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The thing about the money is this: over $8 mil seems like a lot, but he DID score 40 for the Sabres and if the team had its act together likely would have had more. That's a significant argument in the negotiation process. Another point is that by retaining Skinner, the Sabres don't fall off the talent cliff and could then use his signing as a motivator to sign a decent UFA or two. Without Skinner, our ability to sign a decent UFA most certainly disappears.

Tell that to the judge.

Okay, so I watched both the presser and the 14 minute interview with Duff. @pi2000, I think I have a better idea, now, where you're coming from. In the near half-hour worth of Krueger time today, he spoke about actual, or traditional, coaching for maybe 1 minute. I can appreciate how folks used to, again, traditional, North American coaching would find that concerning. RK is not traditional at all. He is basically Rikard Grönborg with some NHL experience. Both would come across as alien because they're not Xs and Os type coaches, they're enabler coaches. RK assumes the guys know the fundamentals of the game, or that they can get that kind of coaching from other sources (assistants, etc.). RK is going to focus on personal development, as in, making them "the best person they can be" development. Right now for players playing in the NHL, being a highly developed person equals being the best possible NHL player that individual can be. Translated, this means that those of us who want an organization that can recognize true talent, well we ostensibly have it now. For RK to be successful, the players, despite their psychological make up, must have real talent. I have to give Jbot and the Pegulas a lot of credit. Not unlike with Sean McDermott, they have identified an approach to coaching that is essentially radical and they have committed to it. RK is like the international version of McDermott, which makes sense (to me) because the NFL is a very American game and McDermott has a very American approach as a coach/enabler. Hockey is an international sport, full of international players, and so the coach/enabler must have a more international approach. But the fundamental philosophies are very similar. I don't know if this will work, I'm not wagering either way, but I find it a brave, legitimate attempt at trying something new.

HOLY REVELATION, BATMAN! I think you're right. I think over the past 8 years, they never did this. EVER.

Who said anything about collecting more data? They must have a metric ton of data on this matter alone. It needs to be analyzed, a conclusion needs to be made, the conclusions and data need to be integrated into a plan to improve the defense, and the plan needs to be implemented by whomever needs to implement it.

You don't think some form of game data would help solve this issue?

Any talk in here about Chernobyl? That was a fantastic mini-series. I saw Godzilla, BTW. It was a Godzilla movie: totally devoid of substance. Great visuals, though.

What pressing needs are there that don't involve some form of analytics?

Like?

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?