Two weeks ago we took an advanced look at what the Buffalo Sabres could be looking for in a new head coach if they fired Phil Housley. Since then, they’ve done just that and immediately began a search for a new coach.

That search initially took them to former Sharks and Oilers coach Todd McLellan. After The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek initially reported McLellan was close to a deal with the Sabres, TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted Friday that he is out of the running for the Sabres job while The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun says he’ll be meeting with the Los Angeles Kings next week.

McLellan going into LA next week for his official interview, according to a Kings source https://t.co/IX91QRVHO9 — Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) April 12, 2019

When GM Jason Botterill met with the media in Buffalo after announcing Housley’s firing, he said it was too soon to discuss what he was looking for in his next head coach, but he elaborated to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman following the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday:

A good communicator.

Someone accountable.

Someone with presence.

Experience wasn’t at the top of the list, but the pursuit of McLellan indicates it carries a little bit of weight. From the initial list I put together, let’s zero in on those experienced candidates and sprinkle in a few more names for good measure. After all, with Joel Quenneville already off to the Florida Panthers and McLellan moving on, it’s the least we can do.

Alain Vigneault

If you believe in landing a big-name coach, he’s next in line. Vigneault took the Canucks (2011) and the Rangers (2014) to the Stanley Cup Final and won the Jack Adams Award for the NHL’s Coach of the Year in 2007. When you factor in his three-and-a-half seasons with Montreal in the late 1990s, he’s 648-435-98 overall and has taken his teams to the postseason 11 times.

If there’s a catch with how Vigneault runs a team, it’s that he leans on veterans more than young guys and the Sabres’ youth movement didn’t end with this past season. If the Sabres were in a different position roster-wise, he’d merit a long look. Instead, there will be more players on the way from Rochester and even more coming from Sweden and Finland as well as the 2019 NHL Draft. The Sabres’ roster, with a pile of young stars to lead the way, may not tickle Vigneault’s fancy. Fortunately for him, there are plenty of other open jobs out there.

Hearing tonight that PHI has permission to talk to Alain Vigneault for its head coaching job. No guarantees, but he’s on the radar. — Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) April 12, 2019

Mike Yeo

Admittedly, Yeo’s name didn’t come to mind right away when my initial list was put together. But in the comments and on Twitter, I was quizzed as to why he didn’t make the cut. Yeo was fired by the St. Louis Blues this season, and St. Louis went on to go from last place to the Western Conference playoffs under Craig Berube. That’s mildly damning to his case. In two seasons before this one, he got the Blues to the playoffs once. Bernie Miklasz laid out what went wrong with Yeo in St. Louis, and a lot of it reads very familiar to how things went down with recent coaches in Buffalo.

In four-and-a-half years with the Minnesota Wild, Yeo missed the playoffs in his first season in 2011-12 and was fired 55 games into 2015-2016. During the three seasons in between, the Wild made the playoffs, losing in the first round once and the second round twice to the Chicago Blackhawks, who went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2013 and 2015.

Common perception is that Botterill is not likely going to get a shot to pick a third coach. Yes, Mike Yeo has had some success, but is it the sort of success that the general manager is willing to risk his job for?

Michel Therrien

Let’s go out of the box for a moment. It’s still the same experienced-coach box, but a different box nonetheless. In a look through names of coaches who have had amounts of success in recent years, Therrien’s name came up often. After all, he got the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup Final in 2008, where they lost to Detroit … and then he was fired the following season, which led to Dan Bylsma guiding the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 2009.

He’s coached the Montreal Canadiens twice, leading them to the playoffs four times in six seasons. He’s tough, his teams win, and he’s not likely going to take a lot of crap from the players. Depending on how you feel about the current players, he’s either your idea of a great option or the absolute worst.

Kevin Dineen

Dineen has been a head coach once with the Florida Panthers for two-and-a-half seasons from 2011-2012 to 2013-2014, going to the playoffs once. More importantly, he has some Sabres history as head coach of the Portland Pirates from 2005 to 2011.

He’s a long time removed from the organization at this point and was an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks for four-and-a-half seasons with Quenneville.

Kirk Muller

Muller was perfectly average as the Carolina Hurricanes coach for three seasons, going 80-80-27 before he was fired in 2014. Although being .500 would be a big upgrade for the Sabres, Botterill and the Sabres’ brass are aiming higher.

Muller has been running Claude Julien’s 30th-ranked power play in Montreal for the past three seasons, which is scoring 13.2 percent of the time this year. That’s probably not going to help make a case for another head coaching job.

Todd Nelson

It’s been a little while since Nelson was head coach of the Edmonton Oilers (2014-2015). Although he is currently an assistant under Jim Montgomery in Dallas, he spent the previous three seasons with the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids, where he won a Calder Cup in 2016-17. Nelson gets talked about as a guy who deserves another shot, because getting fired by Edmonton when you’re a new coach seems to generate sympathy.

Ralph Krueger

Last time we mentioned Krueger, Pierre LeBrun had a profile on him mentioning that while he does wish to get back to the NHL, he’s not looking to be a coach. Of course, the big hitch there was that he was still running Southampton Football Club in England.

About that …

#SaintsFC can confirm that Chairman Ralph Krueger has departed the club. Read the full statement: https://t.co/qkY3BuTofC — Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) April 12, 2019

So if Krueger is looking to get back to the NHL, a valuable mind like his could come in handy. Perhaps an advisory role could be in mind for him to add another set of eyes for Botterill and assistant GMs Steve Greeley and Randy Sexton.

The same could be said of a former Sabres star-turned-executive like Rick Dudley. Of course, he’s currently the VP of hockey operations with the Carolina Hurricanes and helped them get back to the playoffs after a bit of a drought. But that’s material for a discussion apart from coaching decisions.

(Top photo of Alain Vigneault: Dave Sandford / Getty Images)