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Ralph Krueger, end of year presser


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36 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

Then make him the 'bench coach' and have the other coaches do the Xs and Os, whatever they are.

Yeah, sure, but Krueger hasn’t shown that he can identify assistants who are good with X’s and O’s.  I don’t think they were very good last season, and apparently everyone is coming back.

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Talked about communication, huh?  We seem to hear a lot about that these days.   Don't ever recall it being a thing, say, 10 years ago.

I thought Risto's comments about Ralph were interesting.  He gave him a big vote of confidence and suggests he's just the coach we needed in Buffalo.  He likes his approach, they way he treats individual players, and his system on the ice with more of an emphasis on the O coming back to help the D get out of the D zone.

Ralph is too stubborn for my taste, and the way he threw away Skinner's talents last year is tough to forgive.

 

 

 

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24 minutes ago, Kruppstahl said:

Talked about communication, huh?  We seem to hear a lot about that these days.   Don't ever recall it being a thing, say, 10 years ago.

I thought Risto's comments about Ralph were interesting.  He gave him a big vote of confidence and suggests he's just the coach we needed in Buffalo.  He likes his approach, they way he treats individual players, and his system on the ice with more of an emphasis on the O coming back to help the D get out of the D zone.

Ralph is too stubborn for my taste, and the way he threw away Skinner's talents last year is tough to forgive.

 

 

 

I might be misremembering, but I don't think Skinner eventually being reunited with Jack this year ended up making things any better. Skinner still didn't produce.

He has bad years like this sometimes. He'll bounce back.

Blame Botterill for not giving Ralph enough tools to do anything other than flip Olofsson and Skinner to try to get more than one line to produce offense.

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2 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

Talked about communication, huh?  We seem to hear a lot about that these days.   Don't ever recall it being a thing, say, 10 years ago.

I thought Risto's comments about Ralph were interesting.  He gave him a big vote of confidence and suggests he's just the coach we needed in Buffalo.  He likes his approach, they way he treats individual players, and his system on the ice with more of an emphasis on the O coming back to help the D get out of the D zone.

Ralph is too stubborn for my taste, and the way he threw away Skinner's talents last year is tough to forgive.

 

 

 

They sounded like he wanted out, came around to liking the way Kreuger does things & would like to be a part of them, but realizes that for whatever reason he is destined to remain in hockey purgatory so he fully expects to be the guy that gets sent out of town to finally get the ship moving in the right direction here.

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5 hours ago, darksabre said:

I might be misremembering, but I don't think Skinner eventually being reunited with Jack this year ended up making things any better. Skinner still didn't produce.

He has bad years like this sometimes. He'll bounce back.

Blame Botterill for not giving Ralph enough tools to do anything other than flip Olofsson and Skinner to try to get more than one line to produce offense.

Your last statement is pretty much where I was gonna go. It's what JBot  gave him to work with. I think it was better to take a chance on Skinner rather than put VO in a position to fail. I think it will help VO long term with his confidence and Jeff will come back, he's a seasoned vet. As long as Botts nails down the 2C spot they'll both be fine.

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7 hours ago, dudacek said:

 

He is everything Botterill is not as a leader.

I have no idea if he can get talent, but he was born to have people follow him.
We could do a lot worse than putting Ralph in charge. (And have)

The fact that most would be on board with a guy who has literally zero experience running an NHL hockey team running the team is quite the mark on Botterill and what this franchise has been. He would be an insane hire to replace Botterill, if that is what he was hired for. 

And yet, if it's him or Botterill in that role, well, you know...

7 hours ago, Brawndo said:

He confirmed that the entire coaching staff will be back next year 

What the hell is this?! HOW BAD WERE THE SPECIAL TEAMS?! Yes that required caps lock. This is completely unacceptable. Do they care about winning?

6 hours ago, Curt said:

I like Ralph and I think he is a born leader and manager.  I’m not sold on him being anything more than a slightly below average NHL Head Coach though.  He didn’t show anything impressive this season.

He can motivate but I don’t have confidence in his X’s and O’s.

Ya, he still has rope with me definitely, but I'd like to see more. I love what I hear of his mentality, and the players seem to like him. But none of that matters if he doesn't have the strategies and Botterill apparently won't give him assistants that'll help with that. The GM, everyone!

6 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

I'm thinking take over the Pegulas as the eye in the sky, being the man the Gm reports to  and keeping the organizational culture top notch 

This I'd be ok with. We do need a real GM. 

5 hours ago, darksabre said:

I might be misremembering, but I don't think Skinner eventually being reunited with Jack this year ended up making things any better. Skinner still didn't produce.

He has bad years like this sometimes. He'll bounce back.

Blame Botterill for not giving Ralph enough tools to do anything other than flip Olofsson and Skinner to try to get more than one line to produce offense.

The sample size was small, IIRC. We saw what a large sample size with Jack did, last season. I think he'll bounce back if played with an actual 2C, but we won't see 40g Jeff without Jack. 

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3 hours ago, Taro T said:

They sounded like he wanted out, came around to liking the way Kreuger does things & would like to be a part of them, but realizes that for whatever reason he is destined to remain in hockey purgatory so he fully expects to be the guy that gets sent out of town to finally get the ship moving in the right direction here.

Does the guy really get moved at this point? The GM and coach love him. I think Risto is safely here until there's a regime change. 

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30 minutes ago, Thorny said:

The fact that most would be on board with a guy who has literally zero experience running an NHL hockey team running the team is quite the mark on Botterill and what this franchise has been. He would be an insane hire to replace Botterill, if that is what he was hired for. 

And yet, if it's him or Botterill in that role, well, you know...

What the hell is this?! HOW BAD WERE THE SPECIAL TEAMS?! Yes that required caps lock. This is completely unacceptable. Do they care about winning?. 

If your first paragraph is about GM, fair comment I suppose.

But I think most people in this thread were talking about Ralph in Brendan Shanahan type role. The guy has been in hockey leadership for 25 years at a high-level. NHL coach might be the least interesting part of his resume. He ran the national team program of one of the world’s most improved hockey nations over the past 20 years, he’s a world-ranked speaker, he’s worked for the world Economic forum and he was president of a Premier League soccer team. Not many more qualified for a sports business leadership position. He’s certainly more qualified than Kim Pegula.

Small correction on the special teams, the PP was mediocre overall and OK to good when Victor Olofsson was healthy.

The PK deserved the all caps.

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22 minutes ago, dudacek said:

If your first paragraph is about GM, fair comment I suppose.

But I think most people in this thread were talking about Ralph in Brendan Shanahan type role. The guy has been in hockey leadership for 25 years at a high-level. NHL coach might be the least interesting part of his resume. He ran the national team program of one of the world’s most improved hockey nations over the past 20 years, he’s a world-ranked speaker, he’s worked for the world Economic forum and he was president of a Premier League soccer team. Not many more qualified for a sports business leadership position. He’s certainly more qualified than Kim Pegula.

Small correction on the special teams, the PP was mediocre overall and OK to good when Victor Olofsson was healthy.

The PK deserved the all caps.

Didn’t Shanahan being in charge coin “the shanaplan”? I’m just not sure I’d trust Krueger to be the one drafting The Plan for this NHL organization when he’s done so little in the actual NHL over the last couple decades. He’d be better in the role Kim seems to have now, just expanded. Which you did allude to, but which is quite far away from Shanny. 

PP was 20th. That’s below average - and considering the unit we can send out, well below average. 

Just now, Weave said:

I’m skeptical even of a Shanny role.  I keep hearing motivator/communicator.  If there is not much else there isn’t much separation from con man.

The amount I’m agreeing with Weave of late is a welcome and interesting development 

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2 hours ago, Thorny said:

Apparently Kreuger today mentioned Kahun-to-C again? Anyone else getting the feeling Kahun/Johanssson is the coming 2C duo?

 

I believe this is Botterils backup plan to play Kahun at 2C. Johansson is a 3LW.  I don’t see a legitimate 2C falling into his lap for Risto or Montour. 

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3 hours ago, Thorny said:

 PP was 20th. That’s below average - and considering the unit we can send out, well below average. 

 

100%!  They regressed from 16th overall last year and added an incredible weapon in Olafsson.  The second from worst PK is reason enough to change.  Unacceptable decision Not making some change. 

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On 5/29/2020 at 10:59 AM, Zamboni said:

Meh. It’s a good sound bite.

 

I’ve noticed, almost every coach, GM and player ... they have canned responses to questions. Answers that don’t stir the pot or are non controversial. I’ve also noticed, not all fans are aware of this. 
Pegulas say something .... Get the pitchforks!
JB says something .... He sucks get him outta here!
RK says something ....
❤️❤️❤️

?
 

They all try to keep their cards close to the vest. They all tell the media what they want to hear. And what they think fans will eat up. With the occasional “off the reservation” rant.
 

Good sound bite. No real substance.

Even if he turns out to be a below average coach, RK has more credibility than Terry, Kim, and Bots.  That is what you are noticing.  
 

 

Edited by Pimlach
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On 5/29/2020 at 12:38 PM, Kruppstahl said:

Talked about communication, huh?  We seem to hear a lot about that these days.   Don't ever recall it being a thing, say, 10 years ago.

I thought Risto's comments about Ralph were interesting.  He gave him a big vote of confidence and suggests he's just the coach we needed in Buffalo.  He likes his approach, they way he treats individual players, and his system on the ice with more of an emphasis on the O coming back to help the D get out of the D zone.

Ralph is too stubborn for my taste, and the way he threw away Skinner's talents last year is tough to forgive.

 

 

 

And his management of the special teams left a lot to be desired. 

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3 hours ago, Gatorman0519 said:

And his management of the special teams left a lot to be desired. 

He'll be gone in 1 year or less, along with Botterill.  You would hope

It's a shame the fans have to patiently sit on the sidelines waiting for the Pegulas to get a clue.

It's been a while now!  And to top it off, I think they are pretty solidly in "save money" mode now, whereby Botterill might hang around even longer.  Who knows.

I think saving money is (for now; may be temporary) a bigger concern than winning.

Just like the good old days! 

?

 

?

 

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