Official Ralph Krueger named Sabres Head Coach

[pi2000]

Funny how everyone here is hammering away on Bylsma, yet he squeezed 81 and 78 point seasons out of these clowns, and without Eichel for 1/3 of a season.

[LGR4GM]

9 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Funny how everyone here is hammering away on Bylsma, yet he squeezed 81 and 78 point seasons out of these clowns, and without Eichel for 1/3 of a season.

Yup he did. That thing is that was all he was going to do. His dump and chase, 9 whiteboards, and complete aloofness to his players was garbage and just because he was better than Housley, doesn't make him good. Housley sucked. Bylsma sucked. Maybe Kruger won't. 

[...]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Housley sucked. Bylsma sucked. Maybe Kruger won't. 

Please, God, make it so Krueger doesn't suck as a coach.

[nfreeman]

11 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Yes, I also think that McDermott ran the draft.  So McD and 14 other GMs messed up for not taking the best QB in to come around in quite awhile.  

 

I think the Bills are still a major work in progress but I think McD has done well to win 9 and 6 games with the rosters he had.  Beane has much more to prove.  This year will tell us a lot and much hinges on Allen’s play, no different than any other starting QB.  

Well, Mahomes was the 10th pick, so it was McD and 9 other GMs.

And I'm not inclined to give a coach credit for a 6-10 season, especially following a 9-7 season and especially a season in which he chose to start Peterman twice despite overwhelming evidence that Peterman cannot play in the NFL.

[shrader]

12 hours ago, #freejame said:

That’s because cool coaches write right on the glass

It's even better when they use permanent markers.  It was fun watching a couple games at Northeastern one year with the same play drawn up on the corner glass for a good portion of the season.

[Cheektorado]

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 5:20 PM, Doohickie said:

To carry your metaphor to its conclusion, the team was stale, then rotten, but now it's been composting and ready to bloom.

 

(?)

Not even close.  The losing culture runs deep in the club.  Before any winning can really start a cultural change has to happen.

Maybe the newest HC can change it.  IMO adding a UFA or two/CORSI analysis/scheme changes are not changing anything.

The players have to do it, and to do it they need a strong leader.

[SDS]

On 5/28/2019 at 8:30 PM, #freejame said:

To be fair, having coached less skilled hockey teams before, being able to execute a good dump and chase and knowing how to successfully chip the puck out of the zone and hit stretch passes is absolutely imperative. It’s not fun hockey and it’s not good hockey, but sometimes it’s the only hockey a team can play based on rosters. 

Coaches in charge of youth development should never teach bad tactics to get better short term results, regardless of sport. Nobody cares about the outcome of a youth game besides the myopic parents in the stands. Winning the wrong way at 10 leads to losing every way at 17. 

[SDS]

8 hours ago, Cheektorado said:

Not even close.  The losing culture runs deep in the club.  Before any winning can really start a cultural change has to happen.

Maybe the newest HC can change it.  IMO adding a UFA or two/CORSI analysis/scheme changes are not changing anything.

The players have to do it, and to do it they need a strong leader.

They need talent. Leadership without talent is the O’Reilly Sabres.

[Kruppstahl]

On 5/28/2019 at 10:56 PM, pi2000 said:

Funny how everyone here is hammering away on Bylsma, yet he squeezed 81 and 78 point seasons out of these clowns, and without Eichel for 1/3 of a season.

Bylsma was and remains a f-ing clown.

I still can't believe Botterill hired Ralph Krueger as HC though!  It's starting to sink in now!

Kind of reminds me of Darcy's cynical decision to make Ron Rolston the HC of this team, a move which led directly to his own dismissal before too long.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2019 by Kruppstahl

[#freejame]

8 hours ago, SDS said:

Coaches in charge of youth development should never teach bad tactics to get better short term results, regardless of sport. Nobody cares about the outcome of a youth game besides the myopic parents in the stands. Winning the wrong way at 10 leads to losing every way at 17. 

I’ve only coached d3 club hockey*. I don’t sell out for wins during little league baseball season and it’s resulted in me being asked to coach the county all-star team in both of my seasons coaching. This upcoming season will be my first as a head coach for youth hockey and it’ll all be focused on developing skating. Like you said, I couldn’t care less about winning when I coach kids, but coaching club is much, much different.

Edited May 30, 2019 by #freejame
I also have one season as an assistant five years ago coaching 10u but I only was in charge of goalies and didn’t have input anywhere else

[dudacek]

5 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

Bylsma was and remains a f-ing clown.

I still can't believe Botterill hired Ralph Krueger as HC though!  It's starting to sink in now!

Kind of reminds me of Darcy's cynical decision to make Ron Rolston the HC of this team, a move which led directly to his own dismissal before too long.

How does Krueger remind you of Rolston?

I'm reading this as "he's way underqualified and way over his head"

[IKnowPhysics]

We don't really need to care much about coaching salary, but this was interesting.  Seems like a bargain.

 

[Derrico]

55 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

We don't really need to care much about coaching salary, but this was interesting.  Seems like a bargain.

 

All of this just screams to me that Botts had the choice between Tippet and Kreuger and HE CHOSE Kreuger.  That's all I could ask for is Botts got one of his top choices.  It's on him now.

[IKnowPhysics]

3 hours ago, Derrico said:

All of this just screams to me that Botts had the choice between Tippet and Kreuger and HE CHOSE Kreuger.  That's all I could ask for is Botts got one of his top choices.  It's on him now.

Solid take.

[TrueBlueGED]

On 5/28/2019 at 9:50 PM, SwampD said:

If only Bylsma had a Quick in net. He’d look like a genius.

Lehner's save percentage under Bylsma was higher than Quick's career average. 

[Weave]

14 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

Lehner's save percentage under Bylsma was higher than Quick's career average. 

Imagine what Quick's average would have been under Bylsma then....

In 20 years children would be singing songs about him.

[steveoath]

On 5/15/2019 at 9:32 AM, MODO Hockey said:

I am litterly stunned.

What in the actuall ****, Ralph Kreuger .. REALLY ??
I'm gonna say right now, what a incredible misstake by Sabres organisation, and i sure hope im wrong

This is bad bad bad and utterly bad. May everyone including Freddy prove me wrong.

I vote @MODO_hockey for POHO.

[LGR4GM]

On 5/15/2019 at 8:44 AM, LGR4GM said:

No idea if this is a good or bad hire. Guess we will see. Will also depend on what kind of roster he gets going into the season. At the very least he sounds like a guy who can use players properly. 

[Stoner]

28 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Until he didn't use them the way you/we wanted, because you/we know better. The results are the results, of course. But would rearranging the deck chairs have altered the impending disaster all that much?

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Until he didn't use them the way you/we wanted, because you/we know better. The results are the results, of course. But would rearranging the deck chairs have altered the impending disaster all that much?

I don't think the specific usage issues people have taken the most issue with make THAT much of a difference, but I think the overall style of game/system he has them playing does. 

The new coach should be someone who does a few things we all have doubts about that prove to be correct, rather than the opposite that's happening now. The coach should be smarter than the board, Krueger just isn't. 

[Doohicksie]

On 5/16/2019 at 8:24 AM, Doohickie said:

Reading more about Krueger, I like is outlook and approach.  I just hope in translates to team success.

All part and parcel of being a Buffalo sports fan:  You have to be an optimist.

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

All part and parcel of being a Buffalo sports fan:  You have to be an optimist.

Or just love gallows humor 

[Stoner]

On 5/14/2019 at 9:53 PM, PASabreFan said:

 

Surprisingly, that was my reaction. RaKru grew on me though, apparently.

[Doohicksie]

On 5/14/2019 at 11:35 PM, Doohickie said:

I think this about where I'm at.  I was against the hire before it was announced; this guys sounds like someone on a late-night cable channel self-help motivational infomercial. 

However, my general impression of FHCPH was that he was too reserved, so reserved that the players almost fell asleep on the bench.  Maybe an infomercial motivator is what we need.  Plus yeah, he should understand the Eurotrash better than XHCPH.

Actually, this was my first post in this thread.   Looks like I nailed it.  We should have never ordered.... whatever it was he was selling in that infomercial.

My second paragraph in that post was hopeful optimism and therefore rubbish.

[LGR4GM]

34 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Until he didn't use them the way you/we wanted, because you/we know better. The results are the results, of course. But would rearranging the deck chairs have altered the impending disaster all that much?

Yes, I know that putting Skinner on the 4th line is stupid and that the Eakin-Okposo line is bad and should be split up or benched so we do know better. Long gone are the days of blindly trusting coaches when we have a wealth of data that says the decisions don't make sense. Olofsson isn't great 5v5, yet continues to get chances with Eichel. 

This absolutely could have been avoided. This is weird coming from someone who has been constantly concerned with the Pegulas meddling. To suddenly pull out the "not what you wanted that's why it's bad" card is suspect at best considering the results have been the literal worst. 

Edited March 8, 2021 by LGR4GM