Sabres Should Get Back In Touch With Mike Babcock

[tsujimoto74]

How many of the guys who are there now were on the roster in 2013?

0. Though Matt Ellis is still with the org as a player development coach. Must be him.

 

[Voight]

Buffalo fans turned on Krueger real quick.

As for Babs, I believe it came down to his wife/kids wanting to live in Toronto vs living in Buffalo.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

Krueger seems like he would make a good assistant, just doesn't seem to be head coach material

I do wonder if the Sabres struggles of recent years will maybe convince a team give Bylsma a go. He seems to have gotten the most out of that team compared to the other coaches that have been through there

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Ristolainen, Girgensons, and McCabe make 3.

I was going from 2012-2013, maybe I didnt follow the discussion enough. Missed Girgensons, though. Or, more precisely, I mistakenly thought he left as a UFA this summer.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Babcock is exactly what Buffalo needs. For all his faults, he's still a damn good NHL coach and is a big reason for the culture change with the Leafs.

...but we needed to get rid of him, to be where we are today.

 

[PAZ]

...but we needed to get rid of him, to be where we are today.

oh I don’t disagree with that statement. He made some baffling decisions in Toronto.

But he is a proven winner and knows how to right a ship.

 

[Halakitlikethat]

Buffalo should hire Michel Therien. Not joking

 

[hanshin44]

As a Red Wings fan I'll tell you one thing: Don't sign Babcock.
He's not a bad coach, but for all his proven "winning" there is a history of missed chances. Red Wings prospects got stagnated and never got to crack the roster, lines were constantly changed, and players were not properly utilized. Those Wings teams in his last years with the team were mediocre and held back by his coaching. He achieved five first round exits in his last six years, and one year without.

 

[Kuznetsnow]

Claude Julien would be a better fit, he was able to pull together an extremely solid team in Boston. Tortorella if he becomes available would be as well. Buffalo needs above all else a competent coach who won't play favorites and will put players where they'd have the most to offer. That means Skinner with Eichel, Hall driving his own line from the wing, Dahlin being leaned on to rush the puck and be creative offensively. Right now its like they're trying to gaslight their own players and put them at odds with themselves.

 

[GrkFlyersFan]

Kruger is going to get unfairly blamed for being dropped into a very difficult division. In a normal year, they would have had a chance to make the playoffs. Also, Therrien is on the Flyers staff. Julien, Babs or Boudreau would all be good.

 

[SlimCharles]

Sabres need a president of hockey operations and a new (good) coach. The Pegulas run the Bills extremely well but the Sabres are the exact opposite, hence the need for a hockey opps president. They really don't know what they're doing in this sport. Also that O'Reilly trade was complete garbage and set the organization back quite a bit. The players are poisoned by losing, it's just constant every single year. There are more problems in addition to what I mentioned but those are the most important things right now. They also seem to lack a true leader on the ice. I love Jack Eichel but he's not much of a leader to me. Other than him they have zero leadership. It's been quite painful to be a Sabres fan the past 10 years, growing up they were competitive almost every year.

 

[LOFIN]

"a bully". so ridiculous. these are grown men

Some of the stuff he has allegedly done (by players who have played under him) is stuff that wouldn't fly in the f***ing military today. Yes, professional sports is not directly comparable to your normal every day job, but humiliating your subordinates to establish who is the boss is not 21st century.

One time during warm-up before a game against Colorado, and at that time one warm-up player did not get to play in the game, he pointed at me and said: "You're not playing". So I start to change, but then he asks: "What the hell are you doing?". I just replied that he told me I wasn't playing. Then I had to go and change in the shower instead. This was the kind of things he was doing.

- Tony Mårtensson

That doesn't sound to me like stuff you pull on a grown ass men. Or anyone for that matter.

 

[leafsfan5]

Honestly he wouldn’t be bad for the Sabres. Babs is a floor raiser, he can take a team that’s terrible and get them to play semi decent hockey. Now if you want to take the next step he’s awful, but Buffalo is like 20 steps away from that. He could come in and help turn the tide for a couple of seasons

Julien is also a good option, he’s a guy who can get the most out of the parts you give him

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

As a Red Wings fan I'll tell you one thing: Don't sign Babcock.
He's not a bad coach, but for all his proven "winning" there is a history of missed chances. Red Wings prospects got stagnated and never got to crack the roster, lines were constantly changed, and players were not properly utilized. Those Wings teams in his last years with the team were mediocre and held back by his coaching. He achieved five first round exits in his last six years, and one year without.

1) If the Sabres ever hire Babs I’ll stop all support of the team. Big deal, I know, and no one has to agree- but morally I just wouldn’t be cool with it.
2) He’s also a bit.. outdated, at best? Some argue he was gifted good teams for those championships, idk, but to me the game has changed so much and he hasn’t- like, Jesus, in what other industry do successes from 15 years ago imply success today? If it demonstrably still works, sure, but in Babs case it’s like we’ve gone from beepers to cell phones.

 

[Rcknrollkillnmachine]

The only man who can turn this around is Babcock particularly as for him he would want to get one over the Leafs with the Sabres when the opportunity arises e.g. perhaps bouncing them in the play-offs.

Krueger seems great as a coach in the World Championships when playing weak opposition and one-off games against powerhouses to a point.

I thought he'd do some good at Buffalo but I was very much mistaken. He needs to go.

 

[JoemAvs]

Babcock is a 2020 bully, Mike Keenan was a bully back in the 80s/90s, he would rightfully be considered criminally abusive in today's NHL

Times have changed. The newer generation of players doesn't respond as well to these types of coaches as older generations did.
Coaches also can't get away with that stuff as easy anymore in times of social media and in 2021 where people have recognized how that kind of behaviour is no longer acceptable in the workplace in that form.

Thats why this idea is pretty horrible. What they need is better management. Before that any new coach is doomed. And then they need a younger coach that can get the best out of an enigmatic personality like Eichel and coach up the likes of Skinner or even Dahlin who looks a bit lost.
Easier said than done but the one guy that really doesn't fit the bill here is freaking Babcock.

Odds are a team will be desperate and stupid enough to give him another chance but I don't think he will ever come close to the type of success he had in Detroit.
He is a worse version of Mourinho to me. The game and time has passed him but an arrogant prick who thinks he can still do like he always did and that it is everyone elses fault that the results are nowhere near as good as they once were...

 

[RogerR]

Can Mike's ego accept coaching in Buffalo for a lot less money? Because the 50 million deals are done for him.

 

[JadedLeaf]

Can Mike Babcock get back in touch with Mike Babcock? Mike Babcock bets that Mike Babcock can get back to babcocking the way Mike Babcock knows he can.

 

[NK94]

Kruger is going to get unfairly blamed for being dropped into a very difficult division. In a normal year, they would have had a chance to make the playoffs. Also, Therrien is on the Flyers staff. Julien, Babs or Boudreau would all be good.

In a normal year, they'd still be battling with Detroit and Ottawa for the bottom of the Atlantic. Don't kid yourself.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I think Boudreau is the better bet.

Also saying this because I don't want Boudreau to end up in Seattle.

 

[hanshin44]

The only man who can turn this around is Babcock particularly as for him he would want to get one over the Leafs with the Sabres when the opportunity arises e.g. perhaps bouncing them in the play-offs.

Krueger seems great as a coach in the World Championships when playing weak opposition and one-off games against powerhouses to a point.

I thought he'd do some good at Buffalo but I was very much mistaken. He needs to go.

I'm getting the feeling that a lot of people are giving Babcock all this credit without having experienced him coaching their team.
Babcock nearly resulted in Datsyuk and Zetterberg leaving the Detroit Red Wings, and only continually wasted his years with the Wings. Flip flopping lines every other game.
Leafs fans claimed he was their savior, and refused to listen when people said it was a mistake (including me at the time). Highest paid coach in the league when he went to Toronto and brought them nothing but first round exits.
I can nane five coaches who would do a better job and several of those being unattached.

 

[haveandare]

Babcock is a dinosaur who succeeded riding a handful of hall of fame players. There was a time where he was a good idea for a coach but that time has passed imo.

 

[PAZ]

Can Mike's ego accept coaching in Buffalo for a lot less money? Because the 50 million deals are done for him.

Toronto is paying him $5.8 mil till 2023. Any extra salary he ‘earns’ he actually doesn’t make, it just gets deducted from his paycheque from the Leafs. The issue is that if a team like Buffalo wanted to hire him for $2 mil and Babcock agrees, Toronto could still say no unless they offered 4 mil (just an example).

 

[Menzinger]

I think Boudreau is the better bet.

Definitely.

 

[Menzinger]

Sign him if the plan is to move forward with vets (especially free agents). If the team is focused on youth and bringing up prospects look elsewhere