Krueger.....is he actually that good of a coach?

[Buffaloed]

I won't be surprised if Krueger doesn't come back. I can see him taking a position with an international organization to help the world recover.

 

[joshjull]

A good coach finds a way to utilize a player like Skinner. Krueger hasn't even tried.

It was frustrating to watch.

1) Trying to force "balance" by keeping Skinner away from Jack as long as he did.
2) Keeping Skinner off PP1 just to have Risto in front of the net.

Ironically we may have finally stumbled onto balance with Skinner back with Jack and Olofsson with Kahun/Mojo. But the season stopped too soon to see much of a sample

 

[Jim Bob]

Ralph Krueger's decision on a defense pairing came with consequences

This is a good look at one of the areas where Ralph wasn't as good as hoped this season.

 

[Aladyyn]

In some ways the Montour-Ristolainen pairing makes sense: Montour can transition the puck and Risto can do his work in the offensive zone. Of couse the main problem is that neither of them has a f***ing clue on defense.

McCabe-Montour is something I would have liked to see, maybe could be a decent long-term 2B pairing?

 

[jc17]

What Ralph Krueger's player usage in Edmonton can tell us

"Defensively, it's a completely different story. Krueger had the most mismanaged blue line of any coach in the league. Looking at it further, you can start to see why.

Again, not a lot of talent for Krueger to work with, but his top four was comprised of Jeff Petry, Justin Schultz, Ladislav Smid and a rotation of Nick Schultz and Ryan Whitney. At this point, Smid was losing his legs and was a nonfactor offensively, and Schultz ended up being emphatically miscast for his capabilities. (To Schultz’s credit, he has turned out to be a fine depth option since leaving Edmonton.) Depth defenders in Corey Potter and Mark Fistric ended up having better seasons than their peers, but neither played much of anything at even strength that year.

Krueger gets a pretty ugly grade here, but I think there’s some substantial context worth noting here – outside of Petry, none of these guys were top-four options at this point in their careers, so Krueger was really trying to make something out of nothing."

There may be a theme.

 

[Fezzy126]

In some ways the Montour-Ristolainen pairing makes sense: Montour can transition the puck and Risto can do his work in the offensive zone. Of couse the main problem is that neither of them has a f***ing clue on defense.

McCabe-Montour is something I would have liked to see, maybe could be a decent long-term 2B pairing?

I don't think the majority of fans appreciate the difficulty with playing your off side as a defenseman, especially in the NHL with the smaller rink and the highest quality of competition. Your stick positioning, judging gaps, ability to outlet pass and break out of the zone, your vision; It's all impacted substantially. Montour might have warts as a player and I know what the analytics say, but a smart GM buys low on him now knowing that he was put in a position to fail this year.

I think putting him with McCabe is a good idea, but it seems like they were leaning towards a McCabe/Joki shutdown and PK pairing. I think they eventually trade Risto and pair Montour with Dahlin for the foreseeable future, but who knows. It's so difficult to tell based on the way they deployed their 7 player logjam at defense this year.

 

[joshjull]

I don't think the majority of fans appreciate the difficulty with playing your off side as a defenseman, especially in the NHL with the smaller rink and the highest quality of competition. Your stick positioning, judging gaps, ability to outlet pass and break out of the zone, your vision; It's all impacted substantially. Montour might have warts as a player and I know what the analytics say, but a smart GM buys low on him now knowing that he was put in a position to fail this year.

I think putting him with McCabe is a good idea, but it seems like they were leaning towards a McCabe/Joki shutdown and PK pairing. I think they eventually trade Risto and pair Montour with Dahlin for the foreseeable future, but who knows. It's so difficult to tell based on the way they deployed their 7 player logjam at defense this year.

Well said about playing the offside.

Its crazy how much Montour getting hurt in camp impacted the defense this season. It was quite the domino effect.

1) It allowed Joker a chance to make the team. He was most likely going to start in Rochester with Risto, Montour and Miller as the RHD to start the season.

2) Dahlin and Joker are on the opening night roster. The coaches wanted to protect to the two youngsters and didn't want them together. So one pair (McCabe/Risto) had to shoulder a heavy load. They played a ton every night to start season to keep the minutes of the pairs the kids were on low. (Anytime we dressed 6 dmen throughout the season Risto's pair played a ton for this reason)

3) Joker had solidified a spot by the time Montour is healthy and returns. This leads to either Miller sitting or we dress 7 dmen. Neither situation is ideal because Miller sitting frequently leads to him asking for a trade and the 7 dmen is a bit of a mess.

4) Then Bogo returns further complicating things.

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[Club]

Listen to Eich's comments on chiclets.

Love his style.

 

[Sabre the Win]

Listen to Eich's comments on chiclets.

Love his style.

Kruegers style?

 

[sabremike]

This sums up what I think of Ralph: He had not much talent and meager expectations and his team still failed to live up to them. He was sold as a progressive forward thinker and was anything but, if we want some run of the mill stuck in the mud junk coach there are tons available who at least had some success in this league.

 

[DolanPlsGoSabres]

Can Krueger echo this sentiment to our d-men?

 

[CrazyPsycho]

Saw this in Chads article about how little we used our defenseman offensively or at least in transition.

A Disconnect in Transition

Thanks ralph you buffoon

 

[jc17]

Yeah this is frustrating. Many people were commenting on the stunted offense from the back-end throughout the season. The coach needs to use the strengths of his players

 

[slip]

So far, 2,800 coaches from more than 30 countries have participated, including coaches from youth hockey, men's, women's, college and the professional ranks. They are welcome to stream (or link to later) such offerings as Buffalo Sabres coach Ralph Krueger's presentation, "My Coaching Journey," which has been a popular pick since Krueger has an unconventional path that includes time as chairman of Southampton FC in the English Premier League.

An unconventional path that's yielded mediocre results. Hardly podcast worthy.

 

[joshjull]

Saw this in Chads article about how little we used our defenseman offensively or at least in transition.

A Disconnect in Transition

Thanks ralph you buffoon

That's a clip of Dahlin playing in a 4v4 situation which has nothing to do with our 5v5 transition game. I thought it was pretty disingenuous to include it when I read the article. An article that argues more that we suck in transition as a team. But Chad's got his theme with the defense and he's going to beat it to death.

 

[jputt99]

This is a great discussion and a legitimate question . I don't think Botts brought Krueger in because of his skill in teaching x's and o's . I probably haven't watched as much hockey as some of you , but I have noticed that most of the better teams play with more consistency and discipline . Good coaches get their players to play a certain way and adhere to the system they want to play . I think this is where Ralph can make a difference . Krueger has clearly made some mistakes this year , mismatching lines , putting players in the wrong situation , and pulling the goalie while on the PP . But , the players really seem to love the guy . The coaching and GM situations will take care of themselves . If the team continues to struggle , then change will come .

 

[OkimLom]

This is a great discussion and a legitimate question . I don't think Botts brought Krueger in because of his skill in teaching x's and o's . I probably haven't watched as much hockey as some of you , but I have noticed that most of the better teams play with more consistency and discipline . Good coaches get their players to play a certain way and adhere to the system they want to play . I think this is where Ralph can make a difference . Krueger has clearly made some mistakes this year , mismatching lines , putting players in the wrong situation , and pulling the goalie while on the PP . But , the players really seem to love the guy . The coaching and GM situations will take care of themselves . If the team continues to struggle , then change will come .

The players liked Housley as well, until they started to crap the bed and he didn't make the necessary adjustments to make them competitive. Everyones cool with the guy until it comes down to the thing that fixes everything, winning. If they don't win, the players lose their confidence in the coach.

Their love of the guy should not overrule the results a guys inability to put a consistent product on the ice. If he's failing in multiple areas of the game, he needs to go. If you wanted to bring in a guy that could reach out to the players on a personal level and get their mental frame right, then hire the guy as the team's LIFE Coach, not HOCKEY Coach.

The Coaching and GM situations will not take care of themselves until ownership tasks someone else to find those guys. Sure, a failing coach and GM may get fired, but the change of the results from the team won't happen until you bring in competent personnel at the GM and coaching level. Everytime we say, it can't get worse, we are proven false. We can't assume these things until proven otherwise.

 

[SackTastic]

Kruger has coached THIS team and THESE players for 69 games. And we're already running him out of town. It's fairly sad.

 

[sabremike]

Kruger has coached THIS team and THESE players for 69 games. And we're already running him out of town. It's fairly sad.

And THIS team and THESE players Krueger has coached for 69 games would be right by the historically bad Red Wings in the standings without Jack having a Hart Trophy candidate level season. I have yet to see any evidence that he is either good or effective as a coach or that he is any different than any of the countless no marks they could've hired. He was sold as the coaching equivalent of The Velvet Underground but is actually Nickleback instead.

 

[Ehran]

He was sold as the coaching equivalent of The Velvet Underground but is actually Nickleback instead.

Dude! That's just mean! LOL

 

[CrazyPsycho]

Kruger has coached THIS team and THESE players for 69 games. And we're already running him out of town. It's fairly sad.

I haven't seen any tangible improvements other than Eichels natural development

 

[Fezzy126]

I'm seeing more tidbits like this that promote Buffalo's coaching approach.



Personally, I detested their 5v5 O-zone approach, but I do struggle to figure out how much is personnel vs system. It's part of the reason I've been strongly advocating a grittier, fearless forward arch-type that regularly challenges the high danger areas (e.g. Copp, Anderson, or even Gourde). I would still like to see more action emphasized behind the net than low to high.

 

[Fezzy126]

Systems

It's important to add perspective when talking about some analytics. For example, the Sabres' Corsi deteriorated when Olofsson and Skinner were out of the lineup because Krueger placed a greater emphasis on limiting an opponent's shot quality. He didn't care about the attempts allowed, as long as most were coming from the perimeter. Boring hockey was necessary with that lineup.

However, I need Krueger to explain how he used his defensemen at 5 on 5. The Sabres evolved from run-and-gun under Phil Housley to dump-and-chase with Krueger. The latter approach makes sense with stay-at-home defensemen, but the Sabres' blue line was built to carry the puck into the offensive zone and join the rush.

Why handcuff Rasmus Dahlin by making him dump the puck in as soon as he crosses the red line? The system probably contributed to the improved defensive metrics – there were fewer odd-man rushes against most games – but it resulted in countless empty possessions. It's easier for the coach to change his system than for Botterill to overhaul what's become a much better defense corps. Krueger's strategy makes less sense when you consider how much Botterill gave up to acquire Brandon Montour and Colin Miller, puck-moving defensemen who would have fit well in Housley's system.

Perhaps Krueger will make systematic changes now that his players have developed better habits away from the puck.

 

[TehDoak]

It's unfortunate the roster wasn't better, because we could have judged his coaching better. I personally think he is much more concerned with connecting with the players on a personal level and having his finger on the pulse of the locker room than actual on ice product. His player usage is questionable, but at the same time, the roster is crap, so not sure what exactly we should have done.