Assistant Coaches / coaching team

[WildCard]

2 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Charlotte has had a really great team for the past few years. I don’t know much about their coach, but I think it would be a promising hire. 

I still think everything Carolina has is due to the guy that runs their analytics department

[Ho-Chi-Sock]

5 hours ago, Doohickie said:

No way man.  Tre' White!

That was my backup plan. Perhaps he can intern.

[OhMyDahlin]

17 hours ago, millbank said:

Chris Taylor promoted 

DJ Smith did interview for head coach job

Nate Leaman

Steve Smith 

Taylor belongs right where he is...and Leaman isn't leaving a head job in the NCAA for an assistant job, especially with what he's building.

3 hours ago, WildCard said:

 

 

That would be excellent.

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, Weave said:

Almost like Jbott had his mind made up about which coach he wanted back when PH was fired.

I think he had an idea that Krueger was his #1 target.

[IKnowPhysics]

17 minutes ago, OhMyDahlin said:

leaving a head job in the NCAA for an assistant job

 

It's not unheard of, however.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Ho-Chi-Sock said:

That was my backup plan. Perhaps he can intern.

Executive Goalie Coach/Associate Goalie Coach.

[Thorner]

5 hours ago, Weave said:

Almost like Jbott had his mind made up about which coach he wanted back when PH was fired.

This seems plausible. 

4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Krueger was definitely on his short list. They apparently had been talking about Krueger joining the Sabres for two years.  I think coming here and coaching was recent.

But I think this seems more likely. He had some guys in mind, but nothing was certain. I think the simplest answer is Botterill kept Smith for now because he sees him as a valuable employee he wanted on staff if at all possible. The connection with Krueger would only add to that, with him being a potential candidate. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Thorny

[kas23]

1 hour ago, IKnowPhysics said:

It's not unheard of, however.

I wonder what the numbers say. Do college head coaches entering the NHL more often initially end up as assistants or jump right to HC? I know I’ve heard of both occurring. 

[DHawerchuk10]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I wouldn't hire him. That's undermining your current coach by bringing in someone a chunk of the fanbase will be screaming for at the first loss. Also his history with other people still in the organization. I would rather have completely new ideas. 

Reasonable take.  I just get the sense that Krueger doesn't mind having extra experience on his staff, and Lindy isn't one to undermine someone.  His Buffalo connections though may cause perception issues though....hard to argue against that.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

This seems plausible. 

But I think this seems more likely. He had some guys in mind, but nothing was certain. I think the simplest answer is Botterill kept Smith for now because he sees him as a valuable employee he wanted on staff if at all possible. The connection with Krueger would only add to that, with him being a potential candidate. 

To be clear, none of the assistant coaches have been fired; Krueger intends to talk to each before deciding his direction.

What differentiates Smith is that the others were told they were free to look for other jobs; Smith was not.

For what it’s worth, that news came out after Krueger was well into talks with the Sabres.

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Krueger was definitely on his short list. They apparently had been talking about Krueger joining the Sabres for two years.  I think coming here and coaching was recent.

Reading that article about how Rutherford had recommended him to JBot I think he was on the radar for a while. JBot definitely values Rutherford's opinions on things. Kind of his mentor. 

[Derrico]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

To be clear, none of the assistant coaches have been fired; Krueger intends to talk to each before deciding his direction.

What differentiates Smith is that the others were told they were free to look for other jobs; Smith was not.

For what it’s worth, that news came out after Krueger was well into talks with the Sabres.

I love looking back on the timeline.  This was in the works for weeks while fan base is freaking out that everyone is turning us down and botts has no idea what he’s doing.

[Taro T]

44 minutes ago, Derrico said:

I love looking back on the timeline.  This was in the works for weeks while fan base is freaking out that everyone is turning us down and botts has no idea what he’s doing.

Not just freaking out because he couldn't get anyone to accept the job but also because he was wasting valuable time assembling Canada's WC team.

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

To be clear, none of the assistant coaches have been fired; Krueger intends to talk to each before deciding his direction.

What differentiates Smith is that the others were told they were free to look for other jobs; Smith was not.

For what it’s worth, that news came out after Krueger was well into talks with the Sabres.

This makes sense. Even if Krueger was merely "high on the list" at that point, it would make sense to protect Smith.

 

1 hour ago, Derrico said:

I love looking back on the timeline.  This was in the works for weeks while fan base is freaking out that everyone is turning us down and botts has no idea what he’s doing.

Fair, but I hope we don't white-wash everything now in this euphoria period, saying in absolution what every GM says no matter which draft pick they get, "This was the guy we wanted all along". 

There's a reasonable likelihood Krueger was the first choice, or became so before anyone else was offered anything, but there is conflicting information out there that I don't believe should be completely forgotten/written-off/dismissed. 

Depending on the person, it might be completely irrelevant at this point, of course. But I still think it bears remembering, for my part. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Thorny

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, Derrico said:

This was in the works for weeks while Sabrespace is freaking out that everyone is turning us down and botts has no idea what he’s doing.

fify  ?

[nfreeman]

Good thread. 

I agree that assembling a strong staff will be important and likely a good indicator of whether he succeeds.

[Curt]

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.

[Never NEVER Give-up]

I'd love to see Scott Arniel as an assistant.  He's a great power play and offensive coach with some head coaching experience.  Sabres had the leagues best power play when he coached it.  Though he is Caps Asst Head Coach now.

[Brawndo]

I would think that the job would be attractive to a younger coach with his sights set on a HC Position in a few years 

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, Never NEVER Give-up said:

I'd love to see Scott Arniel as an assistant.  He's a great power play and offensive coach with some head coaching experience.  Sabres had the leagues best power play when he coached it.  Though he is Caps Asst Head Coach now.

Would enhance the Winnipeg connection. 

It's weird typing that. 

[OhMyDahlin]

23 hours ago, IKnowPhysics said:

It's not unheard of, however.

Who's done it? NCAA head coaches rarely leave for an NHL head coaching job.

As a close follower of NCAA hockey I cannot think of one example where an NCAA head coach left to be an NHL assistant coach.


With that said, Krueger should get Ken Hitchcock as an assistant...they seem to be close friends and have worked together before.

[Derrico]

1 hour ago, OhMyDahlin said:

With that said, Krueger should get Ken Hitchcock as an assistant...they seem to be close friends and have worked together before.

This exact thought crossed my mind.  But is Hitch really going to come out of retirement yet again for an assistant job?  Doubt it.

[kas23]

4 hours ago, OhMyDahlin said:

Who's done it? NCAA head coaches rarely leave for an NHL head coaching job.

As a close follower of NCAA hockey I cannot think of one example where an NCAA head coach left to be an NHL assistant coach.


With that said, Krueger should get Ken Hitchcock as an assistant...they seem to be close friends and have worked together before.

Here’s some examples: Greg Cronin, Rick Wilson and Tim Army. Newell Brown is another, but he had 4 years of being an AHL HC before becoming an assistant of the Blackhawks. It’s not “unheard” that an NCAA HC becomes an assistant HC. 

[Happy Days]

I Wonder what is taking so long? I would have thought 1 or 2 assistant coaches would have been reported by now. 

[PerreaultForever]

I don't know what names to suggest but I know what we need. 1) somebody to teach back checking and defense 2) somebody to fix the power play 3) a better goaltending coach.

Who knows who Kreuger will work with? For all I know he'll bring in Uwe Krupp.