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Columbus’ Tortorella Is Next Coach In Need of Payday

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The Columbus Blue Jackets may find themselves in some coaching trouble as head coach John Tortorella is entering the final year of his contract and if the team doesn’t ante up soon, he could walk at the end of the season next year. However, the problem is that coaches are making a lot more money than they used to and a team like Columbus has never paid a coach more than $1.5MM a year, which went to Ken Hitchcock. According to Yahoo Sports’ Greg Wyshynski, the team may be forced to offer up at least $3.5MM to keep the veteran coach in Columbus.

Wyshynski writes that in the last few years, teams have been spending when it comes to coaches with Toronto’s Mike Babcock starting the process after the Maple Leafs gave him a $6.25MM per year deal. From that point on, Joel Quenneville cashed in with the Blackhawks at $6MM and Montreal gave Claude Julien $5MM to take over the Canadiens. It could be this new trend that has also spilled over into many teams hiring first-time coaches like this offseason when the Arizona Coyotes (Rick Tocchet, Florida Panthers (Bob Boughner), Vancouver Canucks (Travis Green) and the Buffalo Sabres (Phil Housley) all grabbed young coaches that wouldn’t demand big paychecks.

Could Tortorella be the next coach to break the bank? Currently, according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, Tortorella makes $2MM per year, but the Blue Jackets only pay $750,000 of that as he is still receiving money from his one-year stint in Vancouver. However, the two-time Jack Adams Awards winner, which goes to the NHL’s best coach, deserves a major raise and if the Blue Jackets don’t offer that, they could lose him.

Sabres Notes: Mueller, Coaching, Expansion

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Mirco Mueller was dealt from the San Jose Sharks to the New Jersey Devils just before the expansion protection lists were submitted, but they weren’t the only team interested in him. Pierre LeBrun of TSN reports that the Buffalo Sabres were also in talks with the Sharks before they made the move for Nathan Beaulieu instead. It’s clear that the Sabres are looking for every opportunity to improve their defense after finding little consistency from the back end a year ago.

So far, the Sabres project to have some combination of Beaulieu, Rasmus Ristolainen, Zach Bogosian, Josh Gorges, Jake McCabe and Viktor Antipin in their regular group, with Justin Falk, Brendan Guhle and others fighting for the last few spots. That’s a group that could seriously use another upgrade, as various levels of inexperience and inconsistency flow throughout. With Vegas announcing that they’d have defensemen for sale after the expansion draft, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear Buffalo had picked up the phone to try and acquire one.

  • That is of course if Buffalo doesn’t lose a defenseman of their own in the draft. Though we expect the Golden Knights to go after Linus Ullmark (with William Carrier a close second), there is always the chance that Bogosian could be selected. After all, even though he’s been disappointing for the Sabres since coming from Winnipeg in the Tyler Myers trade, he is still just 26 and has the pedigree of a third-overall pick. His contract still has three years left at a $5.14MM cap hit (and actually costs more from a salary perspective) but if Vegas believes he can put his injury woes behind him and become the top-pairing two-way defender he was drafted as they could potentially take him off Buffalo’s hands.
  • John Vogl of the Buffalo News passes on a report that Phil Housley will hire an all-new assistant coaching staff for next season, with Terry Murray, Bob Woods and Tom Ward all not expected to be retained. New GM Jason Botterill is attempting to change the entire culture in the Buffalo organization, and that likely means wiping the coaching slate clean. Interestingly, Murray is the uncle of former Buffalo GM Tim Murray and is a career NHL coach who has held the head position in Florida, Philadelphia, Washington and Los Angeles.

Buffalo Sabres Hire Phil Housley As Next Head Coach

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In one of the worst-kept secrets of the past few months, the Buffalo Sabres have hired Phil Housley as their next head coach. Housley has been linked to the Sabres ever since the team hired Jason Botterill, but they needed to wait for the Nashville Predators’ Stanley Cup run to finish before officially announcing him. Just as Housley was celebrating his 32nd wedding anniversary, he’ll head into a brand new chapter in his hockey life as a head coach for the first time. "<strongPhil Housley” width=”230″ height=”300″ />

Housley was drafted sixth overall by the Sabres in 1982 and immediately jumped into the NHL to outstanding success. With 66 points as an 18-year old defenseman in his rookie season he finished second in Calder trophy voting behind Steve Larmer for Rookie of the Year. He would go on to a Hall of Fame career scoring 1,232 points in 1,495 regular season games, but was hard-pressed to find any success in the playoffs. He still holds the record for the most points from an American-born defenseman, and ranks fourth among those born anywhere. His career is legendary and it returns to the place it all started almost exactly 27 years after he was first traded away (June 16th, 1997 Housley was sent to Winnipeg in a package for Dale Hawerchuk).

The 53-year old Housley has spent the last four seasons as an assistant behind the Nashville bench, helping grow and develop their defense corps into one of the best in the league. His experience and knowledge of the game is almost unmatched, though he will now have to prove he can control an entire roster of players. The Sabres need him to help them take the next step and start building some organizational confidence after a long stretch of disappointment. Even with the young talent the last few drafts have brought in, they were still a long way from competing this season.

That’s not to say he won’t have a chance at the playoffs right away, as a return to health for Jack Eichel paired with the development of other young players could turn around Buffalo’s fortune quickly. With Botterill at the helm in his first stint as a full-fledged GM and Housley installed as coach, the team is putting a lot of faith in the next wave of management to bring a new era of success to the Sabres. In their 46 seasons to date, the Sabres have only made it to two Stanley Cup final appearances, and have yet to hoist the trophy as the winning club. As something Housley can relate to, there won’t be any lack of drive to get back into contention from him or anyone else on the roster.

In terms of assistant coaches, there are rumblings that former New York Islanders coach Jack Capuano could be in the running, while Clark Donatelli remains close with Botterill and could be in contention. Other names will surely pop up as the days go on, but there is at least a name at the top of the coaching depth chart in Buffalo.

Darren Dreger of TSN was first to announce the hiring was official.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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