Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill met with the Buffalo media today while the club was practicing before their matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow night.
He touched on topics such as the current state of the team of, the head coach, Kyle Okposo, and trade deadline. Unfortunately, it may not have been a lot of what fans wanted to hear for the most part.
On the head coach:
Botterill on coaching change? “No. We’ve made progress as an organization compared to last year. We’ve been in a position where we’ve been in games. I see the results on the ice. I see the communication we’re going through here. There’s not going to be a coaching change.” #Sabres pic.twitter.com/H8kds5bmHc
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) February 20, 2019
On the NHL Trade Deadline:
While Botterill will continue to talk to GMs leading to deadline, prime goal is to develop from within. Says players are learning it’s a challenge to win games in second half.
— John Vogl (@BuffaloVogl) February 20, 2019
On Jeff Skinner:
Jason Botterill on Jeff Skinner’s contract status: “Both his group and ours have obviously continued our dialogue. We haven’t done play-by-play in the media just because that’s the way we wanted to go about things. Both sides continue to work to try to find a resolution.”
— John Vogl (@BuffaloVogl) February 20, 2019
Times are tense in Buffalo and Botterill has a lot of work ahead of him to improve his hockey club. It sounds like the Sabres won’t be very active by the Trade Deadline on Monday, outside of perhaps a few small moves.
It’ll also be interesting to see if the Sabres general manager has a change of heart on the coaching staff if the team continues to slide out of contention.
You can here the full interview right here:
#Sabres general manager Jason Botterill spoke with the media on Wednesday in Tampa, Florida. He says that despite the team’s recent struggles, there will not be a coaching change. More:
— WGR 550 (@WGR550) February 20, 2019