Ralph KruEger hired to coach the Sabres

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WeDislikeEich

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Jun 22, 2015
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Just came across these articles today. Sorry if some have already been posted.

Profiles in coaching: Ralph Krueger

Other Experience
Ralph Krueger never got close to the NHL as a player; instead, he went to Germany at the age of 20 and enjoyed a playing career that spanned a little over a decade before he got into coaching. He spent time as the head coach of VEU Feldkirch in Austria, leading the club to five consecutive championships. In 1998, VEU Feldkirch defeated Dynamo Moscow to win the European Hockey League – an event which saw the best teams in Europe compete against each other for the title of European champion. It’s the only time an Austrian team has won the event.
In 1998, Krueger left his position with VEU Feldkirch to become the head coach of the Swiss national team. That same year, he guided the team to its best World Championship showing since the 1950’s, finishing fourth after a surprising victory over Russia. It was the first time in six years that the Swiss finished higher than 10th; they would not fail to finish higher than 10th over the next dozen years, all overseen by Krueger.

As Krueger put it:As a national coach, I define success over longer periods. When my time is done, I want to know the programme has moved forward and developed. We were 18th in the world in 1997 and now we’re seventh in the world rankings.

Interview with Krueger from his time with the Swiss team -

Coach Krueger balances ambition and pragmatism

And a few more -



Fellow coaches expect Ralph Krueger to thrive, adjust with Sabres


International man of sports: | The Manitoban

Is Ralph Krueger a possibility for the Canucks head coaching gig?

 

haseoke39

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Mar 29, 2011
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Going back to 2013. Where am I wrong:

Ruff
Fired because: the Sabres used to have standards.

Rolston
Hired because: the Sabres were finally going to rebuild, and he was a development coach.
Fired because: the fans chanted "fire Darcy" a month into the season, and Terry had no idea what else to do. Miller said on his last day that guys had just started figuring out his system. Who knows how it would have played out.

Nolan
Hired because: Pure sentimentality. Patty loved him in 96, Terry loved Patty, and Terry probably loved 96.
Fired because: No system to go with his compete. Team knew they were lambs to the slaughter, gave up at the end.

Bylsma
Hired because: One of the few available guys with a cup on their resume, long winning record. Coached Crosby and knew how to deploy a team built around 1-2 superstars. Pittsburgh connection with Pegula.
Fired because: Super low-event system didn't suit the personnel. Stubborn insistence on the stretch pass instead of carrying the puck through the neutral zone, which is literally Eichel's best skill (friction rumored). Team totally gave up at the end.

Housley
Hired because: Nashville's D played like the polar opposite of Bylsma's system. Had never been fired. Another sentimental favorite.
Fired because: Baffling utilization. While the game was more up-tempo in transition and on offence, they looked lost in their own end. Team totally gave up at the end again.

Krueger
Hired because: We've tried playing fast. We've tried playing slow. We've tried playing for a motivator. We've tried playing for tacticians. Now we have no idea what we want, so maybe we should try a guy who we have no idea what he's gonna give us.
 
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jc17

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Jun 14, 2013
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I'd say ruff firing was pressure. He was the scape goat for too long.

Rolston wasn't good. Maybe Darcy felt the seat getting warm but ron wasn't doing a good job developing
 

GameMisconduct

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Jul 20, 2006
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Rolston used to be my top choice for worst coach in Sabre history. Then they hired Phil.
I'm with you, Rolston was a terrible hire, abjectly horrible and just out of his depth. I hated his tenure and still get PTSD flashbacks on occaision when someone drinks from a water bottle in a creepy manner.

But last season with Phil was like Sith level hate.
 
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Dingo44

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Rolston used to be my top choice for worst coach in Sabre history. Then they hired Phil.

I have just never seen the team less inspired and felt more defeated as a Sabre fan so quickly as when they had Rolston. Not that Phil wasn't horrible, but I hated every second of Rolston's tenure.
 
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Snippit

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Dec 5, 2012
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Bylsma was slightly better at getting results than Phil, but the games were painfully boring.

With Phil at least there were entertaining games here and there, even though as a whole we sucked.
 

Chainshot

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I think the ability of a coach to work with and motivate the veterans gets overlooked. I think they look at the situation here, decide it's hopeless, and give up.

It should not be overlooked that a couple of very hard working veterans who wanted to be in Buffalo got grief from some of the current not-as-young but still young players on this team. Gionta and Gorges per different reporters were laughed at by the kids for how they approached the game. It doesn't seem like they've had vets who have put themselves forward since and the ones who they have had haven't worked just like the kids haven't. It's a perfect storm.
 

Jim Bob

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Feb 27, 2002
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It should not be overlooked that a couple of very hard working veterans who wanted to be in Buffalo got grief from some of the current not-as-young but still young players on this team. Gionta and Gorges per different reporters were laughed at by the kids for how they approached the game. It doesn't seem like they've had vets who have put themselves forward since and the ones who they have had haven't worked just like the kids haven't. It's a perfect storm.

Gionta, Gorges, and ROR all had reps as hard workers.

They all tried to influence the kids.

And they are all gone.

It will be interesting to see if Dahlin, who has a rep as a really hard worker, can change that culture.
 

Chainshot

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Gionta, Gorges, and ROR all had reps as hard workers.

They all tried to influence the kids.

And they are all gone.

It will be interesting to see if Dahlin, who has a rep as a really hard worker, can change that culture.

Agreed. I hope he influences his roommate for one, but the younger guys in general. And I hope some of the punk stuff is maturing out of some of the guys.

I’m still not a fan of some of the older vets who Murray acquired. Kane and Bogosian both on rep had questions about their prep before they arrived. Not people who kids need to be looking up to.
 

boots electric

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It should not be overlooked that a couple of very hard working veterans who wanted to be in Buffalo got grief from some of the current not-as-young but still young players on this team. Gionta and Gorges per different reporters were laughed at by the kids for how they approached the game. It doesn't seem like they've had vets who have put themselves forward since and the ones who they have had haven't worked just like the kids haven't. It's a perfect storm.

I still question how true this story is/was, especially given that some of it came from the same crew that wanted to chase O'Reilly out of town. I simply don't trust anyone remotely close to Buffalo media to not push an agenda, and "young kids don't work hard and make fun of the old successful guys that do" sounds like some tailor-made lunch-pail blue-collar bullshit
 
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Doug Prishpreed

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Agreed. I hope he influences his roommate for one, but the younger guys in general. And I hope some of the punk stuff is maturing out of some of the guys.

I’m still not a fan of some of the older vets who Murray acquired. Kane and Bogosian both on rep had questions about their prep before they arrived. Not people who kids need to be looking up to.

Eichel seems extremely mature for his age...I don't live in Buffalo but I hear a lot of stories from younger cousins who see a different side of him regularly out at the bars. Nothing scandalous but I have to remind myself how young he still is sometimes.

I guess it's impossible to know what's really going wrong in that locker room, but I think you're right about us not having a foundation of strong, positive influences when the young guys started arriving. The vets we had didn't cut it both in terms of quality and quantity.
 

DatGuy

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Sep 25, 2015
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I'd say ruff firing was pressure. He was the scape goat for too long.

Rolston wasn't good. Maybe Darcy felt the seat getting warm but ron wasn't doing a good job developing
No enough time to determine if he was good or not. But it doesn’t matter now anyways. If the sabres start out 1-12 do we fire another HC?
 

Buffaloed

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It should not be overlooked that a couple of very hard working veterans who wanted to be in Buffalo got grief from some of the current not-as-young but still young players on this team. Gionta and Gorges per different reporters were laughed at by the kids for how they approached the game. It doesn't seem like they've had vets who have put themselves forward since and the ones who they have had haven't worked just like the kids haven't. It's a perfect storm.
That's the cost of tanking and why I don't support it. Players lose respect for the game and the people around them. When you tank there will be some players that know no other way than to compete 100% of the time and others that will say why bother, we're supposed to lose? That leads to conflict. The same goes for the fans, as you well know.
 
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Chainshot

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Eichel seems extremely mature for his age...I don't live in Buffalo but I hear a lot of stories from younger cousins who see a different side of him regularly out at the bars. Nothing scandalous but I have to remind myself how young he still is sometimes.

I guess it's impossible to know what's really going wrong in that locker room, but I think you're right about us not having a foundation of strong, positive influences when the young guys started arriving. The vets we had didn't cut it both in terms of quality and quantity.

I’ve interacted with players and their antics since the 80s. It’s always interesting to see when the penny drops, when they discover that taken care of them selves and treating this like a vocation is important. Sometimes it takes marriage or children or an injury. And sometimes they don’t grow up, and those guys sometimes don’t last.

Often enough it’s a little bit of adversity that brings maturity. Some people gravitate toward it and some people push it away. As the elder statesman of my cohort, I had people who sought me out to find out how I did the work that I did and I had others who actively made fun of my presence in the department. I would assume that in hockey as in real life the same sort of things happen. Some people are going to gravitate toward veterans and some aren’t.
 

GameMisconduct

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Jul 20, 2006
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That's the cost of tanking and why I don't support it. Players lose respect for the game and the people around them. When you tank there will be some players that know no other way than to compete 100% of the time and others that will say why bother, we're supposed to lose? That leads to conflict. The same goes for the fans, as you well know.

Yeah, especially I think when your team is bottom feeding for an extended period. I love that we have Dahlin, but it's willfully ignorant to think there's no cost to those seasons.

Something else I think is damaging and that erodes respect for the game (and here I will give the younger players some slack) is when roster spots don't depend on performance. Lack of competition is a lack of motivation in situations like that, especially when you have players that are literally among the worst in the league who are permanent fixtures in the the coaches line up and younger players who perform better (or heck, even just might) don't get a fair chance or have the shortest of leashes.
 
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Jame

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Sep 4, 2002
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Going back to 2013. Where am I wrong:

Ruff
Fired because: the Sabres used to have standards.

Fired because decision to rebuild had been made

Rolston
Hired because: the Sabres were finally going to rebuild, and he was a development coach.
Fired because: the fans chanted "fire Darcy" a month into the season, and Terry had no idea what else to do. Miller said on his last day that guys had just started figuring out his system. Who knows how it would have played out.

Hired because Darcy had no network, and it was an in season hiring
Fired because it was a full house cleaning.

Nolan
Hired because: Pure sentimentality. Patty loved him in 96, Terry loved Patty, and Terry probably loved 96.
Fired because: No system to go with his compete. Team knew they were lambs to the slaughter, gave up at the end.

Fired because the tank was over

Bylsma
Hired because: One of the few available guys with a cup on their resume, long winning record. Coached Crosby and knew how to deploy a team built around 1-2 superstars. Pittsburgh connection with Pegula.
Fired because: Super low-event system didn't suit the personnel. Stubborn insistence on the stretch pass instead of carrying the puck through the neutral zone, which is literally Eichel's best skill (friction rumored). Team totally gave up at the end.

yup

Housley
Hired because: Nashville's D played like the polar opposite of Bylsma's system. Had never been fired. Another sentimental favorite.
Fired because: Baffling utilization. While the game was more up-tempo in transition and on offence, they looked lost in their own end. Team totally gave up at the end again.

Hired because preferred choices said no.

Krueger
Hired because: We've tried playing fast. We've tried playing slow. We've tried playing for a motivator. We've tried playing for tacticians. Now we have no idea what we want, so maybe we should try a guy who we have no idea what he's gonna give us.

The only thing Botts is interested in is building the right culture through people, instead of through hockey...... so he hired a guy who has written books. :sarcasm:
 
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