Krueger on Eichel: "Lead by playing the game"

[Stoner]

I'd speculate that Eichel was another of the dudes Kool-Aiding through a wall after Ralph had this talk with his captain. Remember Russ Brandon sitting down with Eichel after a game? The poor kid.

Quote

In Jack Eichel, you have one of the elite players in hockey. What are your thoughts on the captain-coach relationship?
“First of all, one of the things we’ve seen here is that everything is put on Jack. We’re here to support the unbelievable talent that he has, in that we want him to play hockey. I see leadership as a shared responsibility for everybody on the team. He is the captain of the team and has done an outstanding job of leading by example. He works very hard and wants to play the game we want to play, but sometimes the captain gets too much weight put on his shoulders, and I’d like to see him free up of some of that responsibility and see it shared by more of the team, more of the coaches, create an environment where he can lead by playing the game he loves so much. That’s where his real skillset is so I want to make sure I create that space for him.’’

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/hockey/nhl/sabres/2019/10/02/ralph-kreuger-buffalo-sabres-new-head-coach-nhl-get-to-know-interview-family-players-communication/3830629002/

[inkman]

He talks a good game. I'm cautiously pessimistic. 

[Randall Flagg]

Could definitely see the Krueger-Eichel relationship being a great thing for Jack's game. 

I don't think the Phil-Eichel relationship was a negative, in fact, I think Phil helped Jack grow as a leader. But Ralph could be that next-step kinda guy. 

[Weave]

That quote sounds to me like Jack was burdened by the captaincy. And it weighed on him.

[bob_sauve28]

Who is better right now, Jack or Crosby? 

[darksabre]

24 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Who is better right now, Jack or Crosby? 

Crosby for sure. 

[inkman]

2 hours ago, Weave said:

That quote sounds to me like Jack was burdened by the captaincy. And it weighed on him.

It definitely sounded that way. RaKru seem to allude that the previous coach didn't lighten the burden enough. Interesting for sure. I'm glad Jack takes it serious.  Hopefully Ralph can make it easier for him. 

[Randall Flagg]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Who is better right now, Jack or Crosby? 

In the most recent sample size of regular season hockey, it's easy to argue that Crosby was the best player on the planet.

[bob_sauve28]

2 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

In the most recent sample size of regular season hockey, it's easy to argue that Crosby was the best player on the planet.

Hopefully that will start to change this year. 

[Weave]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

It definitely sounded that way. RaKru seem to allude that the previous coach didn't lighten the burden enough. Interesting for sure. I'm glad Jack takes it serious.  Hopefully Ralph can make it easier for him. 

It’s also a sign that Jack wasn’t and may still not be ready for it.

[LGR4GM]

12 minutes ago, Weave said:

It’s also a sign that Jack wasn’t and may still not be ready for it.

I read it differently. 

[...]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I read it differently. 

Agreed.  Leading a team of people is not a lone-wolf operation.  

[Curt]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Hopefully that will start to change this year. 

Yes, hopefully Jack is soon a no doubt top-5 player in the NHL.  That would be excellent.  I would even settle for a top-5 C in the NHL.

[Pimlach]

									PP		SH
SCORING	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	GWG	OTG	G	A	G	A	S	S%	P/G
1 Kucherov, Nikita Kucherov, N. TB	82	41	87	128	24	62	8	0	0	33	0	0	246	16.7%	1.6
2 McDavid, Connor McDavid, C. EDM	78	41	75	116	3	20	9	3	0	24	1	1	240	17.1%	1.5
3 Kane, Patrick Kane, P. CHI	81	44	66	110	2	22	7	3	0	21	0	0	341	12.9%	1.4
4 Draisaitl, Leon Draisaitl, L. EDM	82	50	55	105	2	52	5	3	0	13	3	0	231	21.6%	1.3
5 Crosby, Sidney Crosby, S. PIT	79	35	65	100	18	36	3	1	0	17	0	2	220	15.9%	1.3
5 Marchand, Brad Marchand, B. BOS	79	36	64	100	15	96	9	3	0	24	3	4	231	15.6%	1.3
7 MacKinnon, Nathan MacKinnon, N. COL	82	41	58	99	20	34	6	1	0	25	0	0	365	11.2%	1.2
7 Gaudreau, Johnny Gaudreau, J. CGY	82	36	63	99	18	24	8	3	0	21	0	0	245	14.7%	1.2
9 Stamkos, Steven Stamkos, S. TB	82	45	53	98	4	37	6	0	0	21	2	0	234	19.2%	1.2
10 Barkov, Aleksander Barkov, A. FLA	82	35	61	96	-3	8	5	2	0	18	0	1	206	17.0%	1.2
11 Marner, Mitchell Marner, M. TOR	82	26	68	94	22	22	5	0	0	18	1	2	233	11.2%	1.2
12 Huberdeau, Jonathan Huberdeau, J. FLA	82	30	62	92	-14	40	5	0	0	23	0	0	226	13.3%	1.1
12 Point, Brayden Point, B. TB	79	41	51	92	27	28	7	2	0	15	0	0	191	21.5%	1.2
14 Wheeler, Blake Wheeler, B. WPG	82	20	71	91	0	60	3	0	0	31	2	1	231	8.7%	1.1
15 Ovechkin, Alex Ovechkin, A. WSH	81	51	38	89	7	40	5	0	0	10	0	0	338	15.1%	1.1
16 Tavares, John Tavares, J. TOR	82	47	41	88	19	34	8	1	0	9	0	0	286	16.4%	1.1
17 Panarin, Artemi Panarin, A. NYR	79	28	59	87	14	23	8	4	0	12	0	0	191	14.7%	1.1
17 Rantanen, Mikko Rantanen, M. COL	74	31	56	87	13	54	4	1	0	17	0	0	193	16.1%	1.2
19 Giroux, Claude Giroux, C. PHI	82	22	63	85	9	24	4	1	0	21	1	0	229	9.6%	1.0
20 Scheifele, Mark Scheifele, M. WPG	82	38	46	84	8	38	6	3	0	11	0	3	199	19.1%	1.0
21 Burns, Brent Burns, B. SJ	82	16	67	83	13	34	6	2	0	21	1	4	300	5.3%	1.0
21 Aho, Sebastian Aho, S. CAR	82	30	53	83	25	26	7	3	0	21	4	1	243	12.3%	1.0
23 Kessel, Phil Kessel, P. ARI	82	27	55	82	-19	28	10	2	0	24	0	0	215	12.6%	1.0
23 Monahan, Sean Monahan, S. CGY	78	34	48	82	7	12	5	0	0	11	0	0	211	16.1%	1.1
23 Eichel, Jack Eichel, J. BUF	77	28	54	82	-11	26	2	2	0	18	0	0	303	9.2%	1.1
26 Toews, Jonathan Toews, J. CHI	82	35	46	81	2	40	5	2	0	14	1	0	235	14.9%	1.0
26 Pastrnak, David Pastrnak, D. BOS	66	38	43	81	6	32	4	0	0	16	0	0	235	16.2%	1.2
28 Seguin, Tyler Seguin, T. DAL	82	33	47	80	17	18	8	2	0	18	0	0	334	9.9%	1.0
29 Bergeron, Patrice Bergeron, P. BOS	65	32	47	79	23	30	3	1	0	18	4	3	205	15.6%	1.2

[matter2003]

I have been extremely bullish on the Kreuger hire and nothing I've seen through last nights domination of the Penguins has has given me any doubts, instead its made me even more excited...

I think this coach has his players attention big-time and we are going to see them play in a way we haven't seen for a long time. Leadership from a coach is getting players to buy in and acept whatever role they have, have them feel like their role is of the same importance as every other role and never want to let their teammates down in not playing their role to the best of their ability.

 

And Kreuger is nothing if not a world-class leader of men. From what I see this mostly young team really looks up to him almost like a father figure where you would do almost anything not to disappoint your father and all you want to do at the end of the day is make him proud of you. Never underestimate how much success a team can have when this happens. It becomes a situation where nobody can exactly figure out why thr team is winning but it ends up being the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts...