News Article: A look into Coach Krueger's 2019 plan

[StlSwedes]

Sounds like a lot of Silicon valley new age bs. Talent trumps systems.

I see your point. However, when thinking about the Lightning vs Blues. One team had talent while the other team had a system. The system just won a cup. The talent was bounced in the 1st round.

 

[Fezzy126]

Not trying to be a debbie-downer here, because I really want to believe that Krueger is gonna be the coach that turns this whole thing around, but we've seen almost this exact same article printed for the past several coaches. Hell, even articles about Nolan and his team's desire to compete had some of the same buzz words (pace, aggressiveness, communication, cohesiveness, etc). Alternatively, no one in the game is talking about slowing things down, passivity, NOT communicating. I'm glad that the players are buying into his offseason message, that's certainly better than the alternative, but gonna need to see the results on the ice.

Also, the part about Krueger being involved in nutrition, therapy, and the off ice stuff actually kind of bothered me. Don't we have entire departments of personnel already dedicated to these tasks? I would think the head coach has enough to worry about without jumping into other areas.

I guess I may be in the minority, but I find his ability to spit out a bunch of words without actually saying anything of substance is annoying. But I feel the exact same way about McDermott and I'm completely blown away by his ability to gameplan and coach...

 

[Sabre the Win]

Curious on how people will measure this season? It should be very easy to top Housley's 62 and 76 point seasons, if Ralph hits 82 the same as Bylsma 4 years ago, how do you measure that in success? Karen Housley tried to paint how much better Phil did in his second season but I mean not beating 62 points would show complete incompetence, even more so then he did.

What would you consider a win and improvement with Kruger moving forward this season because to me this article reads PR fluff and it's more of the same generic buzz words that people eat up and swallow the pill without questioning it here after all we been thru.

Believing is just not enough anymore.

 

[Buffaloed]

Karen Housley tried to paint how much better Phil did in his second season but I mean not beating 62 points would show complete incompetence, even more so then he did.

She spells it "Karin". What the would a woman who can't even spell her own correctly know about hockey?

 

[Montag DP]

Curious on how people will measure this season? It should be very easy to top Housley's 62 and 76 point seasons, if Ralph hits 82 the same as Bylsma 4 years ago, how do you measure that in success? Karen Housley tried to paint how much better Phil did in his second season but I mean not beating 62 points would show complete incompetence, even more so then he did.

What would you consider a win and improvement with Kruger moving forward this season because to me this article reads PR fluff and it's more of the same generic buzz words that people eat up and swallow the pill without questioning it here after all we been thru.

Believing is just not enough anymore.

I think having a legitimate shot at the playoffs beyond January would be the threshold for what I consider not a failure. What I consider success is probably a bit more subjective, but I think I would at least like to see the team improving throughout the season.

 

[old kummelweck]

Curious on how people will measure this season? I

Playoffs are non-negotiable for me. I believe they have the talent to get there.

 

[Tatanka]

I see your point. However, when thinking about the Lightning vs Blues. One team had talent while the other team had a system. The system just won a cup. The talent was bounced in the 1st round.

Both had talent and systems. One executed better than the other. Trying to make the Blues out to be the little engine that could is disingenuous.

 

[Zman5778]

Playoffs are non-negotiable for me. I believe they have the talent to get there.

Then I think you're going to be very disappointed.

We're not better than Tampa, Toronto or Boston. So right there we're battling for a wild card. Florida should be improved, so we'll be fighting with them and Montreal. And whoever doesn't make top 3 in the Metro.

I'll be happy with being in contention for the playoffs -- there's still too much dead wood floating around for me to say that the playoffs should definitely be a thing.

 

[jc17]

Then I think you're going to be very disappointed.

We're not better than Tampa, Toronto or Boston. So right there we're battling for a wild card. Florida should be improved, so we'll be fighting with them and Montreal. And whoever doesn't make top 3 in the Metro.

I'll be happy with being in contention for the playoffs -- there's still too much dead wood floating around for me to say that the playoffs should definitely be a thing.

Yeah even though I've defended the GM more than others at this point there's not a single projection of the Sabres in the playoffs, and thats due to the players on the team.

Sabres in the playoffs would be a vast over-performance.
Sabres missing by about 10 points would make me think Krueger is average.
Sabres at Phil level suggests Ralph is at Phil levels, unless its stuff like injuries.

 

[old kummelweck]

This one a little more detailed from the Athletic (subscription).

 

[cybresabre]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-tense-rfa-waiting-game-hits-final-stages/

So, are people going to be looking for Ralph at Bikram Yoga classes instead of at bars, now?

Pro: All of our now super flexible defensemen will start dropping into butterfly to block shots.
Con: Replacing the bottles of Gatorade with wheatgrass will make a mess of our beautiful new jerseys.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

Playoffs are non-negotiable for me. I believe they have the talent to get there.

What leverage pray tell are you bringing to this negotiation?

 

[Fezzy126]

Then I think you're going to be very disappointed.

We're not better than Tampa, Toronto or Boston. So right there we're battling for a wild card. Florida should be improved, so we'll be fighting with them and Montreal. And whoever doesn't make top 3 in the Metro.

I'll be happy with being in contention for the playoffs -- there's still too much dead wood floating around for me to say that the playoffs should definitely be a thing.

On the surface I might agree with this POV, however, a year ago the Islanders weren't better than Pittsburgh, Philly, Columbus, or Carolina, ad they finished higher than all of them. They did it with a lineup that featured Komarov, Filpulla, and Matt Martin among others, so they probably led the league in dead wood. There's no reason that we should be outclassed by anyone outside of Tampa anymore.

 

[old kummelweck]

What leverage pray tell are you bringing to this negotiation?

The wrath and fury of internet memes.

 

[OkimLom]

Curious on how people will measure this season? It should be very easy to top Housley's 62 and 76 point seasons, if Ralph hits 82 the same as Bylsma 4 years ago, how do you measure that in success? Karen Housley tried to paint how much better Phil did in his second season but I mean not beating 62 points would show complete incompetence, even more so then he did.

What would you consider a win and improvement with Kruger moving forward this season because to me this article reads PR fluff and it's more of the same generic buzz words that people eat up and swallow the pill without questioning it here after all we been thru.

Believing is just not enough anymore.

As one of the more "cautiously pessimistic" posters here, there are different areas I'm going to be keeping an eye for the season. I think we can have a successful season in certain areas that might help us finally correct the path of development of this franchise.

Communication of system and how quickly the team grasps it: I think a good sign of the team turning the corner is the team playing at some sort of consistent basis. To do that, it's important for Ralph and the coaching staff having a clear understanding with the players. I'm not expecting them to get it right away, but there should be improvement throughout the season and a consistency that gets better as the season goes on. I'm done hearing about the team wasn't prepared or "we need to be consistent" at the 40 game mark.

How often and well are the secondary scoring guys getting on the scoreboard: Outside Jack, Sam, and now Jeff, we haven't had much consistency with offense with the rest of the team. The only blip that we saw them produce was during the 10 game streak, where multiple players on many nights were not only creating chances, but capitalizing on them. Outside of that, you had little streaks where you would have a Sheary score 3 goals in 4 games and then have 20+ streaks of no goals. We have guys like Vesey and Marcus Johansson on the team, we should be able to create/finish more often away from Jack, Sam, and Jeff.

Culture Change: Our team comes off as a team that has been a consistent loser for a while. This team needs a whole different attitude on this team. Our only guys that we can count on to show any type of character to stick up for one another are guys that either are not in the lineup due to injuries (McCabe, Bogo) or someone you don't want to see fight due to his health (Okposo). We needs guys like Sam, Girgensons, ERod, and others to step out of their comfort zone/roles, and step up to take control. I'm not asking for fights, but stand up to guys. Guys need to stop waiting for someone to step up and do it themselves.

For me, it's not necessarily about the wins and losses. I think I would be more encouraged with a season of starting slow and ending on a high note, more so than starting on a high and come crashing down. But, there's a part of me that would feel bummed if they couldn't crack the 81 point plateau, something they haven't been able to do under Botts. I would, though consider this season a failure if they can't beat the 78 point mark if we were strictly just talking about points.

We're already behind the other teams in the division in competitiveness. I don't think we have done enough, so far, to be worried about playoffs, so that's not a success/failure standard for me.

 

[explore]

There’s been some puff pieces about Krueger, while I don’t think optimism and giving the new coach a positive boost is bad, it’s hard to forget the same feeling of optimism about Housely and how he seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to Bylsma.

FWIW I like/d the hire of Krueger, but with this team’s recent history, I’m leaning towards setting expectations as low as possible.

Also, unlike Housely, Krueger has previous head coaching experience.

 

[flashsabre]

At this point of the year what would be an article that wouldn't be a "puff piece"?

What would you want to see Krueger say that you wouldn't classify as "saying a bunch of words but not saying anything"?

I mean he laid out how he wants to play and how he is inclusive with all aspects of the organization.

No coach is going to lay out the specific Xs and Os of their system in each zone of the ice.

I know every new coach says similar stuff and the last 4-5 coaches here have been bad but nothing Krueger says now means anything until games start and results either come or don't.

 

[Dingo44]

Hopefully people here and in Buffalo in general will give the team a chance to gel and grasp the new concepts throughout preseason and the first 20 games or so before jumping on Krueger.

But who am I kidding...

 

[old kummelweck]

Hopefully people here and in Buffalo in general will give the team a chance to gel and grasp the new concepts throughout preseason and the first 20 games or so before jumping on Krueger.

But who am I kidding...

 

[Fezzy126]

At this point of the year what would be an article that wouldn't be a "puff piece"?

What would you want to see Krueger say that you wouldn't classify as "saying a bunch of words but not saying anything"?

I mean he laid out how he wants to play and how he is inclusive with all aspects of the organization.

No coach is going to lay out the specific Xs and Os of their system in each zone of the ice.

I know every new coach says similar stuff and the last 4-5 coaches here have been bad but nothing Krueger says now means anything until games start and results either come or don't.

There are plenty of ways to describe a coaching philosophy or high-level approach without dissecting whether you're going to use a 1-2-2 or a 1-3-1 neutral zone trap. Here are two excellent recent examples from the coaches site:

Offence Wins Championships

How to Create Offense Using the Width & Depth of the Offensive Zone

Each of these explains a high level philosophy without going to exact details, but the overall message is clear. That being said I thought the Yerdon piece was better than the original article on Sabres.com.

 

[VaporTrail]

I am having a hard time seeing how this team makes the playoffs with Casey Mittelstadt as their 2C

 

[old kummelweck]

I am having a hard time seeing how this team makes the playoffs with Casey Mittelstadt as their 2C

I'm thinking Asplund is an x factor. Not sure how long they'll be able to keep him down in Roch.

 

[Aladyyn]

I am having a hard time seeing how this team makes the playoffs with Casey Mittelstadt as their 2C

I am having a hard time seeing Mittelstadt as the 2C anytime soon

 

[old kummelweck]

I am having a hard time seeing Mittelstadt as the 2C anytime soon

Sending him and Tage down to Roch would be one of those things that could best serves everyone involved, but that would make too much sense and would require them to acknowledge they mishandled both players development. Again, it would be yet another move that would require Botterill to perform out of character - like waiving veterans.

But... preseason hasn't even started yet and who knows where all these guys are from a development standpoint.

 

[Jim Bob]

The Importance of Pressure for a Successful Forecheck

This is interesting. And it does seem like Krueger does want more pressure on the forecheck.