Curt

Sure, I can crunch the numbers. Only 13 players played over 20 games for Buffalo in each of the past 2 seasons. Out of those players, several had significant increases in production under Krueger. Eichel went from ES 56 points in 77 games (0.73) to 50 in 68 (0.74). Not sure where you got your numbers for him from. Your Skinner and Reinhart numbers don’t seem to be right either. Are you looking at ES points per game? Where are you getting your numbers from? Kyle Okposo went from ES 18 points in 78 (0.23) to 18 points in 52 (0.35) 52% increase Dahlin went from 24 in 82 (0.29) to 21 in 59 (0.36) 24% increase Larsson went from 13 in 73 (0.18) to 18 in 62 (0.29). 61% increase Mitts went from 15 in 77 (0.19) to 7 in 31 (0.23). 21% increase Scandella went from 12 in 63 (0.19) to 9 in 31 (0.29). 53% increase

Man, you really pick and choose numbers that fit your argument. Switching intermittently between ES points, ES goals, total points, total goals, with basically no regard for number of games played. If you are going to say that Jack didn’t just have his best season, then I don’t have anything else to say. How about this measure for offensive improvement? The Sabres scored more goals and more ES goals last season then they have since 2012-13.

I’m going to push back a little against some of this. Okposo was better last season than in 2018-19. He looked better and he produced better at ES. If you look at his ES production it actually was his best season as a Sabre. Ristolainen produced at a career high rate at ES. Overall his points were down a little because Dahlin took a lot of his PP time. Similar to Okposo, Risto was as productive as ever at ES last season. Those two guys actually had really good seasons under Krueger. I don’t know how you can say that they got worse. Also, just as a note. Skinner had an extremely similar season in 2014-15 (in fact even worse at ES) and returned to being very productive immediately after.

Yeah, I later saw that he is $26.5M or something I debt. Not good.

Lol, this is true. One excellent tournament and everyone cut the brakes on his hype train.

I honestly don’t think it’s been just one thing for him. I think he has not made adjustments to his play style. In juniors he could just stick handle through guys. Hasn’t worked. Seems like he often just keeps trying. I also thing he hasn’t been strong enough to win battles or stop from getting muscled off the puck. He doesn’t seem strong. That would probably help everything a little bit. I also think he totally lost his confidence for a long time.

Krueger’s plan: Step 1 - Create sahweet top 6. Check! Step 2 - Put Skinner on 4th line. Check! Step 3 - ? ? ? ? ? Step 4 - Profit!!! (Stanley Cup) Im just waiting for the rest of the plan to be unveiled.

If you are taking about Mittelstadt, I’m super confused. Are you talking about Reinhart? If yes, then I’m with you. I wasn’t paying much attention to prospects then, but his skating was generally regarded as a weakness at draft time. My point was just that, in juniors it was good enough for him to get the job done, but in the NHL it wasn’t even close. Note that I said it was good enough for him to be dominant, not that his skating specifically was dominant. EDIT: sorry, I see your bolded section now.

I think you need to look at ES mins per game in this case. That’s really what we are talking about, no?

Maybe he remembered him being pretty good from 5 years previously.............

Just went back and watched some WJC highlights just for confirmation. I honestly don’t think he looked dynamic there. His skating looked good. For juniors I’m sure it was very good. But that’s probably no better than average in the NHL. I think part of it was that his fancy stick handling really created space for him against junior players, but NHL players are just a lot better at taking away that space/time. You need to really come at them with speed to beat them. I don’t have an issue with Casey’s skating, but if he got better, it would help. Compare to Reinhart for example. In juniors his skating was good enough for him to be dominant, but in the NHL he looked like he could barely skate. NHL players are really good at skating. Casey could stand to get better.

I honestly hope that he has just been very reckless and bad at managing his money, as opposed to having a real gambling problem. Good news for him is that he has something like $30M+ coming in over the next 5 years.

Agree. I don’t even know what he is telling Skinner, let alone whether it’s a good idea. And I’m not excusing Krueger. If the team fails, it’s on him. And if Skinner has another 14 goal season, that could be on Krueger too.

To echo @Thorny, yeah, they really should give it a thought. He is old but has been a consistently good producer in a bottom 6 role.

That’s actually really interesting. I would not have guessed.

If I were to ask sarcastically. It could be a dishonest question if I already had my mind made up.

On the Skinner vs Krueger, battle for the soul of the organization. Krueger is universally praised as a person. His ability to managed situations, people, and organizations is highly decorated. I have faith that if he says Skinner needs to do this/that, then that the truth. He isn’t just being a stubborn jerk. Skinner needs to do his best for the team, not the other way around. There needs to be accountability. That’s what a team is. That’s good culture. That being said, I’m not saying that Krueger is 100% right. I have less faith in him as a hockey tactician than as a person.

Is he actually any good? Honest question.

Surprising that they gave him a job. 1) His recent PR issues 2) Why not put someone on tv who people actually like?

Just a note. I recall a fair amount of friction between Ovi and Trotz when he first took over. There were growing pains and a lot of questions about if Trotz was the right guy with that Caps team. Trotz was about to get fired before they win the Cup.

I’ve got to agree with Tom on this. Casey’s skating is certainly not dynamic. I’m not even sure that I would call it above average. At best maybe. It’s fine. It could get better.

Pretty sure some hockey players wait a year or two to start their NCAA scholarships if there are concerns about being able to get on the ice.

He just turned 18 in August. He is committed there for the 21-22 season. He’s young, that may have just been the plan from the start.

It’s not a good contract. If he gets back on track and plays like a top-6 guy, it can be “just” a not good contract, instead of becoming a crippling one.

Yeah, I don’t know about those..........