BillsFan4

I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. It’s only 2 games and Krueger has shown an ability to get teams to perform well in many hockey tournaments over the years. But I am getting hopeful and really think we could have something special with Ralph. That’s why I was so hyped up posting all those articles when he was hired (and getting mad at people calling him a “soccer coach”). He’s just a different person, so unique. For those interested who didn’t read the articles or don’t remember - He played professional hockey in Germany and then eventually started coaching in a German professional league. He coached the team to 5 straight championships, including the only time a German B team has ever won the Euro Cup (its a league made up of all of the championship teams in Europe from that season. No German B team has ever done it before or since, so it’s a big deal and apparently he’s a living legend in Germany (and Switzerland for that matter)). After that he ran the Swiss hockey program for over a decade. When he took over they were a B team that hadn’t played in the Olympics in years (8 or 12 iirc). He turned them into a A team that went to 3 straight Olympics (he never missed the Olympics in his time there) and was part of the reason why the Swiss hockey program is so well respected world wide for their hockey program now. Then had a and a short stint as a scout for the Carolina Hurricanes. He went to edmonton as an associate coach, was promoted to head coach the following year and only last 1 lockout shortened 1/2 season where the Oilers miraculously were in playoff contention with a horrid team (and a few 1st or 2nd year high picks) until the last stretch of the season. He was fired over Skype in the offseason by a totally inept general manager who was hired by a totally inept team president. Krueger has requested to hire an associate coach after his 1st season. Having coached on the bigger Olympic ice for so many years, he wanted a strategist type coach to help him out. He wanted Dallas Eakins. He was an up-and-coming AHL coach. So the GM interviews him and decides to make him the head coach, then fires Krueger via Skype even though he looked to have the Oilers turning around. After being fired, he was hired by team Canada for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Mike Babcock and Ken Hitchcock (2 of the smartest coaches in the NHL) specifically requested that team canada hire Krueger. He advanced scouted every opponent and helped Babcock/Hitchcock/Ruff/Claude Julien design the game plans. (Canada won the gold medal) Then the guy stepped in and ran an English premier league soccer team with no experience ever in the soccer world, and was actually pretty damn successful. I don’t really follow soccer, but I guess they were a low budget team that wasn’t in the premier (top) league and he helped them stay in the top league for most of his tenure. Then he takes a short break to coach a cobbled together “team Europe” at the World Cup of hockey (in 2016). No one expects them to really do anything (but get eliminated...) and he coaches them to a brilliant surprise 2nd place finish, falling a goal short of winning and taking the tournament by storm with their style of play. Everyone was buzzing about team Europe. That’s the first time I really started looking into Krueger. I had heard about him when he was in Edmonton, but didn’t really pay much attention. Ever since that 2016 tournament I was intrigued. But his leadership qualities are what really make him so unique. He’s given a lecture on leadership at the world economic forum. He wrote a book on overcoming problems+adversity in life. How many NHL coaches can say that, you know? And he’s just known as someone with a very unique ability to connect with everyone and motivate/inspire. It was a really intriguing hire. It would be awesome if it works out. We are so due for a good Sabres coach+team. We deserve it. Anyway, sorry about writing a book on Krueger’s life story... lol

That power play was amazing! Even the year they finished 1st in PP rankings they didn’t look that good. The organization and relentless attack! Wow! I’m getting way too excited about the way this team is playing... lol

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-home-opener-jack-eichel/c-309750018 Pretty cool that they will have so many of the Sabresrevious captains at the home opener. Eichel seems to really understand the weight it carries and that it’s an honor. I was a captain on 3 of my hockey teams over the years and even though it was obviously at a lower level than the NHL I still was honored to be picked and treated it as a responsibility. I sure hope so!

Sorry if this was already posted.

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/opinion/sabres-play-complete-game-and-won-ralph-kruegers-debut nice article on the game by Paul Hamilton.

I was really impressed with the style of hockey they played. That, IMO, is a winning brand of hockey. It’s tough to play against. They constantly had 1 and 2 guys on every puck, took away Pittsburgh’s time and space, got in shot+passing lanes, caused turnovers all night. They just hounded the puck. They also played aggressive, but controlled. I was nervous at first when I heard “aggressive” from Krueger. Housley’s system flashed into my head. All the odd man rushes and huge mistakes... but they played nothing like that. They were aggressive, but they always had a teammate helping+backing them up. I love that they played exactly how Krueger wanted and got a win right off the bat. IMO it helps with the buy-in. They see that what Lrueger is asking the, to do works. I mean, it almost looked like Pittsburgh and Buffalo switched jerseys tonight! ? We dominated them like they usually do to us. All in all it has left me pretty hopeful. Krueger is off to s good start. It has me hopeful that he is legit. Obviously still too early to judge, but I like that I am seeing what sure looked like a well coached team.

Hell yeah! Starting out the season with a win! and a pretty good 60 minute effort (for the most part anyway).

Is Sabres hockey actually going to be fun to watch again...? Wouldn’t that be something!

Right? -They are actually organized in the defensive zone. They are all staying in position and doing a great job supporting each other and keeping the Pens out of the high danger areas. Everyone seems to actually know their assignments. -Competent d zone breakouts. -They are pressuring the puck puck all over the ice and (again) supporting each other. There has usually been 2 men on the puck. And they’re doing a good job getting bodies+sticks in passing lanes and creating turnovers. -working as a coordinated, 5 man unit. -Everyone giving 100% effort. - guys going to the net and/or creating traffic. -No confusion (so far). Everyone actually looks like they know what they’re supposed to be doing! I am impressed, but we aren’t even through 1 period yet, so... we will see. But if they keep playing like this all season I will be pretty damn happy, win or lose. This is a brand/style of hockey that will lead to success IMO. This is how many of the better NHL teams play. It’s not the players+coaches fault if they don’t have the talent to keep up with some other (better) teams.

The Sabres! Game is on right now and they actually look pretty good so far.

I honestly don’t know what to expect this season. I always try my best to stay positive about the Bills/Sabres. I enjoy rooting for them much more when I am in a positive frame of mind. So I am hopeful for this season for sure. I don’t know that I expect playoffs, but I am hopeful that we will see definite improvement and at least fight for a playoff spot right down to the wire. I’m just not sure we have the team to beat all the big guns in our division and conference. I do think that a better coach can go a long way in fixing some of the issues the Sabres have, and I think it really helps that Krueger is so good at connecting with+reaching people. The Sabres need someone (IMO) that can help them exercise all the demons from the tank years+constant losing. And they really need someone who can get them all playing a competent offensive+defensive system on the ice as a 5 man unit and giving a full effort every shift. They need more structure in the D zone especially. Our goalies had a pretty tough go of it because they could never reliably count on the players in front of them to limit certain shot angles, etc. Goalies need to know what their defenseman are going to do - if their d man is going to take away a shot from the far side/perimeter so they can play the correct angle on the near side/middle etc. If Krueger can install a consistent system/style of play it should help out Hutton and Ullmark quite a bit, which will help out the entire Sabres team. But it’s tough not to wonder if Krueger+Botterill see this as somewhat of a transition year. I have gotten that impression from some of their comments, and a whole ton of roster spots + cap space open up after this season. As of now they basically brought back basically the same failed team as last year + Olofsson and a few good depth pieces. To be fair, Miller could be more than a depth piece and have a big impact. Hopefully Johansson will too. Vesey should add some depth scoring from the bottom 6, which was a need. I’m just not sure it’s enough though. That’s where I guess we have to hope that coaching was a bigger issue than personnel was last year, huh? No matter what I am excited to see if Krueger can implement some structure and get them all playing the style of hockey he wants. I believe he can. He’s consistently done it with many different teams at the international level. And if/when he does (hopefully we will see it right away tonight!) I think the Sabres will be an exciting team to watch, win or lose.

First real game (of what will hopefully be known as the Ralph Krueger Era) tonight at 7pm! Here’s a link to the Sabres full 2019/20 schedule: https://www.nhl.com/sabres/schedule/2019-10-01/ET I also put a link to the schedule in the first post of this thread, just so everyone knows. Hockey is back!

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-eichel-wants-enjoy-season sounds like Eichel is buying into what Krueger is selling. Everything he said in this article is stuff Krueger has said about what Eichel needs to do.

Yeah I know. lol Just fyi I wasn’t talking about you, or anyone in specific really. It was just some of my own complaints (his salary) and some I’ve heard/read over the last couple seasons.

I played hockey at a pretty high level. I played a lot of organized sports as a kid but once I started playing organized ice hockey it pretty quickly became my favorite. Then I got pretty serious about hockey when I got a tryout offer from a tier II travel team after my 2nd year in the House league and things kind of just took off from there. Hockey pretty much consumed most of my time after that.

I think some of the hate for Scandella comes from his $4M cap hit. If he was being paid the $1-2M that bottom pair defenseman make I’m sure people would complain less. Also, he was traded for to be more than a bottom pairing defenseman for us. I think most were hoping for a top 4 guy. Its also worth noting that Marcus Foligno is a hometown kid and was a big fan favorite with many, so maybe some hold that against him or wish the Sabres had foligno back? I don’t know. I am not too worried about him in a bottom pairing role for now. He’s off the books after this year and it’ll give some of the kids more time to develop. I just hope he doesn’t keep Pilut off the ice once he’s back unless he’s legitimately earning his playing time.

This is awesome.

Glad it’s over Steptide. I was just coming in here to ask how you were doing. I was kind of sore on and off for about 2 weeks after I passed mine and got some pain if my bladder got too full. The only reason I mention it is because at times, it felt like the stone pain was coming back and it made me a bit nervous. But it was just soreness from the whole ordeal. With everything you’ve been though, I wouldn’t be surprised if you deal with some soreness too. Anyway, happy to read you are doing better.

I am guessing that this is just a paper transaction to maximize their LTIR + cap space for this season. If it’s not, I’m done. ? Nah, it has to be. There’s no way Olofsson didn’t make the team. And Krueger said in that interview John posted that the lineup on the ice was going to Pittsburgh and that included Olofsson playing on the top line.

I thought Winnipeg might grab Nelson just because of how decimated their right hand defensive depth was from losing 4 guys this offseason. But for some reason they grabbed Carl Dahlstrom off waivers from Chicago. He’s a left handed defenseman and he’s not good. I thought Winnipeg was in a lot better shape on the left side, but I’m thinking maybe they will use this claim to replace their current #7 defenseman Anthony Bitetto? I’m surprised at some of the player who went unclaimed. Only 2 players total were claimed - Dahlstrom and Eric Comrie (a goalie who really hasn’t looked very good outside of one pretty good season in the AHL).

Speedy recovery to Don! everyone cleared waivers.

OMG! I can’t even imagine what they went through. For it to happen over multiple days, too? It just had to be like an ongoing nightmare. So very sad and heartbreaking. Thoughts and and prayers are with them.

Jokiharju has 2 more seasons or 120+ NHL games played before he’s no longer waiver exempt. I just hope Joker has showed a lot more in training camp (that we didn’t see) than in the preseason games and that it’s not Botterill somewhat forcing Joker into the lineup for the wrong reasons. I’m more than willing to give Joker a chance. I like him a lot and He’s got a lot higher ceiling than Nelson does. I just don’t like gifting roster spots to kids that didn’t earn them (not saying that’s the case since I don’t know what happened day to day in camp). I just hope he’s not kept in the press press box instead of playing big minutes in Rochester.

Pilut is injured and will need game action once healthy. No surprise there. Slightly surprised about Thompson, but not really. Wilson, Elie, Lazar and Nelson on waivers. Casey Nelson surprises me a bit. Hope they can get him to Rochester but I won’t lose sleep if they don’t. Not sure that I agree with Jokiharju earning the spot over Nelson, if that’s what it came down to. Joker had some good moments but he struggled a lot in his own zone. I thought Nelson was the better overall player, but maybe they’re trying to sneak him through waivers now and (eventually) use an injury call up (so he doesn’t have to pass through waivers) or something?

I didn’t mean that he was joining a full rebuild like Babcock did. As you said we have a good foundation in place. Any team with Eichel, Dahlin, Reinhart, Skinner etc. all in their early to mid 20’s can’t be considered in need of a “full rebuild”. I just meant that both coaches purposely chose very challenging situations over easier gigs that were (or seem to have been) available to both. They decided to seek out and/or accept a challenge instead. And Make no mistake, the Buffalo coaching job is a challenge.