Phil Housley

Phillip Francis Housley (born March 9, 1964) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former defenseman in the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously served as assistant coach for the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL from 2019 to 2022, and assistant coach of the New York Rangers from 2023 to 2025. Housley was the head coach of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres from 2017 until 2019.

Housley was drafted by the Sabres in the first round of the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. He played for the Sabres, Winnipeg Jets, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Housley was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2012, and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.

Housley is the third leading scorer amongst American-born players, with 1,232 points (338–894). He held the record for most points by an American-born NHL player until Mike Modano surpassed it on November 7, 2007. On January 21, 2000, Housley played in his 1,257th NHL game, the most ever at the time by an American, breaking the record held by Craig Ludwig. Housley went on to play in 1,495 NHL games. He held the record for games played by an American-born player for nearly seven years, until it was broken, on November 24, 2006, by Chris Chelios.

Housley was born on March 9, 1964, in Saint Paul, Minnesota to parents Mary Lee and LeRoy. He is the youngest of their three children. While his father worked in the family business of construction, he also served as an assistant coach on Housley's squirt team.

Housley played centre throughout his youth hockey career before switching to defense in high school. As a 10-year-old Squirt-level player, he scored 108 goals in one season. He improved to 113 goals at the peewee level. Upon attending South St. Paul High School, Housley was moved to defense by coach Doug Woog. He also played quarterback for the high school football team and left fielder on their baseball team. As a defenseman, Housley helped South St. Paul reach back-to-back state tournaments, while also playing junior hockey for the St. Paul Vulcans. During his high school years, Housley gained the attention of Buffalo Sabres scout Rudy Migay and Sabres head coach Scotty Bowman. To ensure the Sabres drafted an elite defenseman, Bowman struck a deal with the Washington Capitals general manager to ensure the Sabres drafted either Scott Stevens or Housley in the 1982 NHL entry draft.

At the age of 18, Housley became the only high school student selected to compete for Team USA at the 1982 Ice Hockey World Championships. He was originally only intended to fill in on the roster until NHL players were available, but was able to remain on the team through the entire tournament. During the World Championships, Housley played as a centreman instead of defense and scored one goal while Team USA failed to medal. He also committed to play colleagiate hockey at the University of Minnesota (U of M), with the additional goal of competing for Team USA at the 1984 Winter Olympics.

As his family could not afford to attend the draft in Montreal, Housley made the trip alongside a local sportswriter. After the Capitals selected Stevens fifth overall, the Sabres drafted Housley. He was the first American-born player and first high school player to be selected in the draft. After rejecting the Sabres' original offer, his agent used his college eligibility as leverage during contract negotiations. He eventually signed a three-year $500,000 contract, which included a stipulation to pay for his education. While he was unable to play for U of M, Housley intended to take summer classes to earn his degree.

Housley was named to the Buffalo Sabres' opening night roster for the 1982–83 season after attending their training camp. Although ankle injuries marred his start, Housley finished the season setting a Sabres rookie record with 47 assists. Based on his play during training camp and through exhibition games, media pundits began comparing him to Bobby Orr. While he had never suffered injuries in hockey before, his ankles began bothering him as the season began. He nearly sat out of the Sabres' season opener against the Quebec Nordiques on October 6 due to an ankle injury, but chose to compete. He recorded his first NHL point, an assist on Ric Seiling's goal, in his debut that night. Despite missing three games in October due to sore ankles, Housley recorded two goals and eight assists through his first seven games. Four of those points were collected in a single period on October 17 against the Edmonton Oilers. Although he started the season playing alongside Mike Ramsey, by November he was more often skating with fellow rookie Hannu Virta. However, in an effort to improve his confidence, Housley was switched from defense to centreman between Sean McKenna and Gilles Hamel in mid-November. In their first game together, Housley had two assists and McKenna tallied three assists. He played three games as a centerman before returning to defense. By the start of December, Housley had three goals and ranked second on the team with 15 assists. Housley was again moved to center after Bowman sent Dave Andreychuk back to juniors in mid-December. In his first game with Gil Perreault and Mike Foligno, they combined for three goals in a 5-4 win over the Quebec Nordiques. Through 18 games at the end of December and start of January, Housley scored five goals and 13 assists. On January 23, 1984, Housley scored his first career NHL hat-trick to lead the Sabres to a 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. All three of his goals were scored on the Sabres' power play and brought his total goals to 11. By mid-February, Housley ranked fourth among all rookies in scoring with 49 points and first among all 1982 draft picks. On March 27, 1983, Housley set a franchise record for most goals scored by a Sabres defenseman in a single season. After tallying two assists a few games later, Housley became the third-highest scoring rookie defenseman in NHL history.