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Ralph Krueger needs to go - like yesterday.


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If you want to understand how mind numbingly stupid Krueger's lineup decisions with Skinner have been

https://theathletic.com/2404992/2021/02/22/sabres-ralph-krueger-scratches-jeff-skinner/

Skinner is good at 5v5, creates chances, limits shots against, draws penalties, creates turnovers. Compared to other players that have not been benched I have to assume Krueger hates Skinner for some deep reason because no one on this team is scoring goals, but to expect Skinner to with his limited ice time and being buried on line 4 isn't a good philosophy. Also Ralphy it is more than just about goals, it is about creating opportunities, something the Sabres do not do well. Proof in point last night. Their lone 5v5 goals came off of a deflected point shot. That is a low quality chance that requires some good luck to go in. 

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I have to admit I was thinking Jack was playing so badly to get Ralphie fired as he usually does but now it looks as if Jack simply wants out. meanwhile, hopefully he can take RK with him as he is a absolutely brutal coach. No wonder Edmonton got rid of him so fast...I know everyone is quick to blame the Pegulas but these guys they keep hiring come highly recommended...

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6 minutes ago, Sabre fan said:

I have to admit I was thinking Jack was playing so badly to get Ralphie fired as he usually does but now it looks as if Jack simply wants out. meanwhile, hopefully he can take RK with him as he is a absolutely brutal coach. No wonder Edmonton got rid of him so fast...I know everyone is quick to blame the Pegulas but these guys they keep hiring come highly recommended...

We can agree that we really do not like Ralph.  I would just assume keep Jack and hope that his game can improve somehow...as the return on a trade may be disappointing (ex. ROR trade).  Unfortunately I cannot agree that the Pegula's are the victim of bad advice.  I'm pretty sure nobody recommended to hire Adams with no GM experience.  It's not rocket science to hire a PROVEN NHL front office that has a track record of winning in this league.

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12 minutes ago, Carmel Corn said:

We can agree that we really do not like Ralph.  I would just assume keep Jack and hope that his game can improve somehow...as the return on a trade may be disappointing (ex. ROR trade).  Unfortunately I cannot agree that the Pegula's are the victim of bad advice.  I'm pretty sure nobody recommended to hire Adams with no GM experience.  It's not rocket science to hire a PROVEN NHL front office that has a track record of winning in this league.

Funny cause at this point I think Adams was their best hire out of everyone! I was referring to Ralphie who many claim is a good coach. Remember even JBotto came highly regarded and I hate to admit it but many including myself thought it was a good hire at the time. Obviously he turned out to be a  complete train-wreck and his legacy will always be what was without doubt the worse trade in Sabre (and possbily NHL) history. I loved exGMTM getting ROR and yes I liked the Kane trade and again Botto gave Kane away for basically nothing. But having said that Iike KD's moves thus far and love to see the Sabres even come close to being the team Carolina is... 

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24 minutes ago, Carmel Corn said:

We can agree that we really do not like Ralph.  I would just assume keep Jack and hope that his game can improve somehow...as the return on a trade may be disappointing (ex. ROR trade).  Unfortunately I cannot agree that the Pegula's are the victim of bad advice.  I'm pretty sure nobody recommended to hire Adams with no GM experience.  It's not rocket science to hire a PROVEN NHL front office that has a track record of winning in this league.

Problem may be no one of high success with proven record wants the job at this point. Don't know but this organization may have developed a bit of a bad reputation at this point ten years into this ownership.

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1 hour ago, Radar said:

Problem may be no one of high success with proven record wants the job at this point. Don't know but this organization may have developed a bit of a bad reputation at this point ten years into this ownership.

Oh it certainly has developed that reputation.

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1 hour ago, Radar said:

Problem may be no one of high success with proven record wants the job at this point. Don't know but this organization may have developed a bit of a bad reputation at this point ten years into this ownership.

People say that but Quenneville took the head coaching job in Florida.  And Trotz took the job in Long Island after the team lost Tavares.  Neither of those teams had a reputation for great ownership or franchise stability.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, jad1 said:

People say that but Quenneville took the head coaching job in Florida.  And Trotz took the job in Long Island after the team lost Tavares.  Neither of those teams had a reputation for great ownership or franchise stability.

 

 

Ownership had changed on Long Island and Lou was already there. They were not your father's Islanders.

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58 minutes ago, jad1 said:

People say that but Quenneville took the head coaching job in Florida.  And Trotz took the job in Long Island after the team lost Tavares.  Neither of those teams had a reputation for great ownership or franchise stability.

 

 

Yeah, I was just throwing out the possibility.

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35 minutes ago, #freejame said:

It’s simple—he’s a fraud. 

Yup. He basically says a bunch of things that sound like they make sense as you hear them. "We need to be accountable. Play fast hockey. Play positionally sound hockey, etc..." but he doesn't actually know how to accomplish that and worse if you listen to him multiple times you realize that what he is selling isn't tangible. It is this smoke and mirrors word salad that makes you feel good but doesn't actually answer anything.

He talks with just enough vagueness that you think you heard and answer but you did not. "Skinner needs to reflect and take a step back" ok why? "well if he takes a step back he can reflect and change" great awesome you told me nothing. 

Krueger is like a lot of motivational speakers. They draw you in with their tone and the way they phrase stuff but in the end they don't actually say anything meaningful. It is just vagueness guised in flowery language. 

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Here is a Krueger interview from last year after losing to Colorado. He offers no actual solutions on how to get better. 

Quote

 There were individual breakdowns right through it — we’re actually just going through it right now in the coaches room — lots of situations that we can learn from. Our frustration is there and we’re going to work with it and we’re going to do all we can to improve from this disappointment.

Quote

We didn’t stay calm like we have been in the past with only being down two and trying patiently to get ourselves back into the game. We threw the whole house at them and gave up completely on our defensive game, and they punished us for it. It was just not the way we needed to manage the game. But again, the job of coaches is to get up in the morning, look for what we can do to strengthen ourselves.

Quote

On Carter Hutton: He’s an experienced player and he’ll just go back to work here today. He takes responsibility when I go by him after we made the goalie change, he’s the most critical of himself. We move him forward again too and need to work with him. He’s, once again, somebody who can put this in the right place and get himself, get his feet back up. He’ll stand up tall again today.

That hutton quote is so typical of Ralph. He says nothing useful. All he says is, carter is experienced (duh), carter takes responsibility (for what exactly isn't stated but we can infer his performance), he's critical of himself (great, how so?) we move him forward and need to work with him (how and on what?), he's somebody who can put himself in the right place (so it isn't on the coaches?). 

The hutton quote I am singling out because it is exactly the same type of nonsense speak he uses for Skinner. "he's got to work through it, he's got to be better, we aren't getting enough out of him". It is just vagueness and I don't think Krueger actually knows how to get whatever it is he wants out of Skinner, in fact I don't even think he actually knows what he wants out of Skinner.  

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23 hours ago, nfreeman said:

 

These are both reasonable, but still -- if the Sabres limp home to a bottom-5 finish this year, and the day after the season ends there is a presser at which Rutherford and Babcock are introduced -- would you not be excited?  The (theoretically) perfect should not be the enemy of the good, especially when compared to 10 years of very bad.

No.  Other GMs and especially coach I would be.  but not Babcock.  Do not want.

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This is why I don't believe in Ralph Krueger. This quote is just garblygook regurgitated back and parroting the questions while saying nothing. The question is what does the coaching staff do to keep players focused through adversity. I have no idea what his actual answer is. He talks about the same crap, "we need to move forward" "we need to work with these guys to evolve our game" "[our job as coaches], is to keep them in that space without letting them avoid the reality of the situation" This is just meaningless words strong together to sound good. 

Quote

HS: Ralph, I’m curious, you’re very much positive reinforcement and all that in terms of your attitude as a coach with your players. What do you do — you look at the standings this morning, you’re I think 11 (points) out of third (in the Atlantic Division) and 12 (points) out of the No. 2 wild card. Coming out of the break, it’s now three out of four losses. When you looked at the schedule, thought, “Okay, maybe they can win a whole bunch of home games here.” What do you do as a coach or a coaching staff to keep the players focused, to make sure that the adversity doesn’t lead to the attitudes becoming really bad, and it just snowballs?

RK: That’s a really good question. We understand the reality. Trust me, guys. What you’re saying, all those facts, we know the facts. We look them in the eyes and need to be realistic about our situation. Once we’ve looked at it, we need to move forward again and teach and coach and work with these guys to continue to evolve our game. We are going in and out of it since the break. The Columbus game was an excellent performance right through and all that was missing, really, was a little more offense, possibly. We left that game again last night, especially for that stretch in the second period. I thought in the first (period), like you already said, it was a pretty even game; we deserted our game for about 10 minutes. I was at least pleased with the guys coming up in the third period with a pretty even match, trying to get ourselves ready for Detroit. What we need to do is keep the picture small right now. We have very many young exciting players, and we cannot forget that. There is some real value in the core of our team here, and some elite players who need coaching and need developing, and also with this pain and then this time they need that. That’s our job as coaches, is to keep them in that space without letting them avoid the reality of the situation. We have to let the pain come into our room. We have to look at it, we have to try and understand it, but then again we have to work with it now. Continue to teach these guys, continue to learn to become a team that wins two out of three games in the National Hockey League — that’s what you have to do to be in the race, to be a playoff team. We will continue to do all we can to get back to that pace.

Never once tells you how they will do it or what exactly the issue is. 

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Here are Krueger's go to statements:

"We have to move forward"

"We'll have to get back to work"

"As coaches we need to evolve/strengthen our game"

"We have to continue to do... teaching, learning, or some other general word meaning to teach or learn such as develop/grow"

"I see guys (or a specific players) working hard everyday to improve"

"We are trying to find the right path for (insert player here)"

"(Insert player here) is an important part of our group"

Edited by LGR4GM
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23 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

Snake oil for sale. Come get your snake oil 🤮

Yes.   Snake Oil Ralphie!

 

I am sick of hearing about how past GM/HC candidates have come recommended by the league.  Do they expect me to believe that they only recommended a single candidate in each of those scenarios.  The Pegula's have screwed this up over and over again by hiring inexperienced people(outside of Bylsma), and Adams is proof that they are going in the wrong direction in terms of less experience, not MORE! 

Kim & Company can take their flat org structure and stick it where the sun don't shine.  a$$holes continue to screw this up beyond belief.

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Just now, LabattBlue said:

Yes.   Snake Oil Ralphie!

 

I am sick of hearing about how past GM/HC candidates have come recommended by the league.  Do they expect me to believe that they only recommended a single candidate in each of those scenarios.  The Pegula's have screwed this up over and over again by hiring inexperienced people(outside of Bylsma), and Adams is proof that they are going in the wrong direction in terms of less experience, not MORE! 

Kim & Company can take their flat org structure and stick it where the sun don't shine.  a$$holes continue to screw this up beyond belief.

I truly wonder if they care

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