Phil Housley’s job is safe. General manager Jason Botterill backed his coach today, saying that despite their recent struggles, the reeling Buffalo Sabres have grown this season.
“We’ve made progress as an organization compared to last year,” Botterill told reporters in Tampa Bay, where the Sabres play the Lightning on Thursday. “We’ve been in a position where we’ve been in games. I’ve see the results on the ice, I see the communication we’re going through here. There’s not going to be a coaching change.”
The Sabres’ once-promising season has completely fallen apart. When they played Nov. 29 in Tampa Bay, they roared into town riding a 10-game winning streak and ranked first overall.
Today, the Lightning have a 33-point lead on the 10th-place Sabres, who, incredibly, have won just 11 games since Tampa Bay ended their run.
The Sabres, who are six points out of the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot, have earned the third-fewest points (27) in the NHL since then.
“The coaching staff has done a very good job,” Botterill said. “They’ve communicated with our players. They’ve continued to work at trying to find different methods of getting their message across to them.”
Players mentioned above are vets in league and have not grasped their roles in years.Time to put upthe message should be a “sound D message “this teams lacks grit ,and mistake prone Mister giveaway Bogosian ,and OTHER PLUMBERS ON THIS TEAM THAT HAVE TO BE WEEDED OUT AND FLUSHED DOWN DRAIN .(# 17,#4 #6,#21,#22,#28) and Pommers will be gone after season so ill be kind there .The fans see it and to have your GM come out and say we had people go to the net …what game is he watching ?Sheary loses 80% battles on halfwalls and on his ass and a injured Eichel?….hope he has some injury otherwise oh brother !he has become a asist player and thats not McDavid nor Matthews class who are generational players …Eike is notches below them thats evident and might be our 2nd best if not 3rd best player on an uninspiring roster atm .Time to get brutal and tell these players face 2 face my way or highway not have GM come out and say “we have put players in positions they are not used too”?lol then thats on staff you play game to players strengths not some pipe dream of what you think they can achieve . is over some have to shut up and be shipped the hell out !Period over along with this season ….they are burnt toast and egg on face of all in the boardrooms .