The conclusion of the 2020-21 season has left a lot up in the air for the Buffalo Sabres. One of the question marks that will need to be answered is, who is going to coach the team next year? Hiring the right coach is a necessity for the team moving forward; the franchise cannot afford to once again get the wrong guy, even if a rebuild is imminent. Compared to years past, they have a loaded head coach free-agent class, so there are no excuses to mess this up.
Option 1: Don Granato
Don "Meatballs" Granato was originally hired by Ralph Krueger back in 2019 as an assistant coach. Don Granato was a name that close to no fans had heard of up until earlier this year when Krueger was let go back in March. Granato was given the "Interim Head Coach" title as the team finished the season and looked for a new coach in the offseason. At least that was the original plan.
Granato surprised pretty much all fans with the way that he ended the season in Buffalo. His record as head coach was 9-16-3, however, that number should look a bit better. He took over during the midst of the 18-game winless stretch, right after it hit 12 games. In the remaining six games, the team went 0-5-1, so if you take out the period where the team was already in a downward spiral, then Granato was 9-11-2.
Pretty decent considering the injuries that were present (Eichel, McCabe, Ullmark, Borgen) and the fact that Hall, Staal, and Montour were all traded at the deadline. He should be commended for the work that he did with a roster that looked weak on paper.
Granato's impact was felt up and down the lineup. Biggest of all, his work with the young pieces on the team. Mittelstadt, Thompson, and Asplund were a pleasant surprise as a line, especially Mittelstadt who I'm sure proved a lot of doubters wrong. Ruotsalainen had a nice first stretch in the league along Cozens' wing, showing flashes of the talent that had helped him lead the Liiga in scoring this year. Cozens himself played the better part of his rookie season under Granato as well. Most importantly, Dahlin and Jokiharju saw a return to form under Don, who clearly took the pressure off their shoulders and just let them play their natural games.
His decision to put Reinhart back at center also saw great success, and he was able to get wins with Dustin Tokarski and Michael Houser in net on a pretty constant basis. All in all, I'd say that Granato is more than capable to coach this team next year, and I think he'd be a really good pick no matter the circumstances.
If Eichel and Reinhart are going to be traded and this team goes into a rebuild then he makes the most sense. He's cheap compared to other coaches and his ability to connect to other players is perfect for a rebuild where tons of young guys are going to be coming up. However, if Eichel and/or Reinhart are somehow willing to stay and contend, then Kevyn Adams may have to look to some of these other candidates to create a winning team now.
Option 2: Bruce Boudreau
When the Sabres were beginning their downward spiral midseason with Krueger as coach, but the playoffs were still attainable, Bruce Boudreau was the coach that everyone was pointing at to bring in and save the sinking ship. At the time, Elliotte Friedman reported that Boudreau would have loved to coach the team, as he lives just across the Canadian border. As we know Granato would eventually take over the job, but the want for Boudreau was and still is there for many fans.
Boudreau's tenures with the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks, and the Minnesota Wild have all seen tremendous success, and have consistently crowned him as one of the best coaches in the league.
His list of accolades speaks for itself. Before the NHL, he won the Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears in 2006 and led them there once again in 2007 before falling short. Of his 14 seasons as a head coach, his teams have finished with 100 or more points in 8 in them. In fact, he's been the coach of 8 division winners, only finishing lower than 3rd place three times. He's never coached a team to a losing season, only missing the playoffs twice in seasons where he was the head coach all the way through, highlighted by winning the Jack Adams Award in 2007-08.
It's clear that Boudreau is one of the best coaches of the NHL modern era, and chances are he still has what it takes to coach a great team. The only knock on Boudreau is that he has consistently come up short in the playoffs. Despite the amount of regular-season success he had, Boudreau has only made it past the second round once, which was in 2014-15 where the Ducks fell short in the Conference Finals. This playoff frustration is highlighted by this time with the Ducks, where they lost four game 7's at home in consecutive years.
This failure has nothing really to do with Boudreau's coaching ability and more to do with just bad luck. He's far from the only coach that has faced continuous playoff failure in his career, so it really shouldn't be a concern.
Kevyn Adams has already had an interview with Boudreau and it wouldn't be surprising if there was a second. He would only make sense if the Sabres were trying to contend with Eichel and Reinhart. At this point in his career, Boudreau probably doesn't have interest in going through a rebuild and would rather coach a team that he could push over the top and win a Stanley Cup.
Option 3: John Tortorella
A member of the head coach free agent class for the first time since 2014, saying that Tortorella is one of the most polarizing coaches in the league would be a bit of an understatement. Famous for lashing out against the media, his open criticism of officials, and even his very own players, "Torts" has made a name for himself in the league since the 1990s. If you recall, Tortorella actually began his coaching career in Buffalo as an assistant coach from 1989-95 before transitioning to head coach of the Rochester Americans, who he would lead to a Calder Cup Championship in 1996.
Another coach whose resume speaks for itself, Torts' accolades are very impressive. The previously mentioned Calder Cup Championship in 1996, a two-time Jack Adams Award winner (2003-04 & 2016-17), a Stanley Cup in 2003-04 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the winningest coach in Columbus Blue Jackets history (673 wins), and currently tied for the most wins by an American-born coach in NHL history with Peter Laviolette
Just like Boudreau, wherever Torts has gone, success has followed. Although the difference between Torts and the other coaches is that he clearly has an expiration date with each team he coaches. His quick-tempered personality can be accepted when the team is winning, but as soon as the losing begins, his toxicity isn't tolerated.
His most recent tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets can be looked at as what Torts would bring to the Sabres. Before his arrival, Columbus had only made the playoffs twice since the lockout. Unable able to build around captain Rick Nash and being forced to trade him in 2012, the Blue Jackets were seemingly able to establish a new core, as they would sneak into the playoffs in 2013-14 and just miss in 2014-15. Torts' first season would see them missing the playoffs, but 2016-17 was an explosion of success with Columbus going 50-24-8 for 108 points. This continued over the next two seasons with 97 and 98 point campaigns respectively, highlighted by a 4-0 sweep against the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018-19 which finally gave Columbus their first playoff series win in franchise history. Even with the departures of Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Sergei Bobrovsky in the summer of 2019, the Blue Jackets would still make the playoffs in 2019-20, defeating the Maple Leafs in the qualifying round before falling to Tampa Bay in a rematch series in 5 games.
With the lack of success over a long period and a departure of a star captain, Columbus' situation when Torts was brought in is not all that different from our current situation. So, he would be familiar with turning a franchise around.
However, as we know, Torts comes with his obvious faults. This past season encapsulated this, with the Patrik Laine saga. When Laine was traded to Columbus in January, fans around the league immediately saw this as a mismatch. Laine was not exactly known for his defensive or backchecking ability, which goes against Torts' philosophy. These concerns would come to pass, as the rest of the season would have Laine often finding himself on the bench due to a lack of effort in Torts' eyes.
This is hardly the only time he's found himself at odds with a player. Most famously, Roberto Luongo was benched for the 2014 Heritage Classic in favor of the Canucks' backup goalie, where the Canucks would lose to the Senators in said game. Luongo was then traded 2 days later.
The Laine saga was most likely the final nail in the coffin in Columbus. Like I said earlier, when Torts gets toxic and the team is losing, his time is quickly running out. While I could see Adams bringing in Tortorella, I think it would be best if we look for another option, no matter what occurs with Eichel and Reinhart. The rest of the league is already wary of Buffalo as a place to sign, so the last thing we need is a coach who many intentionally stay clear of. No indication has been made yet that Adams will be giving Torts a call, but I won't be surprised if that changes.
Option 4: Rick Tocchet
The first of the choices that many may not know too much about, Sabres fans should brush up on Tocchet, as he is a serious candidate. While his head coaching career may not span that long, he has been around since 2002-03 as an assistant coach, so he has been a part of the coaching game for a long time.
A brief 2-year stint as head coach of the rebuilding Tampa Bay Lightning from 2008-10 was all that Tocchet was given before 2017. After being let go, he was not hired until 2014 where he was brought in as an assistant coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tocchet ended up being a vital part of the team's cup runs in 2016 and 2017, being known as a guy who could connect to the players.
In July of 2017, Tocchet was named head coach of the Arizona Coyotes, who were still in the midst of a failing rebuild. While his first season was more of the same from the Yotes, it did not take long to feel his effects. The 2018-19 season was a big step forward, as they would finish 39-35-8; a winning record for the first time in 4 seasons.
This winning would carry over, as in 2019-20 the Yotes were playing over .500 again with a 33-29-8 record, but COVID-19 would cut the regular season short. Despite not being in a playoff spot when the season was paused, they were fortunate enough to be eligible for the play-in round, where they would defeat the Nashville Predators in 4 games, punching their ticket to the playoffs. This ended a drought that had spanned since 2012, the second-longest in the league at the time (I wonder who was first....). However, their season would end after losing to the Avalanche in five games.
The huge progress that was made in the last two years was stalled this season. In 56 games, the Coyotes posted a 24-26-6 record, putting them on pace for 79 points in 82 games. While the new divisions due to COVID-19 likely played a part, it's no secret that the Coyotes regressed with essentially the same roster. On May 9th, Tocchet and the team agreed to mutually part ways.
The constant between his seasons as head coach was that Tocchet wasn't able to get much offense out of his teams. While 2017-18 can be excused because of a lackluster roster, from 2018-2021 the Coyotes were 27th in goals per game (2.64) and 21st in shots per game (30.1). The biggest strength of Arizona was always the goaltending, as the Coyotes are ranked 9th in goals against per game since 2018-19 (2.77).
In my opinion, Tocchet would be the wrong choice. It isn't because he's a bad coach, but rather he just doesn't make sense for the team, and the Sabres just got out of a relationship with a defense-first coach. He doesn't have the connection to the young players that Granato would have and he hasn't proved he's the type of coach to get a contender over the hump. I just think that Adams should look elsewhere.
Option 5: Rikard Grönborg Rikard Grönborg is probably the most boom or bust pick to be a coach out of all the other options. Sabres fans may remember back in 2019 when he was the fan-favorite pick to be the next head coach, but was beat out by Ralph Krueger. Along with a magnificent beard, Grönborg brings an established coaching career that has most definitely earned a look in the NHL.
Grönborg was coach of the Sweden National team from 2016-2019 with some experience previously coaching the U20 Sweden teams. During those three years, Grönborg was very successful, winning gold in two of them. For the last two seasons, he has been head coach of the ZSC Lions of the National League. In 2019-20, the team went 31-13-6 and finished as the 1st place in the league before playoffs were unfortunately canceled due to COVID-19. In 2020-21, they finished 5th with a 30-16-6 record, falling short in the semi-finals.
Grönborg's strength between his time with Sweden and ZSC has been his role in developing players, and maybe more importantly, using analytics to do so. He highly supports using extra evidence to help support and develop the players. This shouldn't be a surprise, as Grönborg has a Bachelor's degree in communications and a Master's degree in management, a reflection of just how intelligent he is.
His style would be new and refreshing in a league where coaches/systems are recycled over and over again. He has stated in the past how it feels as every team plays the same system, and how he couldn't be more different than that. Grönborg loves to roll four lines as long as he can in a game, shrinking it down to three lines if the team is trailing with about ten minutes to play. Rather than try and make his players fit his system, he specifically gives players roles and tasks that fit their strengths and help the team the most. That is what he is always thinking about, how to get players to buy into his system.
I think that Grönborg would make a great head coach no matter the scenario. His biggest strength is his ability to develop young players, perfect for a rebuild, and his analytical attuned style would great for bringing in the right players to help try and contend.
Option 6: Nate Leaman
The first of the college coaches being considered, Nate Leaman has been a rumored candidate since before Krueger was even fired. Chad Dedominicis and Jeremy White hinted in March that the team was giving him a look as a potential replacement to Ralph. Leaman did actually interview in Buffalo back in 2019 before Krueger was hired, so there's some previous interest as well.
Leaman was head coach of the Union Dutchmen from 2003-11 and has spent the last 10 seasons as coach of the Providence Friars. His all-time record at Union was 138-127-35 (.518), while his current all-time record at Providence is 203-122-49 (.608). All together, Leaman has put up a .538 winning percentage as head coach in his career, a testament to his ability.
He is the fastest coach to 100 wins in Providence history, was named Hockey East Coach of the Year in 2010 & 2011, was nominated as National Coach of the Year in 2011, and led the Friars to 2 Frozen-Four appearances, culminating in an NCAA Championship victory in 2015, the first in history for the program.
Most recently, Leaman was the head coach of Team USA at the 2021 World Juniors. He would help guide them to a gold medal, another impressive piece to his resume.
Leaman is in that group of coaches that would be a good choice to guide the Sabres through a rebuild. He knows how to create a winning culture, but more importantly he's got experience working with young up and coming players.
Option 7: Guy Gadowsky
The final coach to be considered is Penn State's Guy Gadowsky.
Another coach who was brought up in Friedman's 31 Thoughts, Gadowsky has been in the head coaching game since 1999. From that time he's coached the Atlanta Fairbanks Nanooks, Princeton Tigers, and currently the Penn State Lions. His career winning percentage was relatively sub-par until his time with Penn State in the Big Ten (.498), but he's found a lot of success since joining. Since 2013, they've amassed a 142-118-23 record (.542), consistently finishing in the upper half of the conference. In 2015, Gadowsky was awarded the "Big Ten Coach of the Year Award." Their best season was in 2019-20, where they finished 1st in the Conference with a record of 20-10-4 (.647), but it was unfortunately ended by COVID-19.
Final Thoughts
If a rebuild is truly on the horizon for this franchise, one might think that whoever they pick may not mean that much. I disagree. Finding the coach to not only develop the young players coming up but also bring stability to the franchise for the first time since Lindy Ruff is vital. Picking the right guy is the start of the turnaround on how the rest of the league views Buffalo as a whole. This franchise cannot sustain being looked at as a black sheep for years on end if they want players to want to come here and play for them.
If I were to rank the coaches listed from my most to least wanted, it would be:
Granato
Grönborg
Boudreau
Tortorella
Carvel
Tocchet
Gadowsky
Hopefully Kevyn Adams gets it right. Go Sabres.
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