Kruppstahl

His lazy back check on Philly's first goal tonight, and refusal to pick up his man, didn't have anything to do with injury. He's just mailing it in now.

Can you elaborate here? What do you mean?

I'm glad to start seeing this more and more. I've been saying it for a couple of years now. Eichel is totally mailing it in right now! He is giving absolutely *nothing* close to his maximum. He's playing at like 6/10.

Eichel completely took this game off. Yeah, maybe he's still hurt, but then he shouldn't be playing. His half-assed defense on Philly's first goal was embarrassing. If your captain is going to mail it in like this, you have no chance at success. None!

Paul Hamilton said on the WGR-550 post game show, TWICE, that Ralph was simply lying about Eichel's injury and that he stands by it. Krueger's double speak and fast talking when questioned in the PC was embarrassing. He is not a very good liar. This guy is not just full of *****. He is fantastically full of *****.

Hutton could get dinged up a bit too, then we'd have to see him! I think Hutton will get the start, I don't think he will be chased from the game, and I don't think he will be injured. I think the game will look like yesterday's, and we'll lose by a couple of goals or more.

Krueger's complete mis-management and destruction of Skinner's game--alone--is grounds for termination. That entire ongoing saga is entirely coach created and it has effectively removed a 30-40 goal scorer from the lineup. Any HC is supposed to be smart enough to develop strategy and tactics that get the most out of what he has--not throw assets in the trash can. The fans in Edmonton made it clear that Ralph was a stubborn SOB, and man, were they right!

Yeah, letting Eichel die on the vine is not really a great strategy. The team needs to be able to gauge if and when Eichel is ready to exercise the nuclear option, assuming he has not already done so. The idea would be to move him *before* the league knows Eichel has demanded a trade, not after. Any trade package that involves Eichel leaving the team is probably going to be a trade we LOSE. The issue is by how much. If we wait until Eichel makes it public he wants out, we are going to lose badly! This is a good example of just how much more information those on the inside have relative to someone like me! I don't have a long history of discussions with Eichel, Peter Fish, etc., and I can't really gauge how Jack would feel about these things. I'm just guessing from the outside. I assume he is close to bursting and wanting out.

Yeah, but that didn't really happen too much. Dahlin struggled to make the right decision in a fast amount of time. I'm a fan of these pressuring tactics on the PK in general. Sitting back and letting the PP get comfy and in a position they are familiar with doesn't help keep the puck out of the net.

We were always going to be dead in the water due to the compression of the schedule this year, particularly after our little COVID outbreak. There were always going to be a big batch of games that Hutton had to play, and therein lies the rub. This season was lost during last off-season, when the organization thought it was a great idea to do absolutely nothing to upgrade our goaltending, and thought a journeyman AHLer like Hutton was a solid NHL #2.

We're a few weeks away from the start of the new F1 season, thank God. I'm expecting another Mercedes cake walk, but it's still good to have F1 back again. At least almost.

I liked the way Philly really pressured the point man, who was usually Dahlin, and made him make very fast decisions. It really negated the smooth running of the PP at least much of the time. Watch for it again today if you watch the game. Philly may have just shown the league how to deal with our PP.

Don't forget that management may be looking to move Eichel even if he has not privately asked to be traded, if management thinks it is likely that he will at some point in the near future. Once a situation like that becomes public around the league, it becomes that much harder for the Sabres to get fair value for the deal. The way the team stays ahead of that is by trading Eichel before the word spreads that he wants out and the Sabres retain the leverage in making the deal. It sounds like the Sabres were *not* prepared to go that route last off-season. How about this off-season? Who knows what they are thinking. They aren't very good at their jobs.

You answered your own question; it happens year after year because of the Pegulas, the one variable in all this that never changes. We can only pray they (the Pegulas) won't be around in 5 years. I continue to hold out hope that they will sell the Sabres when they realize it just isn't working and they can't focus their efforts on two franchises at the same time. A Pegula sale of the Sabres is the fastest way out of the woods for Sabres fans, but only as long as the new owner isn't equally inept.

So let's say you're Terry Pegula and watched the game this afternoon, along with everything else preceding it. Is there any possible way you still think Ralph Krueger is maybe going to be the answer as Sabres head coach? I would suggest it is impossible to think that way. Therefore, the only real decision is when to fire him, with an emphasis on the timing having as little negative impact, and as much positive impact, on the organization as possible. Frankly, that supports firing him tomorrow, especially with the names floating around right now on the job market.

I listened to the entire post game show just now. I'm beginning to think that Ralph is largely full of *****. I have never really supported his coaching, but I now actually he's just full of *****.

There is no way we should go through something like this without at least first trying a real HC. I would try to get Claude Julien in here tomorrow if I could, and replace Ralph immediately. Let Claude do whatever he wants roster wise going forward, including moves at the deadline.

It's hard to imagine a trade where we get the better end of the deal, if it involves sending Eichel off the team. For that reason, I would continue to try to make it work with Jack, but by bringing in an experienced HC. I'd go try to hire Claude Julien this afternoon. Julien, Boudreau, Gallant. All could work. The Ralph experiment is beyond over and the sooner he is replaced, the sooner we can try to move forward with a new solution to our problems.

Ullmark not expected this weekend. Hopefully he'll be in a day to day situation beyond that. We might see Skinner though; I think we will.

There is no player in the league this year with Skinner's amount of scoring chances who hasn't scored the way Skinner has. As of a couple days ago when I looked into this, Skinner had 30 shot attempts from the slot at even strength. That was the *most* on the team. It's Top 75 in the league. He is generating offense and doing what he usually does, even with Ralph's meddling! He's scored no goals! It's weird!

Paul Hamilton was on with Schopp at 3pm today. He said he believes Skinner when Skinner says he wants to be in Buffalo. Both agreed it was weird that Ralph says he did not hear about Don Meehan (Skinner's agent) calling to ask about the benching. Hamilton said Skinner not playing even with Eichel's injury last night functioned as an embarrassment to Skinner. Both suggested there must be some insubordination going on behind the scenes whereby Skinner did or said something (or series of things) that Ralph didn't like. Paul suggested Skinner may be willing to ride along with this now, thinking Ralph's days are numbered any way and soon he'll have a new coach and be in a new situation with all this.

I'm guessing the Sabres have done some number crunching and determined that they are better off without fans in the building. But that looks absolutely horrible and minor league to shut the building down when the Governor says they don't have to. So they are dragging their feet on opening it back up (kills more time) and then are apparently only going to allow fans in now and again, so they can say they did let some fans in, some of the time. The whole thing is just a really bad look.

It's somewhere below "C" but above "D" for me, based on the way the options were worded. I don't think the team has taken a step backward, per se, but the bad outweighs the good and the end result is about the same.

And yet Skinner was still benched last night, even with Jack being out and making a spot for him! But the benching isn't punitive? Of course it is! Does Ralph really think Skinner wasn't going to be one of his best 20 guys to dress last night? There is no way this whole thing is purely about Skinner's performance on the ice. Can't be. There's way more here, and we don't know what it is. Some have suggested it's all being done as a way to instigate Skinner into waiving his no move clause. That makes as much sense as anything, at least until we hear new, better information.

Not sure I believe him on the first question, but maybe I do. Definitely don't believe him on the second question. There is clearly something big going on here between Skinner and Ralph, it extends beyond Skinner's play on the ice, and we fans do NOT know what it is.