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I think they'd be counter-productive statements if they weren't true. We have to assume he really means it when they say they want him on the team. The rest is negotiation and weighing that desire with whatever the other party wants. So long as JBot is strong-willed enough to not care what the public response is, and he's being earnest in his public statements, then I don't believe he can paint himself into a corner here.

Skinz Natural Casing Wieners®

Seems to me that the Blues were "rebuilding" for quite some time. Not sure if they tanked, but they went through some pretty dark years over a decade ago, and have only been a "threat" for the past, maybe, 5 seasons. Am I wrong on this? Do I need to look it up?

Please, God, make it so Krueger doesn't suck as a coach.

FWIW, my choice is Kruegs.

They're traditionally into hashish and Dharma, not pot and Abrahamism, as far as I recall. Not heard of a Muslim Sikh, but, of course, I can always learn. Correction: In Sikhism, cannabis is generally prohibited, as are tobacco and alcohol. However, some Sikhs particularly of the Nihang community use edible cannabis in a religious context. Interesting.

Height and weight is what it is, but that doesn't mean they don't, or can't, or won't, play a "heavy" game. They do not shy away from hits nor do they avoid the high-percentage zones or give in on puck battles. Plus they play a dirty style, which St. Louis, oddly enough, adopted at some point going into the playoffs. I don't know the numbers, and I didn't listen to WGR this morning, but I'm fairly certain the Blues are at least mid, if not above, average in height and weight. Boston will not be able to skate around them. I think this quote is likely pre-series chutzpah.

The Paul Maurice interview by WGR 550 has shed light on this, I think. The reasons for wanting to trade ROR was "the locker room", we believe he wanted out of here anyway, and, my belief is that the Pegulas never forgave him for the Timmy Ho's incident (it seems any player on either the Sabres or Bills who takes it "too far" in the public eye gets removed from their respective teams prematurely). Anyway, Maurice indicated there isn't a traditional team atmosphere in locker rooms now, not the kind us middle-aged and beyond fans think of, at least. He said each person is an individual production. I wonder what was really going on in that locker room, now, as I ponder the kind of person (or people) Maurice is talking about. I wonder if, since this is (apparently) the reality, if Botterill really thought removing a guy would clean up the locker room and lead to fixing the problems with the team. I guess I'd like to think that Botterill was against the idea, but his hand was forced by the Pegulas.

It'll be a good series of olde skool heavy hockey.

@sweetlou great thread idea! I'm going to have to take a close look at these guys before submitting my choices. I think we actually could be more active this summer than it seems right now. With Kruegs and his reputation here, we might have, once again, a little positive PR momentum among the players that we can capitalize on.

Hmm...is he maybe not explaining away the season but justifying the firing of FHCPH?

Yeah, assuming these JBott quotes are accurate and not context sensitive, I'm not thrilled to learn this stuff is actually being used to explain away last season.

Botterill was just padding the numbers, so it looked like he did a thorough search.

Not to derail the thread, but: "I think you can always get better," said Eichel, who has 259 points (101 goals, 158 assists) in 286 NHL games. "At Christmas break I was really rolling and I was in a good spot and I think I got a little dinged up in the second half and it slowed me down a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't keep pace the exact same I wanted to. For me, it's just trying to get healthy and try to be consistent every night as much as possible and do whatever I can to help our team win games." Did we know this after the season was over?

So after more reading, and listening to interviews, I'm still jazzed about this guy. He's SMART and a legit breath of fresh air as far as coaches go. If there's iron in his words, this will be like the Dahlin pre-season excitement all over again for me. I fully expect Botterill to go after those UFAs mentioned many pages back who have proclaimed their love for Kruegs. If this guy has that kind of cache, between that and the Pegulas' checkbook, it shouldn't be difficult to lure one or two of them.

We must be worthy! He's already started by working on the fan base. Dude is brilliant.

This could very well be the long-term plan. As others here have suggested, he could "right the ship" for two or three years, then move into a POHO role, forming the triangle with JBott and whomever the new coach would be. That would mean they're going to be scouting coaches together throughout the season. I think what could help verify this plan would be whether JBott travels with the team more frequently next season.

I'll have to watch the interview after work, but I LOVE THIS. Love that he came here to stalk us.

No it doesn't. That's not how this kind of process works. Knowing if they did win the game is bad for us, because it creates the expectation that this guy has magick in his words. Or, that no matter what he says, it will never work.

Does it matter?

Am I the one crapping on the hire?

You need a lesson on emojis, then. https://zapier.com/blog/use-emoji/

Is your life storybook perfect?