Photo Credit: Bill Wippert/Getty Images
Sunday wasn’t a relaxing day for the Buffalo Sabres. After two last-place finishes and a nearly unworkable relationship between the team and coach led the Sabres general manager Tim Murray to fire coach Ted Nolan yesterday afternoon.
The day after Buffalo (23-51-9) closed its season with a 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh, Murray decided Nolan’s fate after a lengthy evaluation. They had the worst record in the league for the second straight season, and the numbers from the past two years prove that this isn’t a mistake. Murray didn’t think the chemistry between Nolan and the Sabres was there, and a factor like that could really keep a team at the bottom.
This isn’t the first time Nolan was asked to leave the team, after he spent two seasons coaching them in the mid-1990s, he felt disrespected by then-GM Darcy Reiger who offered him a one-year contract extension, which he declined. In 1997, he won the NHL coach of the year honors. Nolan spent two seasons coaching the New York Islanders, in which he was fired after his second season in 2008. In his first year, New York made the playoffs at 40-30-12.
Nolan returned to Buffalo on an interim basis in November 2013 when Ron Rolston was fired due to a front-office shakeup. In the same time frame, Reiger was fired, and former Sabres captain, Pat LaFontaine, was brought in as president of hockey operations. Before stepping down a little more than three months into his presidency of hockey operations, LaFontaine, who was also huge supporter of Nolan, hired Murray, who provided Nolan with a contract extension opportunity.
Also leaving with Nolan will be three of his assistant coaches. The contracts of Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier and Tom Coolen’s were not renewed, just like Nolan, Danny Flynn was fired.
With the off-season already here for the Sabres, Murray still has no timetable on when he will hire another coach. With playoffs quickly approaching, he is willing to wait for potential candidates on current playoff contenders that may want to take the lead for the team.
Former NHL defenseman Luke Richardson, who is in his third season coaching the Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate in Binghamton, New York is a potential candidate in Murray’s eyes. The two previously worked together while Murray served as the Senators assistant GM.
While 16 other teams in the NHL are vying for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Buffalo Sabres will be entering a critical phase to rebuild their team.
