Phil Housley poll: Fired, Survives or wins Adams

[HogtownSabresfan]

I think he's fired around 20-game mark with season down the tubes.

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[EichHart]

Fired before new year

 

[SabresFan26]

He's coaching the whole year..... Curious to see the staff difference with Smith brought in and Hajt reassigned.

 

[Sabre the Win]

He will ride the season out and be gone next off season when Coach Q shakes loose from the Hawks.

 

[GellMann]

He's not getting fired. Pegulas believe in continuity and are probably sick of firing people, and while I see warts with Phil's lines (roughly as much as with any coach this team I've ever had in my life) the on-ice problems I see don't stem from him (like the forecasted stretch-passing with Disco, or the fact that our players with bad hands and hockey IQ are the ones that can't funnel the slot, while lines with good combinations of this stuff magically pull it off).

I do think that he will be the first whipping boy whenever anything goes wrong, including the fact that our roster just isn't up to snuff with what we've seen so far and so while not bleak like last year, we're still going to have some gross games to suffer through.

 

[Gabrielor]

After the first 2-3 preseason performances of effort and passing, I would've said he'll make the year.

Every preseason game since at Toronto has given me visions of 17-18 all over again, which, he can't possibly survive past December.

I want a 5-10 game clip of real-stakes hockey to confirm, but I'm airing on the side of 'Fired at the 40-game mark', which is right before the new year.

 

[Derg12]

Makes it through - I'll reserve judgment until after I see the regulars play through November.

 

[Tatanka]

The team has adopted the personality of its coach. The are soft and undisciplined. He will make it through the year, but the team will suffer for it.

 

[GellMann]

The team has adopted the personality of its coach. The are soft and undisciplined. He will make it through the year, but the team will suffer for it.

In reality, the team has the identity and skill of the players that compose it. They aren't playing hockey the way they are because fans hated how their head coach played hockey 20 years ago. Risto is still doing the dumb Risto clears he's been doing since we first saw him. Jack is doing Jack things, Sam Sam things. Berglund is the same player I watched play in St. Louis last season.

They're just a mediocre group of players that will hopefully be helped by development and a youth influx to not be mediocre sooner rather than later.

 

[Tatanka]

In reality, the team has the identity and skill of the players that compose it. They aren't playing hockey the way they are because fans hated how their head coach played hockey 20 years ago. Risto is still doing the dumb Risto clears he's been doing since we first saw him. Jack is doing Jack things, Sam Sam things. Berglund is the same player I watched play in St. Louis last season.

They're just a mediocre group of players that will hopefully be helped by development and a youth influx to not be mediocre sooner rather than later.

Spare me. I have been involved in enough teams and organizations to know the tone is set at the top. If you want to excel the leader, i.e. the coach has to set the expectations and enforce them. We have no structure. What little we do have involves free lancing with defensemen and having little to no support. These are coaching decisions. The coach set this structure. The new talent is lost in where they are going and what the correct playnis. That is a failure to set the expectations communicate acceptable execution and rewarding compliance or enforcing deviation. It is his job to diagnose and correct Ristos mistakes or Jacks, or whomever. Q does it. Babcock does it. Sullivan does it. Housley does not.

 

[sabrebuild]

Every time one of these threads gets posted I get my hopes up and then it turns out to be a poll or something else.

Please stop teasing....

 

[Dahlin 2 Eichel]

Makes it through the year. We show growth and improvement.

 

[Buffaloed]

He's not getting fired. Pegulas believe in continuity and are probably sick of firing people, and while I see warts with Phil's lines (roughly as much as with any coach this team I've ever had in my life) the on-ice problems I see don't stem from him (like the forecasted stretch-passing with Disco, or the fact that our players with bad hands and hockey IQ are the ones that can't funnel the slot, while lines with good combinations of this stuff magically pull it off).

I do think that he will be the first whipping boy whenever anything goes wrong, including the fact that our roster just isn't up to snuff with what we've seen so far and so while not bleak like last year, we're still going to have some gross games to suffer through.

The Pegula's are going to look for another Sean McDermott. They've seen first hand how structure and leadership can turn around a team.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

Every preseason game since at Toronto has given me visions of 17-18 all over again, which, he can't possibly survive past December.

This is my concern. It's not so much losses. Who cares about preseason. It's the way they lost some games, looked lethargic, couldn't pass -- too much like last year.

 

[brian_griffin]

Honest questions: Who was the last HHoF inductee as a player who turned out to be a bona fide good NHL coach? How many HHoF players (in recent years) who coached were trash / fizzled out?

Gretzky,
Patrick Roy,
????

 

[Zip15]

He makes it through the year unless the team quits on him. If they finish below 75 pts, he's gone.

 

[sabremike]

Eaten by Gritty on our first visit to Philly.

 

[beerme1]

Spare me. I have been involved in enough teams and organizations to know the tone is set at the top. If you want to excel the leader, i.e. the coach has to set the expectations and enforce them. We have no structure. What little we do have involves free lancing with defensemen and having little to no support. These are coaching decisions. The coach set this structure. The new talent is lost in where they are going and what the correct playnis. That is a failure to set the expectations communicate acceptable execution and rewarding compliance or enforcing deviation. It is his job to diagnose and correct Ristos mistakes or Jacks, or whomever. Q does it. Babcock does it. Sullivan does it. Housley does not.

This is a mostly excellent post and I strongly agree with the last bit. However, he was a first year head coach last year and he may have decided over the summer he is going to be different this year and stated and started by holding a tougher camp right off the bat. There is no point in determining anything from pre season games from a fan's perspective for the most part.
I'm with you on Housley. It will be noticeable very quickly if he's addressed his own flaws let alone the teams. If he hasn't changed he's gone by Christmas and maybe there's a chance to salvage the season.
If he's learned from his rookie year as a head coach he may have Lindy like tenure. I'll hope for the latter as we all should.

 

[EichHart]

I remember a poll with similar results for Murray. It was like 90% he was going to stay and 10% he's gone. Pegulas have a track record for firing employees that don't make it pretty quickly. Housley is gone if this team finishes bottom 5 again. This will be year 8 without playoffs, the NHL record is 10. "Suffering" is a bit of an understatement at this point. If they are a train wreck for the first part of the year we will see a coaching change.

 

[Jim Bob]

If I had to guess, he gets the full season and doesn't get a third season behind the bench.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

I am going the optimistic route - if Housley sucks and can't get this team to win then Botterill will let him go 10 games in to try and salvage the year before Thanksgiving.

It's ultimately Botts' biggest test. Can he let go of his first coaching hire or will he die on that hill a la GMTM.

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

He should be, but will probably ride out the season.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

Honest questions: Who was the last HHoF inductee as a player who turned out to be a bona fide good NHL coach? How many HHoF players (in recent years) who coached were trash / fizzled out?

Gretzky,
Patrick Roy,
????

Dale Hunter - but he coached for less than a full season.

 

[Myllz]

He'll be here through the end of the season.

 

[hizzoner]

I have not figured out what our team is yet so I do not know what to expect. Will he be told he has to play Mittelstadt even if he proves not be ready? Will waiver exemptions mean that players with less ability/drive are kept up so that younger players get more minutes in the AHL? Predicting Housley will be fired at one point is a sure thing--they all get fired. Firing him before he gets a chance to get these guys--half the team is new-to play as 5 man units would be counterproductive.