BillsFan4

https://www.gofundme.com/pancho-power might as well post the link to his go fund me here too.

https://www.gofundme.com/pancho-power just wanted to post this again. All proceeds go to pancho’s family.

RIP Pancho. You touched a lot of lives, inspired a lot of people and you Will be remembered for many years to come. Not everyone can say that they made such a mark on so many people. Thoughts and and prayers with Ezra’s significant other and his children in this difficult time.

Krueger has turned down multiple NHL jobs in recent years (at least 2 in just the last 2 years). Teams have been trying to get him back in the NHL going back to at least 2016. But he wouldn’t break his contract with Southampton. His contract just expired less than a month ago. He is actually a very well respected hockey mind, and is known for getting more out of his teams than anyone really expected. He’s done it almost everywhere he’s been - German league, Swiss team, his 1/2 season in Edmonton and just recently with Southampton. He is kind of like a rich man’s Ted Nolan. It is a risk though. He doesn’t have a proven NHL track record, has been out of hockey for a few years and has more experience with the European game. But he is a valid, respected coaching candidate. Teams have been trying to lure him back for years. Id prefer Tippett, but I’m not sure if he’s an option. I agree that Friedman did make it sound like McLellan and Tippett may have chosen other teams over the Sabres. But that could just be because McLellan has a close relationship with LA’s GM and Tippett has a close relationship with Ken Holland (plus Holland never fires his coaches, so Tippett knows he will get time to fix the Oilers). If candidates really are being scared away, I don’t really think it’s anything Botterill did though. I think its likely due to how many coaches and GMs have been fired since Pegula bought the team. They’ve fired a coach and/or GM about every 2 years. We are going on our 5th head coach in the 6 years since Ruff was fired, and our 6th head coach since Pegula took over in 2011. fired Ruff in Feb. 2013. Fired Rolston and Regier Nov. 2013 Lafontaine left (lets be real, he was fired) in March 2014. Nolan fired Apr. 2015 Bylsma and Murray fired Apr. 2017 Housley fired Apr. 2019 Coaches tend to be cocky SOBs. Most think they can fix any mess if given enough time. But no coach has been given more than 2 years here since Pegula took over. Having owners who are quick to fire people seems to be one thing that scares off good candidates in any sport.

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-13-sportsnets-elliotte-friedman-instigators elliotte Friedman on the instigators talking Sabres coaching search. He seems to think they are zeroed in on Krueger (around the 17-18 minute mark). He said we looked into McLellan and he went to LA, looked into Tippett but Edmonton looks more likely for him. So at some point they started to zero in on Krueger.

We are already down 2 defenseman to start next season (Bogosian and now Pilut). Best wishes on a speedy recovery Pilut! Wonder if it’s something he played through? It would explain why he was shying away from contact, and why it was so easy to get him off his game with a few big hits.

Yep. But that was edmonton when Craig Mactavish was their GM. He’s up there as far as incompetent GM’s go... and Edmonton, under Krueger, finished 3rd in their division. They had finished last in the division for 3 years before that (their best finish was 2nd last in their division in the 6 years before Krueger got there), and finished last in their division for 3 straight years after he left, too. The 3 years before Krueger came on board, the Oilers were 30th, 29th and 30th in the NHL (out of 30 teams). That edmonton roster all had better goals-above-replacement numbers under Krueger then after he left. He even had Nial Yakupov looking like a budding star in his only year there (Yakupov’s only really good NHL season). Edmonton fans and media have nothing but good things to say about him and think he was wrongfully fired by a new GM that wanted his guy. They would all take him back in a heartbeat from what I’ve seen written.

He’s not a soccer GM. He’s a life long career hockey guy who took a job with a soccer club for a few years because his good friend was also good friends with the new owner of Southampton. She was Swedish and really admired the job he did with the Swedish national team, and so she arranged to meet him through his friend and they both asked him to come in and change the culture of a struggling Southampton club. He said he saw it as a new challenge and wanted to take it on to help him to continue growing as a leader. Outside of his few few years there, he was a hockey player and then a coach from 1991-2016. He is actuslly one one of the more respected hockey minds out there, and is considered an innovator (he’s real big on analytics). He’s also won whenever he’s been. NHL teams have been after him for years. We would be damn lucky to actually land him (IMO anyway). Krueger or Tippett would both be big gets for Botterill.

Welcome back Lee! Anyone else remember the last time he was here (under Marrone/Hackett), how predictable the playcalling was? Every run play, Smith was put on the field. Every passing play, they put Chandler out there. It got to the point that TV announcers were predicting the play by the personnel on the field.

Aw man, so sad to read that update. Pancho and his family will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers.

Well.... that was not quite what I expected to read through when clicking on this thread... lol. Anyway... the video was nice. Allen seems like a great kid. Very easy to root for. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-intrigue-around-nhl-draft-starting-take-shape/ Friedman saying Tippett is the favorite in Edmonton, and Krueger potentially the favorite here. I would be ok with either. Like Tillett, I Never thought Krueger was a possibility. I actually think Krueger could be a really good fit here. He’s like a NHL head coach, a sports psychologist, a motivational speaker and self help guru all rolled up into one! (seriously) He’s a very well respected hockey mind (Babcock even specifically requested he be hired as an advisor for the 2014 olympics, and Babs is a tough guy to please), he’s had success as a head coach, he’s helped turn around multiple teams, he’s taught motivational seminars, He wrote a self help book on overcoming adversity (after his experience taking over a struggling German B team and then unexpectedly winning 5 consecutive championships with them). He’s also a very positive and very, very energetic person. Players say his energy rubs off on them. Ill always remember the job he did at the 2016 World Cup with team Europe (a team assembled from the countries with not enough players to field a national team roster). They were basically expected to get crushed and they upset almost everyone at that tournament to finish in 2nd.

Apparently during the intermission on hockey night in Canada, Elliotte Friedman said that Ralph Krueger is in the mix for the Sabres job, and possibly even a favorite along with Tippett. Now Ralph Krueger is a coaching hire that I could get excited about. I’ve been intrigued by him for years. I think he would be an excellent fit for this current Sabres team. Edit - here it is - https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/headlines-karlssons-health-affect-future-sharks/

Me too. I have never been less interested in an NHL playoff final 4. I don’t really want to see any of the teams win it. Definitely not Boston or Carolina. If ROR were not in STL I would totally root for them to win. They entered the NHL a couple years before Buffalo and have never won a Cup yet. But, screw ROR. I guess I am rooting for San Jose. They have never won a Cup either, and a bunch of guys on that team deserve one. I have little issue with Kane (outside of the accusations against those women). He actually really wanted to stay in buffalo and said as much. It’s not his fault the Sabres didn’t even attempt to negotiate with him. Plus, Logan Couture is a big Buffalo Bills fan. https://www.fearthefin.com/2016/9/5/12797186/the-daily-chum-logan-couture-and-the-buffalo-bills-a-love-story and Brent Burns randomly showed up at a Bison’s game a couple years ago, stayed to party in buffalo and spoke highly of the city. https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/28/three-things-to-know-how-sharks-burns-became-a-cult-figure-in-buffalo/

Both of the teams we traded with are playing each other in the conference finals, which is the absolute worst case scenario for us. Draft pick position goes by the regular season record until teams make the conference finals. So had STL lost in double OT against Dallas, Buffalo would have got pick #19 from them. Instead now we get pick #30 or #31 (31 is the last pick in the 1st). Thankfully we traded one of the picks for Montour (#28 or 29). We get the other. I said this in the playoff thread, but I’ll say it again. I still think it is just unbelievable that both teams we traded with made the conference finals. As I said, that was the disaster scenario at the time of both trades. That it actually happened feels like a perfect example of buffalo sports luck... lol

I really hope he is. It will be crucial to the Bills success this year, as well as Allen’s development.

I would be beyond disappointed with a Martin hire. He has a ton of experience and had some success as a head coach in Ottawa 20 years ago. But there is a reason why he hasn’t been a head coaching candidate for years.... I don’t think he is the right personality type for this current team either. Hes kind of soft spoken and passive. He’s not the type of guy that will command a locker room. I just don’t think he’s the type of leader this team needs. I could see the whole buy-in issue popping up again with Martin, similar to Bylsma. Plus he’s almost 70... There was a report that came out a while back (after the last time Martine was mentioned as a top candidate) saying that Martin was only being looked at in an assistant coaching type role. I am really hoping that is still true. Martin as an assistant would be a good thing. As a head coach? No thank you.

I really hope Tippett decides to come here, assuming White super secret source is right, which doesn’t seem to happen that often... but I really, really want to believe him this time! lol Jacques Martin would be a tough one to get behind.

https://www.buffalobills.com/video/mcdermott-there-s-a-lot-of-work-to-get-done here is a working link if you missed it live.

I still can’t believe that BOTH teams buffalo acquired 1st round picks from are playing against each other in the conference finals (giving them 2 of the last 4 picks in the 1st round). Thankfully we traded one one of the picks to Anaheim for Montour while it still had that value of the unknown. Unreal though. If that’s not buffalo luck, I don’t know what is. lol

Not a single NHL team was interested in him. He said himself he hasn’t been a full time head coach in 14 years. And hey, its only a 2 year deal with ZSC. So it will line up perfectly with the Sabres next coaching search 2 years from now! lol (only half joking...)

I am wondering if this may be what’s holding up any Tippett hire. Tim Liwicki hired him to help put together a hockey ops staff, and now that Tippett may be leaving I can see where Liwicki could’ve asked him to stay on long enough to at least help put a GM in place, who can then finish assembling the hockey ops.

Not as big a deal anymore with Ken Dorsey here, and Matt Barkley as well. Best of luck in retirement DA!

Hopefully this means that we are one step closer to an NHL backed professional women’s league (WNHL). And if/when that happens, I expect Kim Pegula to be involved and re-acquire a women’s hockey franchise for buffalo. Apparently the NHL has a plan for an NHL backed league but won’t do anything while there are other professional women’s leagues (NWHL). They don’t want to be seen as trying to kill a women’s hockey league, but don’t believe that the NWHL business model will work (so they won’t get involved).