Ralph Krueger to meet the Media Wednesday June 5th 10am

[LGR4GM]

I don't know if he will work, but he certainly is a different animal than Rolston, Bylsma, or Housley. 

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't know if he will work, but he certainly is a different animal than Rolston, Bylsma, or Housley. 

Right from the beginning, I said the single thing I wanted most from the new coach was leadership.

This man showed more of it in one presser than we saw at the podium in the past four years.

Hope the actions reflect the words.

[Zamboni]

I’m not gonna deep dive and make up or assume things that’s aren’t there... On its face, to put it basically... He sounds good. Says the right thing. We’ll see if his approach resonates with the roster and see if he gets good results. It will take time most likely. Wouldn’t surprise me to see peaks and valleys for the first half of the season. Hopefully those valleys will be short.

[LGR4GM]

My takeaway:

He wants to use analytics and sports science but not dump that on the players. Seemed to think he had to interpret what they learned from analytics and then give a digestible response to the players that would improve them. 

He also talked about fitness level and fatigue. He specifically mentioned GPS a player in a game to look at those and other things. 

He talked about not focusing on the past and moving forward. He didn't really care what happened 3, 5, or 10 years ago. 

He is going to talk to every player on the roster by the end of the month if he can. Thinks he will be about halfway through by the end of the week. 

Will have a bunch of preloaded games so he can start looking at the players more in depth on the team. Talked about figuring out what tools he had in the toolbox and how to use them. 

Talked about being a listener and communicator. Also talked about being a leader and putting a strong leadership team (of coaches) in place. 

Mentioned he is aware of the direction of the game and how it has gotten faster and opened up more. Has watched and talked to coaches and gms even while away from the game. Is working on getting up to speed. 

Mentioned that today is really the 1st day he can be 100% the Sabres head coach as he has wrapped up his old life and moved forward. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by LGR4GM

[CallawaySabres]

I think one of the top benefits of having him as a coach is the leadership that he will be able to pass along to Jack.

[pi2000]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. 

[LGR4GM]

2 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. 

Those who dwell in the past, miss out on the present. 

[Zamboni]

1 minute ago, pi2000 said:

Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. 

Opinions of the past. He said nothing about not knowing the history 

[North Buffalo]

Old adage: " If you have one foot in the past and one in the future, you tend to piss all over the present..

[Zamboni]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

Those who dwell in the past, miss out on the present. 

Yea, we have too many fans who dwell and seeth on the past. You see it here daily ?

[pi2000]

Don't know if he'll work out or not, but he sounds like he has some natural leadership abilities, and passionate.  A nice pivot from Housley.  Hopefully a better fit for a young core needing some direction.

[North Buffalo]

Just now, Zamboni said:

Yea, we have too many fans who dwell and seeth on the past. You see it here daily ?

True but normal for fans, useless for a new coach. Be aware but dont dwell.

[DarthEbriate]

1 minute ago, Zamboni said:

Yea, we have too many fans who dwell and seeth on the past. You see it here daily ?

Always Kruger's mind on where he is, hmm. What he is doing. Hmm!

[Doohicksie]

13 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

GPS

GPS?

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

GPS?

He wants to track players on the ice. Global Positioning System. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by LGR4GM

[Doohicksie]

Okay.  I thought it was a hockey-specific acronym. 

I doubt they mean literal GPS though; not sure how accurate it is inside structures like arenas.  But using a positon tracking system seems to be another step in analytics.

[Zamboni]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

He wants to track players on the ice. Global Positioning System. 

I thought he mentioned it as a tool that CAN be used as a part of analytics. Not that he WILL in fact actually do that. Maybe I heard it wrong.

[pi2000]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

He wants to track players on the ice. Global Positioning System. 

Why tho?  They can clearly see where they are.   

[Marvin]

1 minute ago, Doohickie said:

Okay.  I thought it was a hockey-specific acronym. 

I doubt they mean literal GPS though; not sure how accurate it is inside structures like arenas.  But using a positon tracking system seems to be another step in analytics.

Based on what little I have done with GPS, it is scary how accurate it is.

[LGR4GM]

2 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Why tho?  They can clearly see where they are.   

He specifically mentioned speed, positioning, and fatigue. 

Why wouldn't you want to track this? Your response is odd to me. 

[Doohicksie]

2 minutes ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

Based on what little I have done with GPS, it is scary how accurate it is.

 

Yes but signals can bounce around a lot in urban areas.  I track my rides with GPS and it's common to see my route dashing into and out of buildings in the downtown area (when in reality I was riding straight down the street).

Edited June 5, 2019 by Doohickie

[Getpucksdeep]

4 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Why tho?  They can clearly see where they are.   

Measure the distance covered, ie fitness requirements.  "winger skated 1000 meters that shift" I doubt it's related to player positioning.  Better in soccer where they are covering more ground and no line change.

Modern day "short shifts boys!" not just time on ice but distance covered.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Getpucksdeep

[Zamboni]

3 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Why tho?  They can clearly see where they are.   

A quick 30 second google search ...

 

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/patrick-johnston-nhls-new-tracking-technology-could-change-the-way-game-is-coached

 

https://novacapsfans.com/2018/10/29/will-the-nhls-next-generation-data-and-data-management-models-splinter-and-divide-hockey-analytics/

[LGR4GM]

5 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

A quick 30 second google search ...

 

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/patrick-johnston-nhls-new-tracking-technology-could-change-the-way-game-is-coached

 

https://novacapsfans.com/2018/10/29/will-the-nhls-next-generation-data-and-data-management-models-splinter-and-divide-hockey-analytics/

This I think is a lot of what Kruger is currently thinking about

Quote

What years of tracking have also established — besides which performance data actually matters to winning — is fitness baselines on team and specific-player levels.

That’s helped coaches dial in how to make their training sessions more effective.

“Based on what we’ve learned in games, we get a sense of the meters we need (in training); are we getting the volume, the speeds?” McGrath said.

“Where it pays dividends is in the physical preparation. It’s really a strength and conditioning tool; we can look at the numbers to see if a player’s tired. And it’s particularly useful for players returning from injury.”

 

[darksabre]

3 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

A quick 30 second google search ...

 

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/patrick-johnston-nhls-new-tracking-technology-could-change-the-way-game-is-coached

 

https://novacapsfans.com/2018/10/29/will-the-nhls-next-generation-data-and-data-management-models-splinter-and-divide-hockey-analytics/

The player and puck tracking stuff was featured in the All Star Game this year and I thought it worked really well.

I've often felt that the future of analyzing hockey is figuring out how players move around the ice and tracking scoring event sequences. Being able to use tracking data to model game situations for coaching purposes is going to be a lot more useful than watching tape.

It's also going to be a useful tool for player evaluation for contract purposes. If you can model how players interact then it'll be much easier to tell if a player's success is self-driven or dependent on teammates.