Rick Dudley Unlikely to Join Sabres

[JohnC]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

I like the cut of your jib.

I’m good with Krueger being the key mind, if he understands and allows Dahlin to play to his strengths. That’s my biggest concern with Ralph. It’s pretty crucial.

Chad had a nice breakdown, and a great read, for one possible way to construct this team under a cheaper bottom line - posted it in the off-season game plan thread if you are interested. 

I have read a few breakdowns from a number of people that when taken from an overview perspective regarding the reconstruction of the roster what is obvious to me is that there are a menu of good options to work with. As others have frequently pointed out a number of teams will be capped stressed and forced to deal good players in order to retain some of their core players. Will this organization be creative enough and bold enough to take advantage of the situation? (Right now I believe that it is more likely than not that we deal our first round pick in order to make a substantial deal.) The most important office in the organization will be the pro scouting office. In my view we don't need a dramatic remake of the roster. If we can bring in two second line caliber of players that will also allow us to reconstruct the third line and make it a more contributing line for a team that desperately needs to spread out its scoring.   

I like Krueger a lot but I do have one concern about him which you intentionally or not alluded to in your comment about how he handled Dahlin. Krueger is a coach who believes in discipline and line coherence. Will he loosen up on the reigns for Dahlin and Skinner and allow them to play a little more freelance game? The player that I thought he stifled the most with his tight system was Skinner. He needs to allow him to play his sharpshooting and roaming game without harping on maintaining his positional responsibilities. 

Let's not forget that Krueger's coaching history in Europe with the Swiss team was that he was coaching less talented teams against demonstrably superior teams. In order to have a chance he needed his team to play a tight brand of hockey where the focus was more on preventing the other team from scoring rather than focus on your team's offense. I'm hoping that Krueger will adjust his mindset a tad. To his defense he was coaching a team last year that had a limited range of scorers. So I understand his conservative approach. 

I have said it before so I apologize for the redundancy. While we all are focusing on bringing in talent for our lines the most important player/s for us will be the goaltenders. If they in tandem can provide consistently solid play then that in itself will be a key ingredient to a successful season. 

Edited July 15, 2020 by JohnC