The Krueger Crux? "Not thinking out there"

[PASabreFan]

32 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I like RK so far, and I of course hope his approach works, but until I see it on the ice I find myself agreeing with the other cynical souls who have said upthread that it just sounds like more empty sloganeering.

RaKru. Would you mind editing your post? Thanks.

[Thorny]

5 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I like RK so far, and I of course hope his approach works, but until I see it on the ice I find myself agreeing with the other cynical souls who have said upthread that it just sounds like more empty sloganeering.

It just comes off a little try-hard and marketing based, potentially even preconceived, when we've already got 4 or 5 articles linked on the Sabres site and twitter about how "Play Connected" has been painted on the dressing room wall.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Thorny

[nfreeman]

35 minutes ago, Thorny said:

It just comes off a little try-hard and marketing based, potentially even preconceived, when we've already got 4 or 5 articles linked on the Sabres site and twitter about how "Play Connected" has been painted on the dressing room wall.

Well, I’m not quite to this level of cynicism yet — I don’t think RK is emphasizing this as a marketing point.  I just need to see a team that doesn’t suck and doesn’t hide under the bed when the going gets tough.  

[Thorny]

3 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Well, I’m not quite to this level of cynicism yet — I don’t think RK is emphasizing this as a marketing point.  I just need to see a team that doesn’t suck and doesn’t hide under the bed when the going gets tough.  

Me neither. But I don't think this organization has every shied away from a new slogan opportunity if ever that situation has presented itself. 

Edited September 14, 2019 by Thorny

[Randall Flagg]

31 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Well, I’m not quite to this level of cynicism yet — I don’t think RK is emphasizing this as a marketing point.  I just need to see a team that doesn’t suck and doesn’t hide under the bed when the going gets tough.  

What if they suck, but don't suck particularly worse when things are "tough?" Because if I were a betting man that's where I'd place my money on this team falling.

[darksabre]

You need to have a philosophy to set expectations for what is going to earn players their ice time. Clearly the evaluation is going to be based on whether players are playing a heads up game and working well with their teammates. If you're out there making blind passes to no one then you're going to have a problem.

[Brawndo]

Friedman on the 31 Thoughts Podcast that he heard a story though he has not had a chance to speak to the player yet in person in which he  one of the wife’s/girlfriend’s of a Sabres Player who met with Krueger at a Coffee Shop. The player walked out and his significant other walked back into the same shop and spoke to Krueger. She said “I just got to tell you as his partner, that that was a great conversation for him, he has never had someone make him feel that good about himself and I’m really happy to see him so positive for an upcoming season”

Friedman also mentioned he wonders what Krueger’s Future is in Buffalo? Is he just going to be the Coach, because he could see him taking a much bigger role in the organization depending on how things shake out. 

Eichel was quite effusive in his praise of Krueger during the interview.

If he can make Jack into a more well rounded leader...

Edited September 14, 2019 by Brawndo

[TrueBlueGED]

Words are wind. 

More to the point, every coach at every level knows what they're supposed to say. Far fewer know how to accomplish what they say. Show me. 

[Thorny]

So why has Krueger been outside of the NHL for so long? From what I’m hearing, surely a man of his talents would have been in high demand. Is the story he was resistant to returning to the NHL? 

Maybe there is weight to the “destined for a higher place in the organization” line of thinking. If Krueger ends up being all he’s cracked up to be, doesn’t that almost have to be the case? That he was lured here because he knew he’d have that opportunity? 

The prospect of Jason Botterill hiring his own boss is not one I can quite wrap my head around, though, yet. 

Edited September 14, 2019 by Thorny

[Randall Flagg]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

So why has Krueger been outside of the NHL for so long? From what I’m hearing, surely a man of his talents would have been in high demand. Is the story he was resistant to returning to the NHL? 

Maybe there is weight to the “destined for a higher place in the organization” line of thinking. If Krueger ends up being all he’s cracked up to be, doesn’t that almost have to be the case? That he was lured here because he knew he’d have that opportunity? 

The prospect of Jason Botterill hiring his own boss though is not one I can quite wrap my head around yet. 

To some degree, at least when Jason went calling before hiring Phil 2 years ago.

Not sure if other organizations have ever called him.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Randall Flagg

[dudacek]

Would it be better for the team if Krueger was not saying the things he does the way he does?

[TrueBlueGED]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Would it be better for the team if Krueger was not saying the things he does the way he does?

It would be neither better nor worse. It literally doesn't matter. He's currently managing to clear a hurdle that's underground. 

[Thorny]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Would it be better for the team if Krueger was not saying the things he does the way he does?

No

[dudacek]

Sounds to me like Krueger is doing a good job of getting his staff on board with his program.

Doesn’t mean he will be successful or not, but it seems to me a necessary first step, and I disagree with Blue that it’s underground: seems to me to be the most commonly cited flaw when a coach gets let go, and thus a hurdle many coaches fail to clear.

Edited September 14, 2019 by dudacek

[Thorny]

I feel like a coach almost always has buy in at least at first. Even Roy. 

I could be way off base though. Are there specific instances you know of where it came out that a coach struggled to achieve buy in from the early days of their tenure? Like, day one type stuff? 

Certainly no articles like that in real time, so we can only really expect the stuff we’ve been hearing, or perhaps less I guess or nothing at all.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Thorny

[PASabreFan]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I feel like a coach almost always has buy in at least at first. Even Roy. 

I could be way off base though. Are there specific instances you know of where it came out that a coach struggled to achieve buy in from the early days of their tenure? Like, day one type stuff? 

No, you're right. But some of the stories we're hearing about player reactions to Krueger are pretty remarkable.

[Thorny]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

No, you're right. But some of the stories we're hearing about player reactions to Krueger are pretty remarkable.

Indeed. He sounds like the magic man. 

[TrueBlueGED]

15 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Sounds to me like Krueger is doing a good job of getting his staff on board with his program.

Doesn’t mean he will be successful or not, but it seems to me a necessary first step, and I disagree with Blue that it’s underground: seems to me to be the most commonly cited flaw when a coach gets let go, and thus a hurdle many coaches fail to clear.

But nobody fails to clear it in their opening training camp. Seriously. Find me an example of coaching staff discord in offseason #1. Of course failure it cited on dismissal.

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, TrueBlueGED said:

But nobody fails to clear it in their opening training camp. Seriously. Find me an example of coaching staff discord in offseason #1. Of course failure it cited on dismissal.

You never heard of “meet the new boss, the same as the old boss?” pretty common workplace reaction.

You’re not buying what he’s selling. Neither is Thorny. Shouldn’t beaten-down guys like Jack and Risto be similarly sceptical?

[TrueBlueGED]

18 minutes ago, dudacek said:

You never heard of “meet the new boss, the same as the old boss?” pretty common workplace reaction.

You’re not buying what he’s selling. Neither is Thorny. Shouldn’t beaten-down guys like Jack and Risto be similarly sceptical?

Internally, yes. Externally? I'd expect them to say exactly what they're saying. They may genuinely believe what they're saying, but it'd look exactly the same if they didn't. Observational equivalence. 

Edited September 14, 2019 by TrueBlueGED

[Thorny]

11 minutes ago, dudacek said:

You never heard of “meet the new boss, the same as the old boss?” pretty common workplace reaction.

You’re not buying what he’s selling. Neither is Thorny. Shouldn’t beaten-down guys like Jack and Risto be similarly sceptical?

The Sabres pay them a lot of money to play for and represent their organization. Me, not so much. 

It’s not even really that I’m not buying what he’s selling. I just think the scope of it’s importance relative to other team building components is toeing the line of being drastically overstated. 

[dudacek]

27 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

Internally, yes. Externally? I'd expect them to say exactly what they're saying. They may genuinely believe what they're saying, but it'd look exactly the same if they didn't. Observational equivalence. 

So you’re basically saying I don’t care what anyone in the organization is saying, only what they are doing.Which of course is prudent.

That doesn’t mean that PA is wrong when he says the commentary about Krueger seems greater than what one normally observes. Or that I’m wrong when I say Krueger makes a better impression on me as someone I’d follow than our previous two coaches.

[TrueBlueGED]

22 minutes ago, dudacek said:

So you’re basically saying I don’t care what anyone in the organization is saying, only what they are doing.Which of course is prudent.

That doesn’t mean that PA is wrong when he says the commentary about Krueger seems greater than what one normally observes. Or that I’m wrong when I say Krueger makes a better impression on me as someone I’d follow than our previous two coaches.

I'm not saying anyone is wrong, per se. But we all see what we want to see until we all see it. Ya know? 

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, TrueBlueGED said:

I'm not saying anyone is wrong, per se. But we all see what we want to see until we all see it. Ya know? 

You know me. You know what I am inclined to see. Or what I am inclined to not see. That I of all people think I see something should give you the tinglies. Brother, this is it. RaKru is the one we've been waiting for!

 

[...]

5 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Friedman on the 31 Thoughts Podcast that he heard a story though he has not had a chance to speak to the player yet in person in which he  one of the wife’s/girlfriend’s of a Sabres Player who met with Krueger at a Coffee Shop. The player walked out and his significant other walked back into the same shop and spoke to Krueger. She said “I just got to tell you as his partner, that that was a great conversation for him, he has never had someone make him feel that good about himself and I’m really happy to see him so positive for an upcoming season”

Friedman also mentioned he wonders what Krueger’s Future is in Buffalo? Is he just going to be the Coach, because he could see him taking a much bigger role in the organization depending on how things shake out. 

Eichel was quite effusive in his praise of Krueger during the interview.

If he can make Jack into a more well rounded leader...

FrIeDmaN ReAdS SaBReSpAcE.