Housley is the second 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.
Early life
Housley was born on March 9, 1964, in Saint Paul, Minnesota[2] to parents Mary Lee and LeRoy.[3] He is the youngest of their three children.[4] While his father worked in the family business of construction, he also served as an assistant coach on Housley's squirt team.[5]
Playing career
Amateur
Housley played centre throughout his youth hockey career before switching to defense in high school.[3] As a 10-year-old Squirt-level player, he scored 108 goals in one season. He improved to 113 goals at the peewee level.[5] Upon attending South St. Paul Secondary, Housley was moved to defense by coach Doug Woog.[3] He also played quarterback for the high school football team and left fielder on their baseball team.[6] As a defenseman, Housley helped South St. Paul reach back-to-back state tournaments,[7] while also playing junior hockey for the St. Paul Vulcans.[8][9] During his high school years, Housley gained the attention of Buffalo Sabres scout Rudy Migay and Sabres head coach Scotty Bowman.[4] 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.[9]
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.[10][11] 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.[12] During the World Championships, Housley played as a centreman instead of defense[13] and scored one goal while Team USA failed to medal.[14] He also committed to play colleagiate hockey at the University of Minnesota (U of M),[15] with the additional goal of competing for Team USA at the 1984 Winter Olympics.[12]
As his family could not afford to attend the draft in Montreal, Housley made the trip alongside a local sportswriter.[4] After the Capitals selected Stevens fifth overall, the Sabres drafted Housley.[9] He was the first American-born player and first high school player to be selected in the draft.[16] After rejecting the Sabres' original offer,[17] his agent used his college eligibility as leverage during contract negotiations.[18] He eventually signed a three-year $500,000 contract, which included a stipulation to pay for his education.[19] While he was unable to play for U of M, Housley intended to take summer classes to earn his degree.[12]
Professional
Housley was named to the Buffalo Sabres' opening night roster for the 1982–83 season after attending their training camp.[20] Although ankle injuries marred his start,[21] Housley finished the season setting a Sabres rookie record with 47 assists.[22] Based on his play during training camp and through exhibition games, media pundits began comparing him to Bobby Orr.[23] While he had never suffered injuries in hockey before, his ankles began bothering him as the season began.[21] 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.[24] He recorded his first NHL point, an assist on Ric Seiling's goal, in his debut that night.[25] Despite missing three games in October due to sore ankles, Housley recorded two goals and eight assists through his first seven games.[12] Four of those points were collected in a single period on October 17 against the Edmonton Oilers.[26] Although he started the season playing alongside Mike Ramsey, by November he was more often skating with fellow rookie Hannu Virta.[27] 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 scored two goals and McKenna tallied three assists.[28][29] He played three games as a centerman before returning to defense.[30] By the start of December, Housley had three goals and ranked second on the team with 15 assists.[23] 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.[31] Through 18 games at the end of December and start of January, Housley scored five goals and 13 assists.[32] 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.[33] By mid-February, Housley ranked fourth among all rookies in scoring with 49 points and first among all 1982 draft picks.[6] On March 27, 1983, Housley set a franchise record for most goals scored by a Sabres defenseman in a single season.[34] After tallying two assists a few games later, Housley became the third-highest scoring rookie defenseman in NHL history.[35]
On March 18, 1984, Housley became the youngest defencemen in NHL history to score 30 goals in a single season.[36]
On January 5, 2013, Housley coached Team USA to the gold medal at the 2013 IIHF World U20 Championship in Ufa, Russia. He had served as an assistant coach on Team USA's 2007 and 2011 appearances in the World Juniors.[37]
On June 15, 2017, it was announced that Housley was hired by the Buffalo Sabres as their new head coach.[40] He led the Sabres to a 31st-place finish in his first season and saw the Sabres attain a 10-game winning streak early in his second season before the team collapsed down the stretch. Housley was fired by the Sabres after the 2018–19 season on April 7, 2019.[41][42]
On June 26, 2019, it was announced that Housley signed a multi-year contract as assistant coach for the Arizona Coyotes.[43] For the Coyotes, Housley served as defensive coordinator and power play coach.[44]
With his contract set to expire, Housley and the Coyotes agreed to part ways on May 1, 2022. He joined the New York Rangers as an associate coach in June 2023. The Rangers dismissed Housley in April 2025.[45]
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