Curt

Could you guys start are 2020 NHL Lockout thread, instead of discussing a possible lockout in the Ralph Krueger thread?

I would get rid of Sobotka and Wilson first. Although Wilson is cheaper, so maybe not him if that small amount of savings is an issue. I don’t think the cap will be an issue for Buffalo in 2019-20 though.

Go look at Boston’s 7-13 forwards: 12, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5 then 3 guys combined for 13 goals. Boston’s bottom 6 did not score very much, but played good defense while the top-6 did the heavy lifting. Teams can win that way. Now, I want guys on every line to score, who doesn’t? But the truth is that only the very deepest teams in the league have guys on their 4th line hitting the 10 goal mark. If the 4th line is made up of guys scoring 5, 7, and 8 goals, that’s not much different than a 4th line scoring 8, 9, and 11goals. To me, it doesn’t really matter if Buffalo gets rid of Larsson, Girgensons, Wilson, Sobotka if they don’t bring in guys who can play a 2nd/3rd line role. It will have little impact if the team replaces these 4th liners/13th forwards with slightly better 4th liners. So don’t worry about those 4th liners. They will get pushed out if/when better players come in. The focus should be on those better players who need to come in.

This is my hope as well. With increased use, he can justify a need for increased investment. He can put pressure on the President to make a larger investment into the Analytics Department by insisting that it is needed in order to run the team as well as possible.

I didn’t say anything about infusing numbers into the players games. I just paraphrased what Krueger said about using analytics as one thing to consider but not presenting the numbers directly to players. Did my comment come across as suggesting that the numbers should be given directly to the players? If it did, my apologies, wasn’t my intent.

Eichel, Okposo, Reinhart, Mittelstadt, Sheary, Sobotka, Wilson are under contract for next season, 7 forwards. Then we have Skinner, Rodrigues, and one FA top-6 F who will hopefully be signed. Brings the total to 10. Then there is the group of Olofsson, Nylander, Thompson, Smith. Probably 2 of the 4 will start in the NHL. Brings you up to 12. But NHL teams don’t carry just 12 forwards, they carry 13-14. Resigning Larsson and Girgensons would bring it up to 14 forwards. That would be fine. Sobotka, Wilson and even Girgensons don’t need to play every game. In addition to that, Sobotka and Wilson could both be waived and sent to the AHL if it suited the teams needs. To make a long story short, there will be room for Girgensons as a 4th liner unless Buffalo plans on bringing in 3-4 new forwards via trade and UFA. However, It’s also possible that he may not be back purely because management does not want him back and would prefer to bring in someone else to fill that role.

Not exactly. Kreuger basically says it’s one tool in the tool kit, and can be applied by coaches/management in some ways, but doesn’t want to burden the players with the numbers directly. Which I took to mean that advanced metrics have their uses, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle.

I'm just going to throw a few names out there that sort of make sense to me. Scott Gordon- was let go by Flyers after being their HC for part of this past season. Lots of experience as both HC and AC in NHL. Glen Gulutzan- was AC with Oilers this past season, will he stay on with a new GM and new HC coming in? Lots of experience as both HC and AC in NHL. Marco Sturm- was AC with Kings this past season, will he stay on with McClellan coming in as new HC? Less experience, but long time NHLer who seems to be highly regarded as an AC. Overall, I would like to see Kruger have a couple AC's with a lot of NHL experience and probably some HC experience. I think Steve Smith fits the bill, so maybe one with some NHL HC experience is what I would like to see.

I want this to happen badly. This is already a market inefficiency in the NHL and it’s about become hugely more of one with all of this player tracking data that teams are about to have. It’s crazy that Buffalo is no using all their Pegula bucks to get on this. I feel like Krueger has seen what actual analytics departments do in the EPL and can bring some of that to the NHL. I think he is smart enough to put together a proposal saying how he would be able to do x, y, and z if the team could hire however-many people to break down this-this-and-that raw data into such-and-such usable information; and it would cost roughly so-and-so much to get this set up. Then along with Botterill, present this proposal to Pres. K. Pegula and actually get it going. What does Buffalo have for an “Analytics Department” right now? Just Jason Nightingale the “Director of Analytics” right?

I don’t think that Krueger seems particularly soft or gentle on players. People lauded for their leadership and motivational tactics are not generally big softies. The story I’m hearing on Krueger is that he knows how to handle people. Knows when they need a personal one-on-one conversation and knows when they need a serious kick in the pants.

First I will say that I see your point that he is more of a motivator than a X and O guy. However, I think you are off base to label him TN 2.0. Krueger will know that this is his weakness and make sure that he has the correct people on his staff to compensate/help him. The Sabres will not be playing a “no system” type of system. Krueger believes in using all information at his disposal, including analytics and all things that Nolan shunned. Lastly, I’ll add that Risto’s problems are probably confidence based as much, or more so, than they are anything technical.

I think he is the kind of person who people just sort of gravitate to. High energy, focused on communication, building trust and confidence, very interested in using all information available (analytics). I think he is the type of leader this team needs right now. From a hockey X’s and O’s standpoint, I don’t know where he is at. He might be best served with a couple very NHL experienced assistants. That will start with Steve Smith. He is a incredibly interesting person and I am hopeful that this is going to be a good fit.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s a very intricate, personal situation. I would leave it to Botterill, who is a lot more plugged in to the hockey community than any of us, to figure out what the situation is and if he is comfortable with the man that Sheldon Keefe is today.

Just a note on a Keefe: Buffalo would not ask permission to interview him while he was still working with his team in the playoffs. Once the Marlies’ season is over, then we may (or may not) hear something about Keefe.

I believe that individuals can learn from their mistakes and become better people, especially mistakes made in their youth. I believe in giving those people second chances. There are two questions in my mind. 1) With everything that Botterill knows about Keefe, does he believe that he has in fact learned and changed? 2) Even if he has, does Pegula want to deal with the possible implications of hiring someone with that baggage?

With Tippett the story is not complete. I don’t think there is any evidence that he has turned down Buffalo. It’s been reliably reported that he interviewed and speculated that he may very well be the top candidate. Just because Buffalo has interviewed other people, that doesn’t mean that Tippett is out. No one has reported that. For all we really know, Botterill could have offered Tippett a contract today, Tippett accepted, and they will wait until after the World Championships to announce, or it could be announced tomorrow.

No mention of Zegras in the top 10?

Krueger has 3 seasons of NHL coaching experience (2 Associate HC), 1 HC, 1 season HC in Austria, 1 season HC in German 2nd league. Grönborg has 2 seasons AC in NCHA (college), 4 seasons HC in AWHL, 1 season AC in WHL. Neither has a lot of HC experience in a league environment, but Krueger’s NHL experience weighs heavily when comparing the two.

But that’s the exact same knock against Grönborg, isn’t it?

I get that viewpoint and I’m not arguing against it. I don’t know these guys. They are more than just their resumes on a piece of paper. It’s possible that Botterill just thinks Krueger is super smart, a good coach, and the right man for the job. He may not feel the same way about Grönborg. Botterill may have already met these guys before or at least knows people who are familiar with them.

Plus two additional season as an NHL Associate Head Coach.

I just like this guy. I think he is extremely smart and a little eccentric, but in a good way. He is a hockey guy first and foremost, but he has spent time doing some other incredible things. I think it could be beneficial to get him into this organization. if Tippett or Keefe is not going to happen, I’m cool with this guy.

He is definitely interesting. One thing to consider about bringing him into the organization, in any capacity, is tracking data. This coming season, the NHL will begin tracking player movements on the ice with microchips in the skates. This will give NHL teams a whole bunch of data regarding who was where on the ice at any given time, distance skated in a game, etc, etc. I think it’s going to take NHL teams and coaches some time to figure out how to best use all this new information. Some current coaches may never really use it effectively. However, in European Football, they have been using this type of data for many years. I’m sure Krueger already has some ideas about how this data would be most useful in hockey. It could be a good opportunity to get ahead of the competition by using this brand new information more effectively than other teams. Just something to think about regarding Krueger.

That is one heck of a story. Those were 14-18 year olds and I don’t want to hold it against kids when they were obviously being manipulated by a troubled adult. More than anything it made me think, where were these kids’ parents???

He doesn’t have the 6th most points in the playoffs though. It’s incredibly misleading and inaccurate to say so. He, at best, has the 22nd most points in the playoffs.