jad1

Marty laying out some coaching 101 about when to pinch. Krueger might want to invite him to the next practice as a guest speaker.

The Sabres neutral zone play is just rancid. That's a coachable thing.

My comment was about Thompson, but I think your comment is about Skinner.

A fall-off from a bunch of players at the same time is certainly possible. Although the fall-off from this entire group is so dramatic that it is a bit suspicious. But it is possible, so I can see where you're coming from.

The coaches would really help him by better defining his role and setting expectations. Throwing him out on the first line one game and then the 4th line the next isn't really setting him up for success.

But the transition game and offensive zone strategy would be vastly improved.

The only thing even remotely good about this team over the previous couple of seasons was the top line (Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Olofsson). The first line play was playoff-quality over the last two seasons. The Sabres didn't lose because the first line "free-wheeled." They lost because no other line could produce NHL-quality offense. Bluntly said, if Eichel didn't have the year he did last season, the Sabres probably finish last in the league, and Krueger would have been shown the door with Botterill. So I don't know what bad habits he needed to break for his best players, but if that's what he is trying to do, he should stop it immediately. At least Krueger has figured out that Eichel and Reinhart need to play on the same line together. You would think he would have learned that last year, but again this guy believes Tage Thompson is a top line foward. So, progress, I guess. If this was the tank year, and the Sabres roster was loaded with bottom six fowards, Kruger's approach wouldn't be bad. But a roster with Eichel, Reinhart, Hall, Olofsson, Skinner, Staal, and now Cozens should be better offensively. You got to believe that if Trotz or Laviolette were coaching this team (guys who can coach both offense and defense) they would be be challenging for the division lead, instead of struggling to be .500 against the Devils.

With our luck the bat would lift the Sabres' curse, but it would fly off and start covid 21.

Krueger can do some things to help free up Eichel a bit more to get him playing like he did last season. It looks like he's finished with putting Thompson on his line, so that's a start.

I think it's more than just Skinner. Eichel, Hall, Staal, Dahlin, Reinhart, and Skinner are struggling right now. That's a lot of top six players bombing at the same time. At the same time the bottom six is playing well, and the defense has cleaned up play in their own end. So maybe the problem is that those skill players have seen their games erode, or they all have lousy attitudes, or they all want to be traded, or they got their paychecks and they don't care anymore. Or maybe Ralph does a better job covering up weaknesses than optimizing strengths, and has difficulty coaching the better players in league. The Sabres won't win many games playing not to lose. Krueger needs to prove he can maximize the skills of the top players on the roster if he's going to coach this team to a championship.

The Pegulas have never had a hockey coach last three seasons under them. Combine that with the Bills, and McDermott is their only coach who made it to year 3 of his contract. And times are tight, but you gotta believe that they've got one more in 'em.

Sabres have 12 shots this game. 8 of those shots were taken by defensemen.

Getting rid of Vanek didn't improve the culture. Getting rid of Kane didn't improve the culture. Getting rid of O'Reilly didn't improve the culture. Best way of improving the culture is to start with the coach. And Sam Bennett has 16 points the last two seasons and is a career -60. He'd help the culture as much as Sobotka did.

Skinner has 1 point this season and is a -1, and is a healthy scratch. Okposo has zero points and is a -4, and he has an A on his jersey and is a permanent fixture on the third line. I'm sure that there is a reason for this, but I don't know enough Euro football psycho babble to explain it.

People say that but Quenneville took the head coaching job in Florida. And Trotz took the job in Long Island after the team lost Tavares. Neither of those teams had a reputation for great ownership or franchise stability.

Whose an equivalent coach for Krueger in the NFL? Adam Gase? If Allen played for Adam Gase, he'd looked a lot like Eichel does now. Krueger has no F'n idea what to do with Eichel, other than keep him on the puck all freakin game long.

Doesn't matter how many systems they've rejected if the systems don't maximize the teams talent. Players know when what they're being asked to do doesn't work.

I don't think the players believe in or trust the system that Ralph has put in place. It doesn't jibe well with the player's skills or instincts. It's causing hesitancy, mistakes, and frustration. I don't think that the players on this team are fragile or are mentally unprepared, I think they are playing in a system that they know is bad.

It's a pairing that could be good for the next 10 years.

Because he wanted to develop his ability to dig pucks on the boards to feed the point so defensemen can take low percentage shots. He wasn't able to focus on that part of his game during his MVP season.

Jack's sulking has very little to do with this team's fortunes. Hall, Staal, Skinner and Reinhart are not struggling because of Jack's attitude. Dahlin overthinking plays has nothing to do with Jack's attitude. Jack doesn't set the lines or determine the power play strategy. He's not the one making Hall and Reinhart dig pucks to set up doomed point shots by Irvin or Jokiharju all game long. It's not his job to figure out the best way to use Staal to maximize his skills. There are ways to snap Eichel out of his slump (teaming him up with Reinhart instead of Thompson, letting him play off the puck more) that have nothing to do with his attitude. There's nothing wrong with Eichel that a seasoned NHL coach couldn't fix, and the fixes would have little to do with attitude.

Team is no longer buying what Krueger is selling, so they abandon the scheme and play every-man-for-himself, and boom: 4 on 1.

I'm going to chalk that up to a moral victory.

Let's not be too hasty here.

Maybe Torts wouldn't work here, but if you got a coach who coached these players like Ruff coached the Briere/Drury Sabres, that would work. A coach who could actually use players like Dahlin, Montour, and Jokiharju to actually build an effective transition game. A coach who could figure out how to better use Hall's, Skinner's, Olofsson's, and Eichel's speed. (The Sabres have to be the slowest fast team in the league). A coach who could actually define a role for guys like Mittelstadt and Thompson (seriously what is the plan for these guys when they hit the ice?). You see this team's talent peek through on the power play when they are able to use their talent to be a little creative. But that talent and creativity is crushed by the slog that is their 5v5 play. I mean, on the power play, Dahlin's possession game is insane. We see almost none of that in his 5v5 transition game. Why not? Is that his choice or the coaches? Get a coach who can motivate and challenge the skill players, build effective lines, define each player's role, and the team will improve.