Ralph Krueger needs to go - like yesterday.

[inkman]

7 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

Did anyone post Jerry Sullivan's article from last Friday?

 

https://www.niagara-gazette.com/sports/buffalo_sabres/sullivan-your-buffalo-sabres-the-worst-franchise-in-major-pro-sports/article_98f68d20-65a8-5ee4-ad40-a9614930c9bb.html?fbclid=IwAR1gKWFEArFZEZ49--g0ZWbi5b5ipElZ36IoruNCG6Uy2kf9bzKklPL0Ksk

 

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

He is still good at kicking the dead dogs.  

 

1 hour ago, SwampD said:

Ville Leino was the last person to score a playoff goal in Buffalo.

 

... ugh.

 

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

The only thing he says that hasn't been said on SS is the Ville Leino playoff goal thing.  Nothing new there.

Sully lost me at “vastly overrated Sam Reinhart”.  I know he’s not everyone's cup of tea.  He a proven producer.  With and without Eichel.  Heck, this season Eichel has struggled without Sam.  

[Pimlach]

17 minutes ago, dudacek said:

In Botterill's defence, it was on the recommendation of your boy Rutherford

I would like you to confirm that.  I would also like to know how many candidates were interviewed and who they were.  
 

Rutherford is not my boy, I am just saying he is out there and has a solid track record in the front office.  I do hear rumors of interest in him.   To be honest, the Pittsburgh connection has not been kind to the Sabres.  
 

Like everyone else on this board I just want stability and competence.  

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

I would like you to confirm that.  I would also like to know how many candidates were interviewed and who they were.  
 

Rutherford is not my boy, I am just saying he is out there and has a solid track record in the front office.  I do hear rumors of interest in him.   To be honest, the Pittsburgh connection has not been kind to the Sabres.  
 

Like everyone else on this board I just want stability and competence.  

Sorry, that wasn't meant to be a shot.

There were direct reports when Krueger was hired that Krueger's name was one Rutherford had saved, and he recommended Botterill take a look. I don't have time to go hunting right now, but there might be links in the Krueger hiring thread that just got resurrected.

[Flashsabre]

15 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Sorry, that wasn't meant to be a shot.

There were direct reports when Krueger was hired that Krueger's name was one Rutherford had saved, and he recommended Botterill take a look. I don't have time to go hunting right now, but there might be links in the Krueger hiring thread that just got resurrected.

https://triblive.com/sports/recommendation-from-penguins-gm-jim-rutherford-helped-sabres-choose-new-coach/            Here is an article on  this.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Flashsabre

[PASabreFan]

So Rutherford has been advising the Sabres all along and hasn't steered us wrong yet. Why not make it official?

[Doohickie]

39 minutes ago, inkman said:

Sully lost me at “vastly overrated Sam Reinhart”.

Right, but like I said, noting I haven't already heard on these forums.  😉

[Claude Balls]

Ugh, so disappointed everytime I open this thread.

[Brawndo]

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

46 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I would like you to confirm that.  I would also like to know how many candidates were interviewed and who they were.  
 

Rutherford is not my boy, I am just saying he is out there and has a solid track record in the front office.  I do hear rumors of interest in him.   To be honest, the Pittsburgh connection has not been kind to the Sabres.  
 

Like everyone else on this board I just want stability and competence.  

"I dreamed a dream" .... "then it all went wrong"  Fantine - Les Miserables

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, Ice Cold said:

No one on here seems to want to tank this year.  I remember the old days, where we'd be cheering every loss, and the only thing to threaten the head coaches job would be an extended winning streak.  Times have changed.

This years draft is bad. If it was 2022, I would be all aboard the finish last train and get the best draft spot because the season is lost. 

[Brawndo]

Could you imagine if a team had 4 of the Top 31 picks in this draft? 
 

And didn’t do what Boston did with three consecutive first round picks of course! 

[GASabresIUFAN]

@Brawndo Every time you post I think you’ll referencing the Sabres announcement that KA has fired RK.

[JoeSchmoe]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Krueger coached professional hockey from 1976-1993. Then returned for a stint with the Oilers in 2010. So, he has a body of work as a hockey coach.

To me, he's gotta be much more Michael Scott than the Simpsons' monorail guy -- he genuinely thinks he's doing everything right, even while all external indicators are that he's failing.

Michael Scott doesn't have the same way with words as Krueger. Most of us (not all) heard Krueger speak when he first came in and bought right in! 

"You know, a town with money's a little like the mule with a spinning wheel. No one knows how he got it, and danged if he knows how to use it!"

LYLE LANLEY

“It was quite interesting. I’d sit beside Sabres fans and have conversations that I won’t be able to have with them now. But it was very enlightening. I certainly could feel the spirit of the city. I loved the history, the architecture and just the size. I can feel it’s a hard-working community, and it’s a place that my wife and I feel very comfortable coming to live there, but of course above all the environment that I’ll be working in will be a match to what I was looking for.”

RALPH KRUEGER

[Brawndo]

24 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

@Brawndo Every time you post I think you’ll referencing the Sabres announcement that KA has fired RK.

My guess would be Wednesday Morning 

[Doohickie]

I hope they Gallant him Tuesday night.  I really do.

[Claude Balls]

 

[That Aud Smell]

36 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Michael Scott doesn't have the same way with words as Krueger. Most of us (not all) heard Krueger speak when he first came in and bought right in! 

Like I said: I don't think Krueger is a liar or a grifter. And I don't think he's full of sh1t. I think he means well. He just ... he just doesn't know what he's doing. But I think he comes by this incompetence honestly.

[miles]

I know the wild old coach needs a job, Bruce Boudreau. He is a great coach

[Cal Naughton Jr]

 

The mob is getting angrier, Terry. What are you waiting for?

[PASabreFan]

Let's assume that the Pegulas are indeed looking for help, and that help will come after the season in the form of a POHO or a new GM with president power (think Lou on Long Island). What most people want, whether the title president is there or not. And that implicit in the move is that the Pegulas extract themselves from day to day involvement in hockey affairs. Krueger is gone as coach and maybe has some new role on the business side; Adams is probably retained, but his exact role is TBD by the new boss.

If that's the new starting point some warm, sunny day in June, with the country approaching herd immunity and the pandemic on its knees, what are the smart moves that should precede that glorious day of rebirth?

Is Adams entrusted with trading off high level assets as part of a comprehensive rebuild? No (reality: someone will have to make some important calls on deadline day). If the Pegulas realize how badly they've bungled things, do they trust themselves to do it? No.

Does firing Krueger now serve any real purpose? You can bring in a placeholder coach, but he'll be gone under the new regime come summer. You can try and bring in a name coach, but under the presumptive scenario above, you risk not getting that president/strong GM if his coach is already behind the bench. That person would know that his coach reports to Pegula/s and not him. And firing Krueger risks making the franchise's reputation for being unstable even worse; it permanently tags Eichel et al. as serial coach-killers, likely unfairly. So keeping the coach seems like a reasonable if unpopular option. He has decent ideas about culture, even if this board thinks he doesn't know a deer tick from a hole in a hound (h/t Scotty's grandpappy).

Everyone will hate the idea, but staying in a holding pattern while the engine burns is probably the smartest move. Get this hellish season, which shouldn't have ever happened, over, and go from there. Minimize any more damage. Strike a master stroke, 10 years overdue, and enjoy the fireworks on Independence Day.

Patience? Yuck.

What else ya got that doesn't have a higher risk of making things worse?

 

[Brawndo]

I chuckled 

 

 

[PASabreFan]

(My scenario assumes you can't put the new hockey czar in place right now. If you can, that's ideal. That person starts evaluating things right away and runs the deadline day war room. Ideal, but I don't see how it's possible at the moment.)

[PASabreFan]

5 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

I chuckled 

 

 

Well, that stole me thunder.

[Doohickie]

Not untrue:

 

[nfreeman]

2 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Krueger coached professional hockey from 1976-1993. Then returned for a stint with the Oilers in 2010. So, he has a body of work as a hockey coach.

To me, he's gotta be much more Michael Scott than the Simpsons' monorail guy -- he genuinely thinks he's doing everything right, even while all external indicators are that he's failing.

 

21 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Like I said: I don't think Krueger is a liar or a grifter. And I don't think he's full of sh1t. I think he means well. He just ... he just doesn't know what he's doing. But I think he comes by this incompetence honestly.

I agree with the 2nd post, but as to the 1st, didn't Michael Scott somehow lead the Scranton branch to #2 in sales among Dunder Mifflin branches one year?

 

16 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Let's assume that the Pegulas are indeed looking for help, and that help will come after the season in the form of a POHO or a new GM with president power (think Lou on Long Island). What most people want, whether the title president is there or not. And that implicit in the move is that the Pegulas extract themselves from day to day involvement in hockey affairs. Krueger is gone as coach and maybe has some new role on the business side; Adams is probably retained, but his exact role is TBD by the new boss.

If that's the new starting point some warm, sunny day in June, with the country approaching herd immunity and the pandemic on its knees, what are the smart moves that should precede that glorious day of rebirth?

Is Adams entrusted with trading off high level assets as part of a comprehensive rebuild? No (reality: someone will have to make some important calls on deadline day). If the Pegulas realize how badly they've bungled things, do they trust themselves to do it? No.

Does firing Krueger now serve any real purpose? You can bring in a placeholder coach, but he'll be gone under the new regime come summer. You can try and bring in a name coach, but under the presumptive scenario above, you risk not getting that president/strong GM if his coach is already behind the bench. That person would know that his coach reports to Pegula/s and not him. And firing Krueger risks making the franchise's reputation for being unstable even worse; it permanently tags Eichel et al. as serial coach-killers, likely unfairly. So keeping the coach seems like a reasonable if unpopular option. He has decent ideas about culture, even if this board thinks he doesn't know a deer tick from a hole in a hound (h/t Scotty's grandpappy).

Everyone will hate the idea, but staying in a holding pattern while the engine burns is probably the smartest move. Get this hellish season, which shouldn't have ever happened, over, and go from there. Minimize any more damage. Strike a master stroke, 10 years overdue, and enjoy the fireworks on Independence Day.

Patience? Yuck.

What else ya got that doesn't have a higher risk of making things worse?

 

 

9 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

(My scenario assumes you can't put the new hockey czar in place right now. If you can, that's ideal. That person starts evaluating things right away and runs the deadline day war room. Ideal, but I don't see how it's possible at the moment.)

I agree that best case is to bring in the new czar immediately, but even if that's not possible, I think dumping RK and going with an interim coach for the rest of the year is better than keeping RK.  Every day that RK remains the coach is a day that the Sabres look a little bit less like a real NHL franchise.