Buffalo Sabres Fire Sale: Coach Dan Has Got To Go!
By Adam DeRose
With the trade deadline just days away, and with the Buffalos Sabres playoff chances freshly in the ground, it’s time to look to the future! It’s time to clean house and have another good ole fashioned Fire Sale!
On the auction block today is Coach Dan Bylsma. I have made it known in previous articles that I was not a fan of his hiring, nor his coaching styles. It’s very aggravating and annoying when he constantly changes the lines every other shift. In theory, I could see how mixing up the players on each line every shift could be beneficial if the Sabres were on the road, especially if it was during a playoff series; you know, force the other team’s coach to split up his top lines. However, Coach Dan is in his second year for the Blue & Gold and he’s still tinkering with the lines. Every. Single. Game. I would have thought he would have figured it out already.
Apparently Coach Dan has playoff and Stanley Cup experience…I have yet to see that experience and wisdom translate to the Sabres. Word on the street is that Coach Dan’s hockey plan or style is too complicated and the players are not buying into it. Also, I don’t think Bylsma has control over his team. He can’t even make them motivated to play.
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I’m sure that Coach Dan is a really nice guy and probably has a bunch of great hockey stories. However, I’m tired of him as the Buffalo Sabres Head Coach.
What are the Buffalo Sabres other options for head coach? Well, there are several:
- Buffalo Sabres Assistant Coach Terry Murray—former hockey player, former head coach of the Los Angeles Kings and Lehigh Valley Phantoms…Oh yeah, and he’s the uncle of GMTM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Murray)
- Buffalo Sabres Assistant Coach Bob Woods—former hockey player, former assistant coach of the Anaheim Ducks and Washington Capitals (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Woods_(ice_hockey))
- Ken “Captain Kangaroo” Hitchcock—former head coach of the Dallas Star, Philly Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and St. Louis Blues…and he has a Stanley Cup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Hitchcock)
- Michel Therrien—former hockey player, former coach of the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Therrien).
- Andrew Peters—former Buffalo Sabre enforcer and Buffalo Junior Sabres head coach. I think Peters has enough fight in him to be a NHL head coach (it’s a joke, you can laugh).