darksabre

I doubt he brings another goalie in before he's had a look at Hutton in the regular season. No one is going to take Hutton's cap hit, so the only option is waivers. He'd have to work out the same deal with Hutton that he did with Bogo: waive him knowing he wont report to Rochester, terminate the contract, then Hutton can go try to sign for cheaper with another NHL team.

If Krueger's position in the org changes it's going to be because Botterill was fired and the Pegulas wanted Krueger to stay. It's as simple as that. I could see him ending up as the much invoked "hockey czar" who oversees the Sabres and Amerks. The guy who sets the mission, monitors goals, handles logistics to make sure his GMs have the tools they need, and provides a layer between the Pegulas and the day-to-day stuff. His experience as Chairman of an EPL team basically makes him a good fit for that kind of role here. I'd be fascinated to see what kind of structural re-organization he could come up with. I wonder if there's a better way to run a hockey team from top to bottom...

I might be misremembering, but I don't think Skinner eventually being reunited with Jack this year ended up making things any better. Skinner still didn't produce. He has bad years like this sometimes. He'll bounce back. Blame Botterill for not giving Ralph enough tools to do anything other than flip Olofsson and Skinner to try to get more than one line to produce offense.

I hope so. Mhmmm

It'd be pretty low risk to take a look. I'm just trying to think of ways this idea of Krueger being a "player's coach" might be attractive. I think it's been mentioned in the past that Eberle liked him. Jack's gushing about him can't hurt. Players talk, ya know? Can the Concept of Krueger do some of the heavy lifting...

I've been thinking... Would Nail Yakupov be a player the Sabres should look at for RW depth this off-season? He was a Calder finalist under Krueger in Edmonton in 12-13. Never quite got back to that level after Krueger was let go. But if he was playing for a coach he liked...perhaps on Jack's wing...

? Krueger putting that "Risto wanted to be traded" speculation to rest...by confirming it.

I can't imagine that this is the case.

They must be laughing their butts off in Pittsburgh.

Great little movie

Hmm. I have no opinion of Hamilton as a mouthpiece for the Pegulas since I'm blocked by him on Twitter and never see his content...

Does anyone remember which media personality started the whole "Eichel and O'Reilly don't get along" thing?

Gillian Anderson will always give me the vapors, my man

The amount of praise Krueger gets, versus the distinct lack of praise for Botterill, is...enlightening.

Sounds like Risto's lost his love for the game

I think what he means is guys who don't get pushed off the puck easily and are willing to put their bodies on the line to generate offense, i.e. not Casey Mittelstadt, or Tage Thompson, or Vlad Sobotka, or Olofsson, or any of the other guys that he's had to put up with on the top lines over his career so far. Holding on to the puck is part of generating offense. Winning battles is part of generating offense. I don't blame him for wanting real NHL players in the lineup. That's all he's saying: he wants real NHL players. Not prospects, not JAGs, not reclamation projects. It sounds like he misses Ryan O'Reilly, doesn't it? Like maybe all that stuff about him and O'Reilly not getting along wasn't true? Like maybe it was "leaked" so that management would have an excuse to move him...

I believe in Jack Eichel. I don't believe in the Sabres.

Murray was a mess. There's no getting away from that. The guy might have been a good GM but he couldn't act like a professional. That's his fault more than anything. Botterill feels like an overcorrection from Murray. The Pegulas decided "culture" was important and wanted someone more professional. I can't blame them for that. The problem is that just because someone can take a shower and not curse his bosses out doesn't mean they'll be good at their job. Ideally, that would be the case though lol

The problem with Botterill's "cap space" is that he actually doesn't have any because he has to sign so many players to even ice an NHL roster next season. He's going to get back-burnered by every FA looking to sign with a team that actually has half a roster. Who would want to sign here before they know whether or not their linemates are going to be a bunch of AHLers, undrafted college players, and overagers from Europe? Who's ready for Botterill to overpay some players!

Oddly enough Skinner's contract doesn't bother me. He'll bounce back.

He has done such a poor job in all aspects of asset management that it's hard to believe Murray would have done worse.

Yes, yes he is.

Frolik, duh.

Personally, I don't believe a lick of the Super Secret Source stuff.