Phil Housley discussion thread

[thomas vanek]

Sheldon Keefe

 

[Gordo21]

Again: watch the team that is probably going to kick our teeth in tomorrow night and get back to me on the whole "coaching doesn't matter" thing. Also do you think it's an accident that the Montreal team everyone thought was a tire fire has blown miles ahead of us? Coaching matters.

He's certainly done wonders with Lehner's save percentage.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

This "Cry" for a new coach, at least on this board, is somewhat ridiculous if you ask me. Particularly after a game like last night where we outplayed them in almost every aspect with the exception of the scoreboard, with a team that frankly was inferior to the one we were playing. But last night not withstanding, it's still ridiculous.

We have a very young team still with young players playing extremely important roles for us. Dahlin, Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen being examples. Then we have a young group behind them, Pilut, Mittelstadt, Thompson, Rodrigues, Ullmark, who are slowly but surely improving, who we expect to take on bigger roles as they move forward.

We need to take a few steps with the roster, no doubt, but I'm not sure any of the aforementioned fit in as possibilities to this end. ( Yes, this means Ristolainen too )

Bottom line, whether we like it or not, this team is still in a growing process that can be helped or sped up to a certain degree by our GM, but not to the point where he GMTM's our future away.


Stew is just starting to simmer ... and to that end, I wish this board would just "simmer" down a bit.

I liked the Housley hire, and I get that this is still a young team that we shouldn't expect too much from- but come on, the eye-test tells you Housley is not helping.

Scandella has been trash- no repercussions. Sobotka, trash, no repercussions. The lines don't work, leave 'em as is. Our zone entry, cycling, and PP suck- do more drop passes. Housley has no fire to the good or bad, it's just.. like a vacuous space behind the bench with players seemingly figuring it out on their own.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

I enjoy the convergence that Tim Murray TRADED OUR FUTURE AWAY while Botts somehow has it BACK ON TRACK in less then two seasons. Apparently not that big a divergence, amazing what one good roll of the lotto balls can do.

I'd point to both GM's employing bad coaches who are then also given far too much rope as a compelling consistent factor in the actual results in the standings. "You are what your record says you are" is the phrase I believe.

So much revisionist history with Tim. His ROR trade was brilliant and nobody in the Sabres fan base had a problem with the Winnipeg trade and very few were critical of the Okposo signing. He gave up a late first for Lehner when he could have got him for a 2nd, that draft was stacked so a big mistake.
He had great success with undrafted UFA's signing ERod, CJ Smith, Casey Nelson and Antipin. He boldly tanked to get us McDavid or Eichel, it took some doing. He had 3 drafts and they look solid, Olofsson was a 7th rounder and if he turns into an NHL scorer that would be the first late round pick the Sabres have hit on in forever.

One thing I know is that he wouldn't have traded Ryan O'Reilly for the pile of crap Botterill did.

 

[Sabre the Win]

Holy smokes,

We played the night before too. We outplayed them substantially too with an inferior roster.

Not sure you realize this but Winnipeg is good.

I just hope to God the Pegula's aren't this dramatic when making decisions for this team or we will be continually taking one step forward two steps back

Goodness

We never took a step forward when we hired Housley.. please enlighten me on why he should stay rather than putting the blame on the young players, Toronto had 13 rookies playing the year Babcock joined and they made the playoffs.

What's your excuse for Housley?

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

But a coach can be fired one day after the contract starts. And get paid most or all of this contract anyway. So there is no real “clock” preventing him from getting fired at any time. Besides performance.

Yeah, but that’s not really what I’m talking about. If the rumors that Housley was Pegula’s hire are true, then I think it’s a matter of optics. I don’t think Pegula wants to have his fifth coach fired and start the process over again. Also I don’t know that botterill has the stones to fire Housley. It’s not a question of can or can’t. It’s not even a question of should or shouldn’t. I think all signs point towards management riding this one out unless something egregious happens.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Edit- don't wanna get myself in trouble, but this thread is for discussing Housley. My thread was for discussing other options given that so many want him gone. Different topics to my mind.

 

[Kyndig]

We never took a step forward when we hired Housley.. please enlighten me on why he should stay rather than putting the blame on the young players, Toronto had 13 rookies playing the year Babcock joined and they made the playoffs.

What's your excuse for Housley?

Damn 13? And people are freaking out like we will lose even more games with 1-3 more rookies...

For rookies we have; Pilut, Dahlin, Mittelstadt, and Ullmark..that's it.
Pilut is 23
Ullmark is 25
Dahlin is arguably one of our best players already and Mittelstadt has been better as of late.

It's not like Smith (24) or Olofsson (23) are teenagers either. Shouldn't be asking for the world to have these players replace some of the garbage on this team like Sobotka, Okposo, or Pominville...but Housley just inexplicably scratches them when they're called up. Smith can also kill penalties as he does in Rochester. Olofsson can possibly boost our PP. NAHHHH lets play Sobotka for 18 minutes!

 

[RobRayzor]

 

[MackAttack26]

He is never coming out, sorry.

 

[Kyndig]

How will we ever replace his 52.2% faceoffs or the ability to stand in place!?

Berglund was the real loss. 18.4% OZS /49.8% corsi/ 58.6% faceoffs.

 

[sabremike]

Even Doug Weight, the worst coach in the modern history of the NHL only took a little over half a season to throw in the towel on the total suck that was Denis Siedenberg and Jason Chimera. Housley is more stubborn and stupid than freaking Doug Weight. I have no words.

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

He is never coming out, sorry.

Bahaha... at first I wanted to throw my phone after reading that. Now I just have a wry laugh and shake my head.

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

 

[26CornerBlitz]

2-12: Phil Housley with Howard and Sal on WGR (11:49)

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

Housley - We did a good job in front of our net on Saturday and Sunday. Carolina had too many opportunities there, and we didn't do a good job defending there. We had a good turnaround over the weekend, and we had a very solid effort to protect our goalies. #Sabres

Housley - We had to manage the puck better. We were trying to force things that weren't there, and it would come back to bite us. We have to communicate and take our check to kill a play. Our guys did a nice job. #Sabres

Housley - We're asking our goalies in some games to do too much. We can't ask for that much and rely on them to bail us out all the time. Other teams will have chances, and we have to clear some of the secondary chances out of the way. #Sabres

Housley - Jason Botterill and I talk on a day-to-day basis with how to make our team better. For the most part, he makes all the transaction moves with Rochester. We have a great line of communication. #Sabres

Housley - I like the chemistry of the Sheary-Mittelstadt-Reinhart line. They're getting opportunities and not spending too much time in their end. It has provided us with a big spark. #Sabres

Housley - We have to manage our schedule. We took a day off yesterday to reboot and re-gain some energy. Rest is really important at this time of year. #Sabres

Housley - Dahlin and Mittelstadt have done well to manage themselves away from the game. Casey is playing a strong 200-foot game, and Rasmus has maybe been playing some of his best hockey lately. They're tremendous competitors, great teammates and they want to win. #Sabres

Housley on Dahlin - He's a tremendous competitor and his own worse critic. He wants to make the best play, but sometimes it doesn't always work out. He's done a good job of re-booting, and we're aware of where he;s at as a player. #Sabres

Housley on Sobotka - He's a big reason as to why our penalty kill is where it's at today. He's been a key guy for faceoffs, he's a trustworthy, reliable player. #Sabres

Housley on C.J. Smith - I really like his game. This is all part of his development, but he will get another opportunity. #Sabres

 

[kirby11]

2-12: Phil Housley with Howard and Sal on WGR (11:49)

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

Housley - We did a good job in front of our net on Saturday and Sunday. Carolina had too many opportunities there, and we didn't do a good job defending there. We had a good turnaround over the weekend, and we had a very solid effort to protect our goalies. #Sabres

Housley - We had to manage the puck better. We were trying to force things that weren't there, and it would come back to bite us. We have to communicate and take our check to kill a play. Our guys did a nice job. #Sabres

Housley - We're asking our goalies in some games to do too much. We can't ask for that much and rely on them to bail us out all the time. Other teams will have chances, and we have to clear some of the secondary chances out of the way. #Sabres

Housley - Jason Botterill and I talk on a day-to-day basis with how to make our team better. For the most part, he makes all the transaction moves with Rochester. We have a great line of communication. #Sabres

Housley - I like the chemistry of the Sheary-Mittelstadt-Reinhart line. They're getting opportunities and not spending too much time in their end. It has provided us with a big spark. #Sabres

Housley - We have to manage our schedule. We took a day off yesterday to reboot and re-gain some energy. Rest is really important at this time of year. #Sabres

Housley - Dahlin and Mittelstadt have done well to manage themselves away from the game. Casey is playing a strong 200-foot game, and Rasmus has maybe been playing some of his best hockey lately. They're tremendous competitors, great teammates and they want to win. #Sabres

Housley on Dahlin - He's a tremendous competitor and his own worse critic. He wants to make the best play, but sometimes it doesn't always work out. He's done a good job of re-booting, and we're aware of where he;s at as a player. #Sabres

Housley on Sobotka - He's a big reason as to why our penalty kill is where it's at today. He's been a key guy for faceoffs, he's a trustworthy, reliable player. #Sabres

Housley on C.J. Smith - I really like his game. This is all part of his development, but he will get another opportunity. #Sabres

So Mitts and Tage have had multi-game stretches where they've done nothing but fart around on the ice. Tage has sometimes sat for a couple games, but Mitts literally never has, and neither one has been at all threatened with a demotion to Rochester.

Meanwhile, CJ has done everything asked of him short of scoring at over a PPG in the A, played well in limited NHL action, and his reward is to keep getting healthy scratched while we ice worse players?

WTF is wrong with our management.

 

[sabrebuild]

So Mitts and Tage have had multi-game stretches where they've done nothing but fart around on the ice. Tage has sometimes sat for a couple games, but Mitts literally never has, and neither one has been at all threatened with a demotion to Rochester.

Meanwhile, CJ has done everything asked of him short of scoring at over a PPG in the A, played well in limited NHL action, and his reward is to keep getting healthy scratched while we ice worse players?

WTF is wrong with our management.

Don’t you dare question them. They are professionals with a plan. Trust the process....

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

How did Barry Trotz take a roster that really isn't significantly better than ours and had their franchise player walk out the door and have them in first place by 5 points? Coaching matters.

Their opponents have stopped scoring on HDSC.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

So Mitts and Tage have had multi-game stretches where they've done nothing but fart around on the ice. Tage has sometimes sat for a couple games, but Mitts literally never has, and neither one has been at all threatened with a demotion to Rochester.

Meanwhile, CJ has done everything asked of him short of scoring at over a PPG in the A, played well in limited NHL action, and his reward is to keep getting healthy scratched while we ice worse players?

WTF is wrong with our management.

Mitts obviously ranks higher from an organizational perspective than CJ with the team grooming him to fill the role of the second line C that he's slowly growing into.

 

[jc17]

 

[sabres4ever]

Not to pile on, but I will anyway. It's as if Phil has a notebook that he reaches into, for a statement about player X. They're all pretty generic, and could apply to anyone at any time. Also, the post-game interview usually begins with "I liked the way we played......."

At some point, the dam is going to burst, setting our rebuild back again. So tired of waiting until we're actually relevant again. I think we may make a couple of minor moves for the trade deadline (we shall see).

 

[Samsonite23]

That graph is hilarious

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

That graph is hilarious

The heart heart x o x o is what does it for me

 

[Gordo21]

That graph is hilarious

Lots of things are hilarious!

 

[OkimLom]

So Mitts and Tage have had multi-game stretches where they've done nothing but fart around on the ice. Tage has sometimes sat for a couple games, but Mitts literally never has, and neither one has been at all threatened with a demotion to Rochester.

Meanwhile, CJ has done everything asked of him short of scoring at over a PPG in the A, played well in limited NHL action, and his reward is to keep getting healthy scratched while we ice worse players?

WTF is wrong with our management.

I hope you realize Mittelstadt and the need from Management to keep him at center is the ONLY thing keeping Sobotka from playing on one of our scoring lines at this point. Sobotka would get to see time as the center on a scoring line before Reinhart does. This is not hyperbole. We have seen it when Eichel went down.