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Buffalo Sabres Not Looking At Coaching Change

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The Buffalo Sabres have suffered a drastic slide since finishing their ten-game winning streak in late November. Since November 27th, when they were sitting at 17-6-2, the team has gone just 11-18-5 and dropped out of the playoff race in the Atlantic Division. While they still have an outside shot at a wild card spot if they turn things around, they aren’t ready to make drastic changes, at least not behind the bench. Today while speaking with reporters including John Vogl of The Athletic, GM Jason Botterill expressed his confidence in the work that head coach Phil Housley has done so far and indicated that his job is safe.

Housley, who took over as the team’s head coach before the 2017-18 season after finding immense success as an assistant in Nashville, now has a 53-69-19 record through 141 games behind the Buffalo bench. While there has obviously been great high points—like that ten-game winning streak—there just hasn’t been enough success of late to satiate fans of the team.

The Sabres have taken strides in their rebuild this year and will continue to develop from within, but even with a vote of confidence the coaching seat will remain warm. If they do miss the playoffs this season it will be eighth consecutive year with no postseason action, despite having one of the league’s highest paid players in Jack Eichel. Luckily, the team has three first-round picks in this year’s draft and another franchise player in the making with young Rasmus Dahlin. There should be brighter times on the horizon, and for now Housley will be the one to lead them there.

Atlantic Notes: Muzzin, Zadina, Scandella, Rodewald

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A lot of praise was sent towards Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas and the organization for pulling off an impressive trade when they acquired defenseman Jake Muzzin from Los Angeles for a what’s likely to be a late first-rounder and two above average prospects. The move didn’t take away any players off their current roster and only made them better.

However, Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun writes that Mike Babcock may not be integrating Muzzin properly so far. The 29-year-old averaged 21:32 of ice time in 50 games with the Kings. However, his ATOI is quite a bit less in Toronto with Babcock playing him just 18:37. The team has no intention of moving Morgan Rielly away from the left-side, but the team might be better off moving Muzzin to the right side and allowing him to play alongside Rielly. At the moment, Muzzin is playing on the second defensive unit. Regardless, the team needs to find a way of increasing Muzzin’s minutes.

  • Peter Wallner of MLive.com writes that the hottest player currently on the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL is 2018 first-rounder Filip Zadina, who scored an overtime goal Saturday to pick up his fourth goal in four games. The 19-year-old winger who naturally struggled early on when he arrived in the AHL, seems to have found his stride. He has seven points in his last eight games and has had a plus-six rating, a big improvement considering he had a minus-16 rating previous to the run. He now has 15 goals and 29 points in 43 games. While there is no word on whether the team might bring him to Detroit at some point, with the team currently struggling, a recall is potentially possible, although the team might be wary of allowing him to play more than 10 games this year and burning that first year of his entry-level deal.
  • NHL.com’s Mike Morreale reports that Buffalo Sabres defenseman Marco Scandella is injured once again and did not go with the team on their current road trip, although he could rejoin them. Head coach Phil Housley said that Scandella will be evaluated for an undisclosed injury. “Being evaluated by doctors and we’ll know more hopefully when we get down to Florida,” said Housley. It’s very likely the team will place him on injured reserve until he is ready to return.
  • TSN 1200 reported that the Ottawa Senators activated Jack Rodewald from injured reserve Saturday and have already assigned the 25-year-old forward to Belleville of the AHL. Rodewald was injured in a game against Anaheim on Feb. 7 with a lower-body injury and was expected to miss two weeks. He had played in six games with Ottawa, but had failed to record a point. The team also activated forward Mikkel Boedker from a mid-body injury.

Snapshots: Pominville, Moravcik, Winnipeg

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When the Buffalo Sabres take the ice tonight against the Dallas Stars, they will do so without veteran forward Jason Pominville. Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News, after speaking with head coach Phil Housley, relays that Pominville will sit out Wednesday night’s contest as a healthy scratch. Some quick research by the Olean Times Herald’s Bill Hoppe indicates that this is Pominville’s first healthy scratch since April 4, 2006 – during his rookie season. Pominville, 36, has been an All-Star and frequent Selke Trophy candidate over his 15 years in the league, split between two stints with Buffalo and five seasons with the Minnesota Wild. So why now is he out of the Sabres’ lineup? Lysowksi writes that the only reason Housley gave was to rest the veteran of more than a thousand games in the second night of a back-to-back and give young Remi Elie a shot. However, Pominville’s streak of one goal and two assists in his past 24 games likely contributed as well. Even though Pominville is on pace to meet or exceed his 34 total points from last season, he has cooled off significantly after a hot start, much like the Sabres overall. His spot in the lineup could be in jeopardy, especially if Elie proves to be the spark that Buffalo is seeking.

  • It didn’t take long for defenseman Michal Moravcik to find new employment. Just a day after clearing unconditional waivers and having his contract terminated by the Montreal Canadiens, Moravcik has returned home to the Czech Republic. HC Plzen has announced a contract with the 24-year-old blue liner for the remainder of the season. Plzen is the same team that Moravcik had come up through the system with and was playing for before signing in North America. As such, Morazcik should soon return to the elite form that first caught the eye of NHL scouts. Plzen is surely looking forward to the boost, as the team that also employs familiar names like Jakub Kindl and Petr Straka hopes to make up ground in the standings.
  • The city of Winnipeg already hosts the NHL’s Jets and the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, but it will have yet another tenant beginning next season. The WHL’s Kootenay Ice have decided to move to Winnipeg, as first reported by The Winnipeg Free Press’ Jeff Hamilton. The team is expected to keep the “Ice” moniker and same logo and will soon get to work on a long-term development plan for a new arena and sports complex on the south side of the city. While Winnipeggers already have two good teams to root for, no one in the area is likely to complain about the return of major junior hockey and should be excited to watch presumptive top-15 pick Peyton Krebs lead a young, rebuilding team next season.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Buffalo Sabres

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Buffalo Sabres. 

What are the Sabres most thankful for?

Can Sabres’ fans be any more thankful for the fact that the team, the same team that finished last in the standings one season ago, is currently in first place in the entire NHL with 34 points. That may be short lived as several teams just beneath them play before the Sabres go for their 10th straight win on Tuesday, but few could have predicted the success for second-year general manager Jason Botterill and head coach Phil Housley this season.

The Sabres shook up their entire roster from a year ago and made critical additions at every level, which included adding Jeff Skinner to their top line on offense, adding a number of solid players to their depth chart including Vladimir Sobotka, Patrik Berglund, Casey Mittelstadt, Conor Sheary and Tage Thompson, while adding 2018 first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin (who has been as good as advertised) on defense. That doesn’t include the team’s success in goal. Those moves have stabilized the team’s defense as they ranked sixth in the league in goals against this year as well as having one of the best penalty killing units in the league as well.

Who are the Sabres most thankful for?

While it would make sense to put Skinner and his 18 goals in this spot, we can save him for later. The tandem that has really impressed this year has been the play of the Sabres goaltenders Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark. The team, which struggled a year ago with Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson has thrived this year. Much of that could be the improvement of the team’s defense, but at the same time both goalies have been better than anyone had expected.

While Hutton was the top goaltender on the market this offseason, most people felt that Hutton was not capable of being a No. 1 goaltender, often comparing him to Carolina’s Scott Darling. However, Hutton has been better than advertised, already netting 11 wins and posting a solid 2.53 GAA and a .919 save percentage in 18 appearances. The untested Ullmark also has looked good, although the team has been careful to not overwhelm the 25-year-old. However in five appearances, he’s also posted a 2.52 GAA and an even more impressive .926 save percentage.

What would the Sabres be even more thankful for?

More production from their youth. The team is very young and is loaded with talent at the AHL level as well. And while players like Dahlin have been impressive, the team could take another step in the right direction if they can develop some of their young core even quicker. Dahlin has played well sharing No. 1 defenseman duties with Rasmus Ristolainen, but he’s capable of even more. The team has gotten just four goals from Mittelstadt and would like to see him develop into a consistent presence in the top six at some point.

Others like Thompson, who has suddenly starting showing off some offense with three goals in his last four games, as well as Evan Rodrigues need to continue to develop as well to allow the team to reach peak efficiency both now and in the future. The team is also loaded with a number of prospects including defensemen Lawrence Pilut and Brendan Guhle, while they have several potential options at forward as well in C.J. Smith, Daniel O’Regan and Alexander Nylander waiting for an opportunity.

What should be on the Sabres’ Holiday Wish List?

The team has made it clear they intend to work on an extension with Skinner next month, but the team really needs to make sure it can lock down the 26-year-old who leads the team in scoring this year and is only six goals away from beating his 24 goals from last season with Carolina. Skinner’s deal will be the main contract the team must deal with this offseason as the team has just three unrestricted free agents (Jason Pominville and Matt Moulson being the others). Skinner’s pairing with Jack Eichel has produced a powerful top line in the NHL and should only get better as the two continue to get comfortable with each other.

With the expiring contracts of Moulson and Pominville, although the team may want to attempt to retain the latter, there should be plenty of money to lock up Skinner now, so they won’t have to worry about him losing him this summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Injury Notes: Red Wings, Bogosian, Beleskey, Peca

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The Detroit Red Wings’ defense could look much different to begin the season than many expected. With top pair defenseman Mike Green already shut down and confirmed to be out for at least the team’s opener due to a viral infection, coach Jeff Blashill revealed today that banged-up blue liners Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, and Trevor Daley are all considered questionable to begin the season. As Ansar Khan of MLive.com points out, it could be a very young, inexperienced defensive corps to start the year in Detroit. Niklas Kronwall and Nick Jensen could be the only regulars healthy enough to play, joined perhaps by a veteran like Brian Lashoff or Dylan McIlrath. Outside of those options, rookies will likely make up the rest of the top six. 5’8″ Joe Hicketts, who got a brief look last season, leads the way, with 2016 first-rounder Dennis Cholowski, second-rounder the same year Filip Hronek, and Czech import Libor Sulak in the mix as well.

  • Injury news about Zach Bogosian usually isn’t good and unfortunately, this could be trending in that direction as well. Bogosian has been taking it easy in training camp, working his way back from major hip surgery, but the Athletic’s Joe Yerndon reports that he has still managed to get injured. According to head coach Phil Housley, Bogosian is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Even worse, Yerndon notes that it is a new injury, unrelated to his hip issues. Bogosian’s career has been marred by frequent injuries and an inability to bounce back quickly. The Sabres have to hope that this case is different, as Bogosian and Marco Scandella will be needed to lead a young defensive unit and groom top overall pick Rasmus Dahlin.
  • It didn’t take long for the New York Rangers to get clarification on Matt Beleskey’s status. After head coach David Quinn said yesterday that it was “too early to tell” the extent of Beleskey’s injury, suffered during a fight on Monday night, the Rangers released an update today. Beleskey will be out two to four weeks with a separated shoulder, the team determined. Since Beleskey was a likely training camp casualty anyway, the only change for the Rangers is that he cannot be placed on waiver while injured. Instead, he will be placed on the injured reserve with only a minor salary cap charge.
  • Montreal Canadiens’ free agent addition Matthew Peca is currently sidelined. The team revealed that he is dealing with a minor groin injury. No timeline has been established for his return. Peca’s NHL ability and role for the Habs is still unclear, so missing preseason action and potentially the start of the season is unfortunate. The former Tampa Bay Lightning prospect will have to hit the ground running upon his return.

Sabres Notes: Botterill, Skinner, Reinhart, Smith, Okposo

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The Buffalo Sabres acquisition of winger Jeff Skinner only suggests to a defeated Buffalo fanbase that the Sabres intend to shake things up and improve on their inability to even reach the playoffs since the 2010-11 season. However, Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News takes it a step further as he suggests that general manager Jason Botterill and the Sabres fleeced the Carolina Hurricanes in their stealing of Skinner and it shows how Buffalo means business.

The key to the deal is the fact that Buffalo didn’t give them anything off their current rosters for a top-line left wing. The only player they did hand over will be playing in the NHL next season. Of the picks that Botterill did give to Carolina, the GM didn’t give up one of the three first-rounders that Buffalo has in the 2019 draft. And for Buffalo, Harrington writes, it’s a no-lose for the Sabres. If Skinner signs a long-term deals, they win. If they trade him at the deadline, they should be able to get a similar return than what they paid for him in the first place.

  • The Athletic’s Jon Vogl (subscription required) writes that Skinner is currently focused on getting integrated in Buffalo and coach Phil Housley’s system and his mind is not on his contract. The 26-year-old has said he is not focused on his contract. “Our focus with Jeff is to make this transition into Buffalo as easy as possible for him,” general manager Jason Botterill said, “for him to get settled in, focused in on the start of the season, go through the process here for him to get to know his teammates, get to know Phil (Housley), get to know myself, and we’ll talk about things such as extensions or contract down the road.”
  • The Athletic’s Joe Yerdon writes that there is little movement on a contract for Sabres’ restricted free agent Sam Reinhart. Botterill said the team would be waiting until all arbitration cases are completed, which suggests that Reinhart and his camp wanted to see how everyone did before agreeing to a new deal. Reinhart is coming off a career-high 25 goals and 50 points.
  • In another Yerdon piece, the scribe writes that the Sabres are expecting a lot of development from their defensemen now that they have assistant coach Steve Smith aboard for this upcoming season. The former Carolina Hurricanes’ assistant is well known for working well with young defensemen including Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, Jaccob Slavin and Noah Hanifin to name a few. He could have a positive affect on a number of players in Buffalo, including Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nathan Beaulieu, Marco Scandella and Brendan Guhle.
  • Scott Billeck of NBC Sports writes that this will be a big year for high-priced winger Kyle Okposo to prove himself. After suffering through two major concussions over the past two years, the 30-year-old needs a bounce back season after posting just 34 goals over the past two seasons. He’s likely going to start on the team’s second-line next to rookie center Casey Mittelstadt. However, he must show he can stay healthy to even come close to showing he’s worthy of the $6MM AAV he’s carrying for the next five years.

Poll: Who Will Be The First Coach Fired In 2018-19?

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Not a single NHL head coach was fired during the 2017-18 season, though several changes have been made since. Barry Trotz and Bill Peters resigned their positions in Washington and Carolina, and were each hired to replace the outgoing bench bosses in New York and Calgary. Those two were Doug Weight and Glen Gulutzan, who both failed to get their teams to the playoffs in year two of their coaching history (Weight replaced Jack Capuano partway through the 2016-17 season). Assistant coaches moved up the ladder in Washington and Carolina, while the NCAA ranks were mined for new openings for the Dallas Stars and New York Rangers. Jim Montgomery and David Quinn took over for Ken Hitchcock and Alain Vingeault respectively, bringing new ideas and fresh faces to the NHL coaching circuit.

It’s not new for coaches to be fired in the offseason, but seeing no one sent packing during the year is a very rare occurrence. It was the first time it had happened since 1966-67, meaning the likelihood of it happening again in 2018-19 seems very low. So then, who will be the first to feel the seat burning underneath him? The last time we asked a question like this the readers correctly guessed that Vingeault was on his way out, but also listed Claude Julien in Montreal, Jeff Blashill in Detroit and Rick Tocchet in Arizona as possibilities.

Who will be the first coach fired in 2018-19? Will it happen at all? Cast your vote below and make sure to explain why in the comment section.

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Buffalo Sabres Hire Steve Smith As Assistant Coach

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It didn’t take long for Steve Smith to land on his feet after resigning from the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. The Buffalo Sabres have announced they’ve hired the veteran assistant coach to join Phil Housley’s group, where he will take over defensive and penalty kill responsibilities.

There are few opportunities like this one for Smith, who will get to work directly with phenom defenseman Rasmus Dahlin as he begins his NHL career. Smith and Housley will be tasted with developing Dahlin into the perennial Norris candidate that many are projecting him to be, and they have quite a bit of experience between the two of them for the job. Housley of course is a Hall of Fame defenseman with 1,200 career points, but Smith was no slouch in his playing days and brings the knowledge of three Stanley Cups to the table. He was a key member of the Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier-led Edmonton Oilers championship teams, and finished his career with over 800 games played (and 2,100 penalty minutes).

Dahlin isn’t the only young defenseman that will be taken under Smith’s wing, as the team also boasts Brendan Guhle, Mattias Samuelsson and others coming through the system. Even Rasmus Ristolainen is still only 23, despite already having five seasons under his belt. The Sabres have struggled to put anything close to a championship-caliber blue line together for years, but can take a huge step towards that goal this season.

Goaltending Situation In Buffalo Still Unsettled

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Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill took the podium today for the team’s season-ending press conference, and spoke on several topics including the future of Phil Housley—who, not unexpectedly, will be back next season—and the comments made by players like Ryan O’Reilly. Admitting that things need to change drastically right down to the culture of the team, he also touched on a goaltending situation that remains in flux.

Botterill announced that he is excited to have Linus Ullmark as one of the NHL goaltenders next season, but couldn’t say at this point who would be paired with him. That’s partly because of the free agent situation both current netminders find themselves in, but likely also because of the disappointing season that preceded the presser.

Chad Johnson is an unrestricted free agent come July 1st, and after posting an .891 save percentage this season is unlikely to return for the Sabres. Though Johnson has posted fine numbers in the past, pairing him with the relatively inexperienced Ullmark seems like a recipe for disaster. He’ll be 32 in 2018-19, and looked lost in the net at some points this season.

More likely—but perhaps only barely—is the return of Robin Lehner. After using a first-round pick to acquire him from the Ottawa Senators, Lehner actually put up two very strong seasons behind lackluster teams in 2015-17. Posting save percentages of .924 (albeit in a small sample) and .920, he looked like he truly could be a long-term option in Buffalo. There were some questions about his consistency though, as the emotional goaltender could sometimes get in his own way. Those inconsistencies were the story this season, as his numbers dropped across the board and led to questions about his future.

Lehner will be a restricted free agent this summer, but is coming off a $4MM salary this season. That means his qualifying offer would need to be at least that much, something the Sabres might not feel accurately portrays his value. If Ullmark is given the keys to the club and is expected to handle at least a good chunk of the starting duties, it’s not clear if Lehner would be re-signed or moved.

If he is put up for trade, there are certainly clubs that would be interested. As stated above, Lehner clearly has the talent to be an above-average goaltender in the NHL. Put on a stronger team, with a healthy leadership core, perhaps the best of him would come out once again. Still only 26, there is even room for him to grow as a professional and squeeze out some of the inconsistency from his game.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Morning Notes: O’Reilly, Maple Leafs, De Haan

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The Buffalo Sabres held their locker clean out today after another season where they find themselves at the very bottom of the standings. The Sabres will have the best chance at selecting first overall in the upcoming draft, but that didn’t cheer up Ryan O’Reilly, who spoke candidly about how he has struggled with morale this season. O’Reilly is quoted in John Vogl’s piece for the Buffalo News:

We’re stuck in this mindset of just being OK with losing. I feel it, too. I think it’s really crept into myself. Over the course of the year, I’ve lost myself a lot, where it’s just kind of get through, just being OK with just not making a mistake. That’s not winning hockey at all, and it’s crept into all of our games.

It’s disappointing. It’s sad. I feel throughout the year I’ve lost the love of the game multiple times. You need to get back to it because it’s just eating myself up and eats the other guys, too. It’s just eating us up, and it’s tough.

The Sabres have finished out of the playoffs for the last seven seasons, and haven’t had any real postseason success in over a decade. With a rookie coach and GM in Phil Housley and Jason Botterill, things will have to turn around quickly if they want ownership to stick with them long-term. Jack Eichel will begin his $80MM contract extension next season, while O’Reilly still has five years at $7.5MM left on his deal. Those two will have to be the key members of any bounce back, though they’ll certainly need some help along the way.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs will carry $2.55MM in bonuses over to next season according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, who notes that they also have close to $21MM coming off the books this summer. Interestingly, that bonus number could still increase by another $2MM should Auston Matthews take home the Conn Smythe trophy. The Maple Leafs will have a reduced amount of cap room because of it, and plenty of decisions to make on unrestricted free agents like James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov.
  • Calvin de Haan would welcome a return to the New York Islanders according to Andrew Gross of Newsday, but is aware of the lack of defensemen on the free agent market this summer. de Haan’s season ended in December after just 33 games, which clouds his future considerably. At one point (including on our Midseason UFA Power Rankings) he looked like he was set to hit the market as one of the best defensemen available. Now, it’s entirely unclear if he’ll be able to secure a long-term deal at all.

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