The Krueger Effect

[bob_sauve28]

Sabres’ Eichel says head coach Ralph Krueger is ‘somebody that I look up to’   ★

‘“His demeanour, the way that he handles himself in the locker room in front of everyone everyday,” Eichel said. “He’s somebody that I look up to a lot as a role model for leadership. There’s such a great respect there and I think that it’s mutual between the two of us.”’

[Doohicksie]

So....you're saying Eichel isn't going to get RFK fired?

[dudacek]

If anyone is wondering what Ralph and the rest of the staff are up to, from Lebrun in the Athletic:

• Buffalo has more player evaluation meetings this week with coaches, then the Sabres will have (virtual) “development meetings’’ with the players, but not exit meetings. The Sabres want to keep everyone ready for all potential options.

[dudacek]

From Yerdon, in the ATHLETIC:

https://theathletic.com/1750574/2020/04/16/comparing-the-analytics-of-the-19-20-sabres-with-the-previous-four-teams/

"Stop me if you’ve read this before, but if they can add more offense and upgrade the special teams, they’ll be able to improve greatly. What Krueger has done to tighten the team defensively has been good. It’s had the unfortunate side effect of making them a little dull to watch at times, but scoring more goals would solve that."

 

[Tondas]

Say what you will about RFK, his decisions on personnel and ice time, schemes, methods, but he never lost the team like the last 2 coaches.  Now an influx of talent is needed JBot.

[Weave]

5 hours ago, Tondas said:

Say what you will about RFK, his decisions on personnel and ice time, schemes, methods, but he never lost the team like the last 2 coaches.  Now an influx of talent is needed JBot.

In fairness, he didn’t have a March to lose them in either.

[Randall Flagg]

3 hours ago, Weave said:

In fairness, he didn’t have a March to lose them in either.

Yeah, I mean before that last game we had lost six straight in regulation, and 22-30-7 since the hot start doesn't differ meaningfully enough from Phil last year to make me all that giddy.

Though I don't necessarily blame Phil or Ralph for these swoons, as for the second year in a row I'm just seeing a team that is playing normally but not talented enough to be able to match the playoff-prep efforts of good rosters (and there were a few broken-spirit games last year, and would have happened this year too, Arizona as a precursor).

We need a team that is talented enough to win games against talented teams in playoff-effort mode. Until then, the best we'll get post TDL is what we saw in Colorado 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Randall Flagg