were unpopular but ended up being correct, he's made adjustments where needed, and the Sabres even when they start slow or nod off in the second have been playing their best hockey at the end when it counts the most. Botts deserves more credit because he truly rebuilt this team in just over a year, but so does Housley.

 

[Montag DP]

Housley an early favorite for the Jack Adams Award

For what it's worth, and posters can deny it all they want, but the Sabres are playing the system both Phil and Botts have been talking about since the beginning. The players are buying in, he's stuck with decisions that were unpopular but ended up being correct, he's made adjustments where needed, and the Sabres even when they start slow or nod off in the second have been playing their best hockey at the end when it counts the most. Botts deserves more credit because he truly rebuilt this team in just over a year, but so does Housley.

Regarding the link, according to what weird method of recording time are we nearly three months into the season?

 

[Dingo44]

Regarding the link, according to what weird method of recording time are we nearly three months into the season?

Huh?

 

[Montag DP]

Huh?

From the link:

It took a little time for new and returning players to find their continuity early on. Nearly three months into the season it looks as though he's got his team to buy into his system.

 

[Dingo44]

From the link:

Ah. Yeah, that doesn't match up with a quarter of the season either. But it's hard not to see Housley getting some credit from outside of HF Boards for the job he's done with the worst to almost first Sabres.

 

[BananaSquad]

Sabres are a top 3 team in the league right now, and people here still are not sure about Housley... only on these boards, keep it up folks! LOL

 

[Buf fan in Nash]

Huh?

In the article the author wrote

"Nearly three months into the season it looks as though he’s got his team to buy into his system."

 

[Aladyyn]

Housley an early favorite for the Jack Adams Award

For what it's worth, and posters can deny it all they want, but the Sabres are playing the system both Phil and Botts have been talking about since the beginning. The players are buying in, he's stuck with decisions that were unpopular but ended up being correct, he's made adjustments where needed, and the Sabres even when they start slow or nod off in the second have been playing their best hockey at the end when it counts the most. Botts deserves more credit because he truly rebuilt this team in just over a year, but so does Housley.

No they're not.

 

[CatsforReinhart]

No they're not.

Yes they are. What are you watching?

 

[Aladyyn]

 

[OkimLom]

No they're not.

They might be playing their system, but it's a crappy system that lends itself to not being sustainable for consistent success long term.

But fans see them near the top of the standings, and believe that they are actually good. When you look and see what they have done during this win streak, they are still getting outshot, they are losing the majority of faceoffs, they still are poor at taking the puck away from teams, they are still giving up a ton of shot attempts.

They are riding really clutch goaltending, and their weaknesses that were around during their 7-6-2 record run still remain.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

They might be playing their system, but it's a crappy system that lends itself to not being sustainable for consistent success long term.

But fans see them near the top of the standings, and believe that they are actually good. When you look and see what they have done during this win streak, they are still getting outshot, they are losing the majority of faceoffs, they still are poor at taking the puck away from teams, they are still giving up a ton of shot attempts.

They are riding really clutch goaltending, and their weaknesses that were around during their 7-6-2 record run still remain.

Not sure why anyone should think they play a crappy system. No HC's system calls for losing faceoffs or primarily tries to lose the SOG battle. FWIW, Buffalo is actually a +2 in SOG for the season so they aren't getting outshot on a regular basis. In any event, these aren't things that are poor/average because of the system they play, they are poor/average because some individual players still aren't great at certain aspects of the game.

I'm under no illusion that this team is a legit top 5 team yet...only playoffs determine that anyway. I don't think Housley is a great HC either. I just disagree with the opinion taking the far opposite end - that Housley stinks or that the team plays crappy, or a crappy system. "Crappy" doesn't get you at the top of the standings after 30+ games. Crappy coaching or a crappy system gets you a Blues record under Yeo when they have the talent to be better. Several better examples also apply.

 

[slip]

Sabres are a top 3 team in the league right now, and people here still are not sure about Housley... only on these boards, keep it up folks! LOL

Phil Housley slowly figuring out how to coach at the NHL level doesn't even crack the top 5 reasons why Buffalo is a better team than last year.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

11-27: Phil Housley with Howard and Jeremy on WGR (11:45)

#Sabres head coach Phil Housley joins Howard and Jeremy next for his weekly visit on WGR! Tune in:

Housley - I have to give credit to our guys for this winning streak. They found the energy, especially on the back-to-back games. #Sabres

Housley - the teams we were playing are tough teams to play, tough buildings to play in. Our guys settled in a little bit, our goaltending has been strong for us. The guys have been focused. #Sabres

Housley on Thompson - He earned a spot on our team; didn't get the start he wanted and took a step back, but it wasn't a bad thing for him. He made the most of his opportunity when he got back. He uses his instincts and his skill, and we can see the type of player he is. #Sabres

Housley - His release comes right off his stick fast. He has an incredible shot, it's always been deadly.Just glad he;s using his speed wide and using his strength. Hope he can continue to use it more often. #Sabres

Housley on Kyle Okposo - He's a power forward. he gets in the corners and gets guys on his back. He's a dog on a bone and not letting guys off the hook. He's been one of our leaders to come forward and lead by example. #Sabres

Housley - I'm really happy for our fans. Last year was a tough year, and the guys made it a point to get off to good starts and get the fans into it. The players feed off the fans, and it's great they come out to support us. #Sabres

Housley on Carter Hutton - He's been terrific. I knew what he was all about while I was with him in Nashville. He's made some huge saves for us, both of our goalies have. Carter has spring-boarded off the start of his season and has helped us win some games. #Sabres

 

[Myllz]

Not even a month ago plenty of people were still ready to fire Phil. The team has been on an insane streak, but that's not going to all of a sudden convince me that Phil is the answer, and there are still some elements of the way the team plays that I hate. Let's see how they're doing at the mid-point of the season and at the end of the regular season. If they're still playing well, then no need to make a change.