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Buffalo Sabres & NHL 2018-19: Sabres picking 7th overall (6/21/19). Ralph Krueger hire as new head coach!


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1 minute ago, 4merper4mer said:

Any updates on this?

Report: Jacques Martin is a top candidate for Sabres head coach

TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that Martin could be in Buffalo’s thoughts

By Melissa Burgess Apr 24, 2019, 12:18pm EDT
 
 
 
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9 minutes ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

Report: Jacques Martin is a top candidate for Sabres head coach

TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that Martin could be in Buffalo’s thoughts

By Melissa Burgess Apr 24, 2019, 12:18pm EDT
 
 
 

lets hope not!

 

Think i heard on the weekend he was actively interviewing for the Send job.

 

Any body else getting the feeling the beard dude is gaining momentum>

 

Gornberg!

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1 hour ago, plenzmd1 said:

lets hope not!

 

Think i heard on the weekend he was actively interviewing for the Send job.

 

Any body else getting the feeling the beard dude is gaining momentum>

 

Gornberg!

I more get the feeling that Botts approaches this process like he approaches Powerball.  Hope for luck.  I like his personality much more than Murray's.  His results have been similarly horrendous.

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15 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

I more get the feeling that Botts approaches this process like he approaches Powerball.  Hope for luck.  I like his personality much more than Murray's.  His results have been similarly horrendous.

JBotts has a personality? Who knew?

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8 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

lets hope not!

 

Think i heard on the weekend he was actively interviewing for the Send job.

 

Any body else getting the feeling the beard dude is gaining momentum>

 

Gornberg!

 

...Bills+Carolina Connection=Bots+Penguins Connection??....stay tuned..............

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2 hours ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

...Bills+Carolina Connection=Bots+Penguins Connection??....stay tuned..............

The bills are heading in the right direction, the Sabres are not

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I heard the Martin thing was not for the head coaching job, but as a possible associate head coach or something along those lines. That would make sense if Botterill hired someone like Rikard Grönborg. 

 

 

 

 

Friedman with a few Sabres related tidbits in his latest 31 thoughts -

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-penguins-big-decisions-include-malkin/

 

Quote

Zach Bogosian’s hip surgery could change the Sabres’ plans for Rasmus Ristolainen. We’ve mentioned on the 31 Thoughts podcast rumblings that Buffalo and Tampa Bay seriously considered a Ristolainen deal and planned on revisiting it. But another team that poked around him thinks GM Jason Botterill is asking candidates how they can work with Ristolainen and improve his game. I’m a big believer in that. Always easier to solve your issues instead of trading them — if you can.

 

 

If they were relying on Bogo to fill the void a Risto trade would create on the right side, that scares the living **** out of me!  lol seriously, the guy is never healthy. You can not rely on Bogo to play for any long stretch of games at a time.

Being consistently healthy is the exception. The norm is Bogo dealing with some type of injury. 

 

I have to somewhat question Botterill’s judgement if he thought he could rely on Bogo next season, even before the hip surgery. 

 

I like the idea of bringing in a good head coach that can improve Riato’s play much better than trading him for a potentially mediocre return. 

 

Risto really hasn’t had a good coach since he’s been in the NHL. Or good D partners. Or guys to help carry the load. That could all be corrected for this coming season with the hire of a good coach. We already have Montour and Dahlin to help ease Risto’s minutes, plus some decent depth + young guys. 

 

I hope this is the route they take. The Sabres blue line isn’t deep enough to trade away a top 4 D, and especially a right handed one. If a team comes in and blows you away with a trade offer (like Wemonton when they offered Taylor Hall to Tim Murray) then take it. Otherwise, just keep Risto and get him a better coach. 

 

Quote

Buffalo interviewed Dave Tippett for its coaching vacancy, and word is that went very well. Jacques Martin was in there, too, and Swedish National Coach Rikard Gronborg is expected to be in the mix. After a great regular season their AHL affiliate, Rochester, was swept by Toronto in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs. Word is they were very impressed with the job Sheldon Keefe did, and it wouldn’t be a stunner if they asked to talk to him. There is a belief they don’t want a first-time hire, but Keefe could test that.

 

 

Hoping the Martin thing was more as an associate HC as I mentioned above. 

He does have a ton of experience. He took over an expansion Ottawa Senators team with 16 total wins in 2 seasons and he had them 1st in the division by his 3rd full year. He had some great Ottawa teams, but that was what, 15-20 years ago? And he hasn’t done much as a HC since then. I’d be fine with him as an assistant coach, but I don’t want him as the head coach.

 

 

Id be fine with Grönborg and pretty damn excited with Keefe.

 

I don’t know a ton about a Grönborg outside of watching some of his Swedish national teams in international tournaments (etc) and doing some reading + watching some interviews of his recently. It would be a risk hiring a guy who not only would be a rookie NHL head coach, but a rookie coach in North America (I know he lived/played here). But I like a lot of what he says and would be excited about his hire. Though I do worry about the rumors he likes to rely on the steady veteran types (but what coach doesn’t, I guess...).

 

 

 

The only thing even remotely negative I can see about Sheldon Keefe is that he doesn’t have much professional head coaching experience (4yrs) and he is still pretty young (38). But he’s played professional hockey, been a head coach for 12-13 years and has done an absolutely amazing job wherever he’s coached.

 

Every team he’s coached has vastly improved. He’s won multiple championships and set records. The guy just wins wherever he goes. 

 

It would be a risk hiting a fiest timer, but it’s a risk I would be fully on board with. 

 

Now’s the time, too. Keefe will be an NHL HC soon. I could see him in Toronto within the next couple years, actually. Their fans want him now. It would be kind of fitting to steal Keefe away after the whole Babcock thing... lol. 

 

 

 

Id also actually be ok with Dave Tippett. He has a ton of experience too. He played for a decade + in the NHL and has been coaching for 25 or so years now. He also has experience guiding teams through rebuilds. 

 

Tippett is also 1 of only 7 coaches in NHL history to lead a team to back-to-back 50 win seasons. 

 

Hes shown he can be a very good head coach with a talented team, and he’s also shown that he’s able to have success with less talented teams and under far less than ideal circumstances (Arizona). He went through quite a bit in Arizona. 

 

I like that he’s shown an ability to adapt his system/style of play to his team as well. 

Hes played more defensive oriented systems when necessary and opened up the offense when he had the rosters to do so. 

 

 

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14 hours ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

.put Allen between the pipes........

Nope. Gotta be Tre White. As the only one who has his own goalie instructional academy, he makes the most sense. 

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16 hours ago, JohnC said:

This link is a WGR interview of Luke Lapinski talking about Dave Tippitt as a coaching candidate. This is an 8 min. segment. He was very positive about him. 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/5-1-luke-lapinski-talks-dave-tippett-schopp-bulldog

Tippett is quickly moving to the top of my list. 

 

Heres a grest read on him -

 

http://archive.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/2012/04/06/20120406phoenix-coyotes-dave-tippett-perfect-fit.html

 

Quote

Every 10 games, Coyotes coach Dave Tippett posts a report card on the wall. Players circle like hawks, eager to learn their score, where they stand.

 

These are not ordinary statistics. These are player-efficiency ratings, the evolution of a system born in Tippett's brain more than 15 years ago, a quantifiable look at how every member of the Coyotes spends his ice time.

 

"What we've done is put a value on everything that happens in a game, from goal scoring to assists to fights to shots and shots blocked," Tippett said. "And then we break that down per minute played."

 

And that's why players are so interested. You can't expect more ice time if you don't have the numbers to back it up.

 

"Look, hockey is a game of feel and emotion and passion, and there are things that players bring to the ice that can't be put into stats," Tippett said. "This is just another tool. It's continuing to find ways to improve. It's the evolution of the game."

He has his own analytics system.

 

Quote

His approach changed in the mid-1990s, when he served as head coach and general manager in the IHL, when he had to justify his payroll decisions. He was searching for a new way to evaluate the game, to understand "exactly what was happening on the ice."

 

"I'll give you an example," he said. "We had a player that was supposed to be a great, shut-down defenseman. He was supposedly the be-all, end-all of defensemen. But when you did a 10-game analysis of him, you found out he was defending all the time because he can't move the puck.

"Then we had another guy, who supposedly couldn't defend a lick. Well, he was defending only 20 percent of the time because he's making good plays out of our end. He may not be the strongest defender, but he's only doing it 20 percent of the time. So the equation works out better the other way. I ended up trading the other defenseman."

 

 

Another good read on Tippett that addresses some myths about him -

 

http://arizonasports.com/story/438255/busting-some-myths-about-coyotes-coach-dave-tippett/

 

 

 

And here is what Shane Doan had to say about Dave Tippett -

http://sports.mynorthwest.com/472786/he-sees-the-game-the-right-way-former-nhl-player-shane-doan-talks-dave-tippett/?

Quote

“We’re like five days into training camp… and we’d finished 25 points out of a playoff spot; we were embarrassingly bad. And Tipp came in that year and we went from being 25 points out of the playoff spot to being third overall in the NHL. We finished with the highest points that we’d ever finished with as an organization. And I was sold, hook-line-and-sinker, on the ability of him to coach and manage a team. It was unbelievable what he did with that group, and the turnaround; he won Coach of the Year, and everything kind of went from there. It was absolutely phenomenal. And I really enjoyed getting to know him that year and that kind of was the start of my relationship with him. It showed his ability to take a team that wasn’t very good and instill a whole bunch of discipline and belief in the group, and kind of turned us around.”

 

Tell me that doesn’t sound like what the Sabres need... 

 

Here is the whole Shane Doan interview -

 

http://sports.mynorthwest.com/category/podcast_player/?a=10032387&sid=1007&n=Brock+and+Salk

 

starts just past the 24 minute mark

 

 

And an an interview with Tippett a few days later on the same show -

 

 

He is continually described as a builder. That is what he says he enjoys the most. 

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15 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

Tippett has long been my first choice.   He consistently got production out of overmatched teams in Phoenix.  It will be very intriguing to see him guide a team with Pegula's resources at his disposal. 

 

I'm still surprised that his name is even in the equation.  It seemed like he was strongly connected to Seattle the whole time.  I wonder if that expansion being pushed back a year changed everything there.

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33 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

Tippett has long been my first choice.   He consistently got production out of overmatched teams in Phoenix.  It will be very intriguing to see him guide a team with Pegula's resources at his disposal. 

I have long considered him to be one of the better coaches in the NHL but I never really thought he was an option for the Sabres until now. 

 

He said he would only get get back into coaching if the right situation/opportunity presented itself and has (reportedly) turned down other interviews over the last year+. So I never really considered Tippett as a legit possibility. 

 

Honestly, I am excited that he actually wanted to interview here. That makes me feel like he views Buffalo as an enticing opportunity, which is nice after being shut out on Q and AV. 

 

 

25 minutes ago, shrader said:

 

I'm still surprised that his name is even in the equation.  It seemed like he was strongly connected to Seattle the whole time.  I wonder if that expansion being pushed back a year changed everything there.

He is still currently employed as some type of senior advisor for Seattle. I kind of assumed that he’d just take the coaching job there. 

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14 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

I have long considered him to be one of the better coaches in the NHL but I never really thought he was an option for the Sabres until now. 

 

He said he would only get get back into coaching if the right situation/opportunity presented itself and has (reportedly) turned down other interviews over the last year+. So I never really considered Tippett as a legit possibility. 

 

Honestly, I am excited that he actually wanted to interview here. That makes me feel like he views Buffalo as an enticing opportunity, which is nice after being shut out on Q and AV. 

 

 

He is still currently employed as some type of senior advisor for Seattle. I kind of assumed that he’d just take the coaching job there. 

I would love to see him hired. Although he has been around for a long time he has a very modern and analytical view to the game. He certainly was a man ahead of his time with a leaning toward an analytical approach to the game. The more I read about him and his experience it seems that he might be more inclined to oversee a franchise as a GM than be a coach. The fact that he interviewed for the Sabre coaching job might indicate otherwise. 

 

This is the type of coach that Risto needs. If he continues on his path of hardheaded and dumb play he will not only lose playing time but also be subject to being shipped out. Some operative/fashionable hockey words prevalent in the game is structure and accountability. This is the guy who can take those concepts and put them into action. 

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1 hour ago, Alaska Darin said:

Tippett has long been my first choice.   He consistently got production out of overmatched teams in Phoenix.  It will be very intriguing to see him guide a team with Pegula's resources at his disposal. 

A bigger factor might be he would be coming to an underachieving franchise that has a bevy of young talent on the roster and system that could make a turnaround in a reasonable period of time. The Sabres are far from being a full and well-rounded team. But the cupboard is not bare compared to his Arizona stint. If he wanted to get back into coaching this would be a good spot for him. 

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Good news:. Botterill reportedly called Skinner to discuss financial topics.

 

Bad News:. He just wanted to know Skinner's pick for the Kentucky Derby so he could look smart and make a few bucks at his neighbor's party Saturday.

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5 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

My coach, Gronborg, is one step closer to becoming HC of the Sabres. Talking to Howard and Jeremy friday morning.

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/boustedt-gr-nborg-good-developer-winner-and-good-teacher?view=getnewpost

 

 

I listened to Gronborg in an interview on WGR. He is quite impressive. This coach is also steeped in analytics as is Tippett. I would be happy with either one of them although I slightly favor Tippett. The link is a 14 minute segment. In the last 4 minutes he talks about our prospects who he is very familiar with. 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-03-swedish-national-team-head-coach-rikard-gr-nborg-howard-and-jeremy

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4 hours ago, JohnC said:

I listened to Gronborg in an interview on WGR. He is quite impressive. This coach is also steeped in analytics as is Tippett. I would be happy with either one of them although I slightly favor Tippett. The link is a 14 minute segment. In the last 4 minutes he talks about our prospects who he is very familiar with. 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-03-swedish-national-team-head-coach-rikard-gr-nborg-howard-and-jeremy

 

I just want something different with a proven track record.

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

I just want something different with a proven track record.

 

 

This is just my opinion not based on anything I have heard. My sense is if our GM had a choice between Tippett or Gronborg Botts would select Tippett because he has coached in the league. 

The attached link is a WGR Instigator segment that talks about players who might be available because of cap pressures. There is also an energetic  discussion between Biron and Rivet discussing Risto and whether he should be traded. The segment is 48 minutes. The first half of the link is more interesting because it deals with players who might be available and the Risto issue. 

 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-03-hr-1-instigators

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4 minutes ago, JohnC said:

This is just my opinion not based on anything I have heard. My sense is if our GM had a choice between Tippett or Gronborg Botts would select Tippett because he has coached in the league. 

The attached link is a WGR Instigator segment that talks about players who might be available because of cap pressures. There is also an energetic  discussion between Biron and Rivet discussing Risto and whether he should be traded. The segment is 48 minutes. The first half of the link is more interesting because it deals with players who might be available and the Risto issue. 

 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-03-hr-1-instigators

 

Thats what i dont want.

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Just now, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

Thats what i dont want.

If Plezmd1 prefers Gronborg I will be even more committed to Tippett. You can't go wrong by taking the opposite view he has. :)

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34 minutes ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

Thats what i dont want.

Honest question -

 

do you truly think the Sabres are in a position to take another shot on a totally unproven head coach? 

 

Personally i I feel like the Sabres are one of the teams that can least afford to gamble on another unproven guy. 

 

If they miss it sets them back at least 3-4 more years. Eichel is more than half way through his deal. Dahlin is 1-2 years into his 2nd contract. Same with Mittelstadt. Numerous young guys will bee off their ELC’s. 

 

With how far the rebuild has been set back already, I just don’t think we can take another big set back. 

 

Now, obviously this is true of any coaching hire.... 

But at least with a coach like Tippett, we know he is a more than competent NHL head coach. He has a track record of success in the NHL. He’s been through a lot in his career. He’s handled and overcome adversity. He’s been through a rebuild. He’s made the playoffs numerous shown he can dramatically improve teams. The Stars improved 21 points in the standings Tippett’s first year, and the Coyotes improved 25pts in his first year there. Tippett has shown an ability to get the most out of his teams, even when he doesn’t have a lot to work with.

 

 

 

I like Gronborg but he is a risk. I believe he has only been a tournament coach for the last 9 years. Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I saw I don’t think he’s coached more than 12 games at a time since way back in 2002 when he coached a 60 game junior season. We don’t know how he would handle the grind of an NHL season. He’s never been a head coach in any professional league that I am aware of. Just 4 years in the AWHL back 20+ years ago, which is a tier 3 junior hockey league (tier 1 is the highest junior level)

 

Plus he’s a european coach. There have only been 2 or 3 coaches hired from Europe in NHL history. Not much track record of success there. 

 

It would be a big gamble. And Only 2 GM’s in Sabres history have had the chance to hire more than 2 coaches. One was Scotty Bowman, the other was Punch Imlach iirc. 

 

I think the most important thing is getting the Sabres back to respectability. We need to be a consistent playoff team before we worry about hiring some coach to take us to a Cup. If we get back to respectability and consistently competing for a playoff spot, we will be in a much better position to take a gamble on a coaching hire (to get us over the playoff hump) at that time. 

 

Just my opinion anyway. 

 

Edit - just to be clear, I’d be ok with Grönborg. I’d just prefer Tippett is all. 

Edited by BillsFan4
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The below link is an interview on WGR of Jeff Blair from a Toronto radio station. There is some tension brewing in Toronto between the organization and Babcock. It's pointed out that there is a lot of impending tough decisions made with respect to the roster because of the cap pressure. This is a 14 minute segment. 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-03-jeff-blair-sportsnet-590-fan-toronto-howard-and-jeremy

15 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

Honest question -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just curious: What's the difference between an honest question and a dishonest question? :)

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26 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The below link is an interview on WGR of Jeff Blair from a Toronto radio station. There is some tension brewing in Toronto between the organization and Babcock. It's pointed out that there is a lot of impending tough decisions made with respect to the roster because of the cap pressure. This is a 14 minute segment. 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-03-jeff-blair-sportsnet-590-fan-toronto-howard-and-jeremy

Just curious: What's the difference between an honest question and a dishonest question? :)

Give me Kapanen, please.

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36 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Just curious: What's the difference between an honest question and a dishonest question? :)

 

You know all those times where a specific poster has chimed in here with something asking how two of our draft picks got that generational label?  There's your answer.

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2 hours ago, K-9 said:

Give me Kapanen, please.

It's going to be interesting to see how Toronto handles this offseason with a boatload of young talent and fitting in all of those contracts. I was surprised that they signed Nylander and made their cap squeeze even a bigger challenge to work with. Somethings got to give with them. Kadri is an enticing talent to salivate over.

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2 hours ago, shrader said:

 

You know all those times where a specific poster has chimed in here with something asking how two of our draft picks got that generational label?  There's your answer.

There's a difference between being stupid and dishonest.  It's unfair to label a stupid question a dishonest question. You can be irredeemably stupid and still retain your integrity. Some people shouldn't be castigated for their obtuseness. They can't help themselves. :)

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