TrueBlueGED

I think he was staying anyway.

Certainly could have. I'm not on the "Q or bust" bandwagon, I just think it would be silly to exclude him because of the last year or so in Chicago.

I can't figure out whether that's a good thing. Half joking, as I too think the roster was better than the results...but I hope he doesn't think too highly of what he has assembled.

I dunno. It's not like Chicago was an established team when they brought him in.

Huzzah!

Depends why he'd be doing it, no? Sticking with Housley in the face of pressure because he genuinely believes in him would be one thing. Sticking with Housley out of spite, essentially, is quite another. I also don't think the Bednar comparison is especially apt. He had one disastrous season in Colorado before turning it around. Housley has had two. Sure it is. If message board posters can question Mittlestadt's readiness to assume the 2C role, and correctly judge Sobotka and Berglund to be useless cap dumps, why can't the GM? Hope isn't a plan.

Cool. We continue to fall farther behind the rest of the division in coaching.

On the flip side, Kassian being on the line didn't prevent much of anything, did it?

Is it possible he was naive enough to think the mild pay bump was enough to fend off programs from power conferences?

Which is basically what we should have done (at a minimum) last season. If this is used as a benchmark for progress, my head is likely going to explode.

Dahlin should win the Calder. Full stop.

Blurred vision is arguably the best way to watch the Sabres.

You live!

Exactly. He does so much more right than wrong that nobody should really care about his gaffes. Should or shouldn't? Because my eye test says Ullmark has been every bit as bad as his stats suggest since December or so.

Would you say it has an inverse relationship to the Sabres' position in the standings?

You don't think Hughes is a Kane-level prospect? Totally disagree.

Part, yes. Big? Eeehhhh.

His save percentage says otherwise. .906 isn't even in the top-30.

It's meaningless, but I still want Jack to score twice tonight to hit 30 on the year.

This could well be the case, but it makes no sense to me.

Yea, but how many hits does he have?

Awful lot of conjecture, and given Botterill's public statements about the room and whatnot, I'd be surprised if it simply came from the top. But we'll never know. All we know is Botterill got worked on the trade.

It's really like he got caught with his pants down. The whole thing looks like he had no plans in place should Oats leave. Insane.

If Housley stays I'll be at the same spot I was with Murray/Bylsma (before they were both canned): if the GM sticks with an obviously bad coach for a third year, he shouldn't get a second coach.

Indeed. If they were just going to land on an existing assistant, it really needed to happen faster so they'd at least have a shot of keeping a recruit or two.