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Housley Won't Get Fooled Again

September 15, 2018, 2:03 PM ET [13 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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Actions speak. #SabresCamp ⚔️

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At last April's locker cleanout day, Buffalo Sabres head coach Phil Housley put his players on blast. Housley's rookie season ended in depressing fashion.

The Sabres finished dead last in 31st place overall in the NHL standings. When the nighmare season finally ended, he sent his beleaguered troops home with one parting salvo:

"Training camp 2018-19 is going to be a bitch. You better be prepared to work like you have never worked before. Or else you won't be a Buffalo Sabre

After Day 2 of training camp concluded on Saturday afternoon, Housley has his team's undivided attention. No distractions. No B.S.

Housley sees a dramatic improvement in attitude, work ethic and tempo from last season to this season.

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Housley has his team focused on the fundamentals of offense, defense and special teams that are necessary for all winning teams to eat, sleep and drink. His players are acting responsibly on both sides of the puck. Passes are crisp and on the money. Their back pressure is constant and determined. Their checks are heavy. Their shots are on the net. Their ears are open, eyes are up and their mouths are shut.

The legs are feeding the wolf.







Housley has said he loves the sense of urgency he is seeing from his players early in September training sessions.

The pace, speed and execution levels of the new look Sabres is a far cry of what it was like at the 2017-18 training camp.

The country club mentality is gone. The sense of entitlement doesnt exist. It has been replaced by a high-tempo, crisp, serious demeanor. In life and in the NHL, you play like you practice.

For the past four seasons, the Sabres have been a bad team. Their bad habits were born during poor, mistake-filled, lackadaisical practices. They played like they practiced.

It's great to see that in five short months, Housley and Botterill have replaced the old, busted, losing culture with a positive, upbeat, high character, winning state of mind.

Terrific news for Sabres fans who have been victimized by disgusting displays of hockey for the past five seasons.

Don't get me wrong. The Sabres are not a Stanley Cup contending team yet. It's still a work in progress. The proof is in the pudding.

If the first two days of training camp are an indication, the players have bought in to Housley's philosophy.



Housley spoke Saturday about how much he loves the physicality and the high tempo by both training groups. He is encouraged by the improved attitude and enthusiasm of his collective group of vets and prospects. He even told his Group 1 session that the Group 2 players were talking crap and chirping Group 1. Housley continues to tweak his players. He wants to see Group 1 and Group 2 duke it out in Sunday morning's scrimmage.

You think the Buffalo Bills home opener against the LA Chargers is going to be the game of the day in Buffalo on Sunday?

Think again.

With the Sabres set to hold their first scrimmage of the preseason on Sunday, Housley said he had a message for his second practice group once the first session was complete.


"I said to the second group, "You know, they were talking trash about you guys," Housley chirped. "I was just trying to set the tone. I just want to see some competitive fire, I want to see some speed, I want to see our checking come into play. We've been working on that the past two days, trying to squeeze off people in the neutral zone and they've done a good job adjusting to that, so it'll be interesting."

No more Mr. Nice Guy. Housley's message is resonating with the veterans, prospects and free agents.

That is, no more free lunches. No more participation awards. No more "Attaboys".

Sing for your supper. All day. Everyday. Or, don't eat.





What an NHL job?

Earn it.

Or, don't.

For the first time in a long, long time, there is a real, internal competition for NHL jobs in Buffalo. The tanking days are dead and buried. The "lets sign some old guys to fill out the roster" days are done. The passegers and doubters have been replaced by players whose give-a-sh*t-meters pin all the way to "11".

The cream is rising to the top in Buffalo. Rasmus Dahlin, the first overall pick at the 2018 NHL Draft, is a hard working, world class player. Dahlin and future captain Jack Eichel are the new high standard.

Sunday morning's scrimmage will be a precursor to Monday night's exhibition game in Columbus.

Houlsey wants Sabres fans to attend the scrimmage, which will begin at 10:30 am.

Here are your forward trios and D pairs:


Group 1

Forwards:

Skinner - Eichel - Okposo
Nylander - Berglund - Bailey
Olofsson - Larsson - Oglevie
Wilson - Criscuolo - Cornel
Extras: Pekar, Glotov


Defense:

Scandella - Ristolainen
Dahlin - McCabe
Pilut - Fedun
Extra: Redmond


Goalies:

Ullmark
Wedgewood
Johansson



Group 2

Forwards:


Smith - Sobotka - Thompson
Sheary - Mittelstadt - Pominville
Rodrigues - Asplund - Baptiste (This trio is straight fire!)
Girgensons - Porter - O'Regan
Extras: Malone, Randell

Defense:


Beaulieu - Bogosian
Guhle - Nelson
Hickey-Tennyson
Extras: Stephens, Borgen


Goalies:

Hutton
Wilcox
Luukkonen

_________________________________________________________________________




The change it had to come
We knew it along.
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday



Sabres GM Jason Botterill echoed Houlsey's message when he promised huge personnel changes to the Sabres roster. Botterill has been on a mission to drive the proverbial stake through the heart of of the vampire that has been responsible for sucking the life blood out of his team for the past half decade.

In his biggest trade, Botterill sent popular, accomplished veteran, two-way center Ryan O'Reilly to St Louis in exchange for veteran centers Patrik Berglund and Vlad Sobotka. The Sabres also recieved hulking power forward Tage Thompson as well as a 2019 first-round draft pick and 2021 second-round pick.

Botterill also added sniping wingers Conor Sheary and Jeff Skinner. Both forwards were acquired for pennies on the dollar.


Sabres prospect forwards are running through brick walls just to get noticed. Alex Nylander, Victor Olofsson, Justin Bailey, Rasmus Asplund, Nick Baptiste, Danny O'Regan, and C.J. Smith all want to play in Buffalo this season. Only one or two men will make the Buffalo roster. Who wnats to be the firist call-up from Rochester?

The battle wages on.

One veteran forward whose name isn't even being mentioned at the first two days of training camp is that of Samson Reinhart.

The 22 year old veteran is still an unsigned restricted free agent. Reinhart is conspicuous by his own absence from the most competitive training camp of his four year NHL career. There is no way possible that Reinhart can make up for the lost practice reps that he has missed on Days 1 and 2. Unless he signs a two year bridge contract Saturday night, which is not likely, Reinhart will also miss the Sunday scrimmage and Monday night's tilt against the Blue Jackets.

It's not a good look for Reinhart, who clearly is holding out hope that Botterill will relent and agree to a multi-year contract for the former second overall pick at the 2014 NHL Draft. I'm told that Reinhart is not interested in signing a bridge contract. Reinhart scored 25 goals and 25 assists last season.

Nice production, right?

Reinhart scored 37 points (18G,19A) in his last 38 games last season. His scored 20 goals in 43 games in 2018 tied him for 12th-most in the NHL from January to April.

The six million dollar question remains:

Where did Reinhart disappear to for the first 44 games of the season when he scored only 13 points?

Reinhart and his agent want a long term deal at an average annual value in the range of Jason Zucker and J.T. Miller (5 years @ $5.5M AAV) Dylan Larkin ( 5 years, $6.1M AAV) range.

Toronto Maaple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas is having a similar stalemate with his unsigned RFA scoring winger William Nylander. Dubas is said to be offering a 2-3 year bridge deal while Nylander is looking for a long term contract at $8M AAV per season.





In seasons's past, Reinhart missing the beginning of training camp would be a huge loss to the Sabres. Their AHL roster was nothing to write home about. Former GM Tim Murray depleted the organizational depth by trading young forward prospects away in the Ryan O'Reilly (J.T. Compher, Mikhail Grigorenko) and Evander Kane (Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux) trades.

In the past year and a half, Botetrill and his AGMs Steve Greeley and Randy Sexton has restocked the organizational cupboards via trades and the NHL draft. Today, their is a cornucopia of young, skilled, NHL caliber talent just 60 miles east of Buffalo in Rochester.

For the first time in a long time, the kids are being given a chance to earn roster spots in Buffalo. The auditions are very entertaining to watch. The kids are better than alright. They are downright impressive to watch compete for NHL paychecks.

Reinhart and his agent may be the party that blinks first in this game of chicken with Botterill.


Its all well and good that Reinhart skated shinny with his buds two weeks before training camp opened on September 13. However, his TOI is now being absorbed by other forwards, namely Kyle Okposo and Justin Bailey. Reinhart's net front position on PP1 is being played by Tage Thompson.
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