Buffalo Sabres & NHL 2018-19: Sabres picking 7th overall (6/21/19). Ralph Krueger hire as new head coach!

[ChevyVanMiller]

Here’s a list of the top prospects. All of the guys in the 6-10 spots look like good fits for what the Sabres need.

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/sportsnets-2019-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-april/

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, shrader said:

This was the second most likely thing that could have happened to the Sabres. The most likely was falling only one spot. So let’s not act as this is some major travesty of justice. Now we just have to sit back and hope they nail it. I’m biased, but I’m guessing it’ll be Zegras. 

 

It was.  Still, frustrating to a degree to know that teams in 2 of the 4 slots they could've ended up in heading into the last 2 games ended up moving up.

 

At least there's no huge difference between 3 and 7.

[The Senator]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

This was the second most likely thing that could have happened to the Sabres. The most likely was falling only one spot. So let’s not act as this is some major travesty of justice. Now we just have to sit back and hope they nail it. I’m biased, but I’m guessing it’ll be Zegras. 

 

We’d be lucky to get Trevor Zegras at #7, but a 6’ 170# center with his scoring and playmaking ability would suit this team just fine.

 

Now let’s sign Alain Vignault.

 

EDIT:  Zegras is headed to Boston University.  He won’t be in the NHL for a few years.  He’s draft eligible, if we want to wait four years, but he’s committed to BU.

.

 

Edited April 10, 2019 by The Senator

[shrader]

5 minutes ago, Taro T said:

 

It was.  Still, frustrating to a degree to know that teams in 2 of the 4 slots they could've ended up in heading into the last 2 games ended up moving up.

 

At least there's no huge difference between 3 and 7.

 

Just wait until we find out that we were one ball away (just like Phil Kessel) from the winning combination. That will give people more to freak out about.

[BillsFan4]

6 minutes ago, shrader said:

 

Just wait until we find out that we were one ball away (just like Phil Kessel) from the winning combination. That will give people more to freak out about.

I remember that from the McDavid year. Everyone was pissed at Edmonton, myself included (I still am! lol) but it was actually Toronto that was next closest to winning him. 

 

They were only 1 number away from McDavid. Buffalo still was 2 numbers away when Edmonton won. 

 

I was absolutely livid he went to Edmonton. I can’t even imagine my outrage has Toronto won. 

Edited April 10, 2019 by BillsFan4

[Taro T]

17 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

I remember that from the McDavid year. Everyone was pissed at Edmonton, myself included (I still am! lol) but it was actually Toronto that was next closest to winning him. 

 

They were only 1 number away from McDavid. Buffalo still was 2 numbers away when Edmonton won. 

 

I was absolutely livid he went to Edmonton. I can’t even imagine my outrage has Toronto won. 

 

Heck, last year after the 3rd ball, Chicago had a better chance than Buffalo but it worked out.

[shrader]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

 

Heck, last year after the 3rd ball, Chicago had a better chance than Buffalo but it worked out.

 

Im sure most of the teams can claim to be one ball away from winning. Whether the only one you missed was the 1st one drawn or the last, you still wind up with 3 out of 4. 

[plenzmd1]

55 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Could you give me a little time to go to the shoe store and buy some heavy duty steel tip work boots? Am I allowed more than one kick? I want to give each foot an opportunity to feel the exhilaration of you writhing on the ground holding your squished nuts. 

This actually had me crying laughing! Well done!

[Taro T]

11 minutes ago, shrader said:

 

Im sure most of the teams can claim to be one ball away from winning. Whether the only one you missed was the 1st one drawn or the last, you still wind up with 3 out of 4. 

 

Considering after any of a 3 ball combination there's about 8 teams spread over the remaining 14 possibilities remaining with a shot, certain that call is correct.  At most there can't be more than 2 or 3 teams that were more than 1 ball away.

[BillsFan4]

17 minutes ago, Taro T said:

 

Heck, last year after the 3rd ball, Chicago had a better chance than Buffalo but it worked out.

Wow. I didn’t know that. 

 

I still feel lucky lucky that we won the Dahlin lottery. I would 100% take the win last year vs. this year. Dahlin would easily be the consensus #1 pick in every draft ranking again this year. 

 

 

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

Wow. I didn’t know that. 

 

I still feel lucky lucky that we won the Dahlin lottery. I would 100% take the win last year vs. this year. Dahlin would easily be the consensus #1 pick in every draft ranking again this year. 

 

 

 

Blackhawks had 3 combos left.  Sabres 2.  Pretty sure 1 other team had 2 as well, but don't recall who that was.

 

Agreed that last year's lottery was a better one to win than this one.  This seems to be a bit of a down year.  Kind of like how 1st prize in '14 wasn't nearly as good to win as '13 or the 2 that followed.

[BillsFan4]

 

Crazy that this was leaked. The tweet was from just under 30 mins before it was broadcast. Someone is getting fired! lol

 

 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Well I certainly feel better that they won those last two for Phil ?

[BillsFan4]

 

 

If true, now what? 

 

Really, the only veteran left is AV (who I’d be happy with, but I have a feeling he’s not interested. Or at least that my worry...).

 

Gonna suck to hire another rookie, or some crappy 3rd-4th choice veteran coach. 

Buffalo probably isn’t the most desirable team at the moment, though. 

 

Edit - sounds like this is true. They are saying it was announced on TSN radio.

Edited April 10, 2019 by BillsFan4

[JohnC]

8 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

 

If true, now what? 

 

Really, the only veteran left is AV (who I’d be happy with, but I have a feeling he’s not interested. Or at least that my worry...).

 

Gonna suck to hire another rookie, or some crappy 3rd-4th choice veteran coach. 

Buffalo probably isn’t the most desirable team at the moment, though. 

McLellan and the similar type of veteran coaches who have repeatedly been recycled are readily available. What is distinguishable about them? Not much. There is no need to rush out and get a coach out of fear that this team will lose out on one of these same uninspiring coaches. There are a number of talented assistant coaches in winning organizations ready to take the step up to being a head coach. Washington was willing to let their Stanley Cup Champion HC, Trotz, leave so that they could elevate their much admired assistant coach in Todd Reirden. When he was an assistant coach there was a lot of interest in him from plenty of other teams. 

 

Trotz with the Islanders has on his staff a highly regarded assistant coach in Lane Lambert. He would be an appealing candidate. When Babcock was with the Red Wings the organization was not sad to see him leave because they had a coach in their system, Jeff Blashill,  who was ready to move up the ranks. Toronto has a coach in their system, Sheldon Keefe, who is also ready.

 

The point that I'm making is that it would be wrong to quickly make a coaching hire out of fear of losing out. In addition, it would be wrong to limit one's options to the same uninspiring grouping of recycled coaches.

 

The Sabres are an attractive team to most head coaching candidates because it has a couple of stars on the roster and it has a core of emerging young players. Now is not the time to panic and rush to make a hire. As teams fall by the wayside during the cup chase there will be more talented coaching prospects added to the list.   

[Dr. Who]

I tend to agree with John C. I wanted Quenneville, actually, but he was never in play. GIven the current situation, I wouldn't dismiss fellas like Keefe. They may very well be better hires than a retread. In retrospect, Housley benefitted from superior talent with the Preds. He was like a prospect rushed up before he is NHL ready. It would be a mistake to overreact and feel compelled to pick a vet coach that is middling.

[BillsFan4]

30 minutes ago, JohnC said:

McLellan and the similar type of veteran coaches who have repeatedly been recycled are readily available. What is distinguishable about them? Not much. There is no need to rush out and get a coach out of fear that this team will lose out on one of these same uninspiring coaches. There are a number of talented assistant coaches in winning organizations ready to take the step up to being a head coach. Washington was willing to let their Stanley Cup Champion HC, Trotz, leave so that they could elevate their much admired assistant coach in Todd Reirden. When he was an assistant coach there was a lot of interest in him from plenty of other teams. 

 

Trotz with the Islanders has on his staff a highly regarded assistant coach in Lane Lambert. He would be an appealing candidate. When Babcock was with the Red Wings the organization was not sad to see him leave because they had a coach in their system, Jeff Blashill,  who was ready to move up the ranks. Toronto has a coach in their system, Sheldon Keefe, who is also ready.

 

The point that I'm making is that it would be wrong to quickly make a coaching hire out of fear of losing out. In addition, it would be wrong to limit one's options to the same uninspiring grouping of recycled coaches.

 

The Sabres are an attractive team to most head coaching candidates because it has a couple of stars on the roster and it has a core of emerging young players. Now is not the time to panic and rush to make a hire. As teams fall by the wayside during the cup chase there will be more talented coaching prospects added to the list.   

 

I do agree about not hiring someone out of fear of losing out. But sometimes you need to act quick when there’s proven coaches available. If we miss out on AV too, then I agree there’s no longer any rush. 

 

I really don’t want another assstant coach though. Not right now anyway...

 

Washington was in a much different position than us, with a veteran team coming off a Cup win. I still think they were nuts for letting Trotz go.

 

But a BIG reason they were willing to let Trotz walk is because their owner is cheap and wasn’t willing to pay Trotz what he deserved. They were only willing to give him something like a $500k raise and he was already making a low salary (MILLIONS less than the top coaches). They also felt very very strongly about Todd rierden. They were blocking him from interviewing for years. He was an in-house candidate the team knew very well. 

 

 

Detroit has yet to recover since Babcock left. Their fans hate Blashill. They’ve finished near the bottom of the NHL basically every year since he was hired. But again, he was another in house candidate that has been groomed by the team for many years. They even brought him up to learn from Babcock before sending him to coach in the AHL. 

 

They were here very sad to see Babcock leave, btw. Ken Holland tried everything he could to get Baba to stay. I followed that whole story very closely. 

 

 

I also disagree about Q, McLellan and Alain Vigneault being just some crappy veteran retreads. All 3 are distinguished veteran NHL coaches with proven track records of success. Q had 3 Cups. 2 of AV’s 3 teams have made the Cup finals and they’ve won 2 presidents trophies. Hisnteams have made the playoffs 9 of the last 10 years. 

McLellan is the least distinguished of the 3 (which is why he was my 3rd choice behind Q and AV) but he still has a proven track record of success. His San Jose teams made the playoffs every year. Had 3 division wins in 6 years. Made the conference finals twice. Took a historically inept Edmonton franchise to a game away from the conference finals in his 2nd year there. 

 

 

As ive said before, I feel that the Buffalo job is quite clearly a heavy lift. I really think we need someone who’s been there and done it before. Not another first time trying to learn on the job. This job has overwhelmed every coach to take it so far.

 

I want someone who’s shown that they can take over a team and improve it. Someone with a track record that will give him instant respect in the Sabres locker room. 

 

The Sabres job is a different situation than most jobs out there. We have a team that has been proven to be difficult to coach. They go off script a LOT and throw the coaches game plan right out the window. 

We don’t have that experienced veteran leadership group to keep all the kids in line. 

 

Thats is a big reason why I think we need a proven veteran coach. Someone that’s a leader and will command the respect of that locker room and change this losing culture, similar to what Babcock did in Toronto or Trotz did with the NYI. Or AV IN Vancouver or NYC

 

i think we need someone with some real credibility, that can actually get these p,Ayers to fully buy in to what they’re doing, and keep that belief if/when times get tough. 

 

 

Still have some hope that we can land AV... though I haven’t heard anything about a possible interview or him being interested. I worry that he’s not (interested)

 

 

I’m not so sure how attractive a franchise we are right now, to be perfectly honest, and you know I’m normally a pretty positive guy. 

 

We’ve fired 5 coaches and 3 GMs just since 2013 (about every 2-3 years). Our current GM is in year 3 and already on his 2nd coach.

3 last place finishes in the past 5 years. Havent finished better than 8th last since 2012.

We have multiple ex-players recently talking about how depressing and soul crushing it was to play in Buffalo. 

 

 

Having said all that, I will find reasons to get excited about anyone we hire. I always do. I am a “look on the bright side”type of guy. I will get on board with whoever we hire. Sometimes I just need to vent is all. 

[ChevyVanMiller]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

 

If true, now what? 

 

Really, the only veteran left is AV (who I’d be happy with, but I have a feeling he’s not interested. Or at least that my worry...).

 

Gonna suck to hire another rookie, or some crappy 3rd-4th choice veteran coach. 

Buffalo probably isn’t the most desirable team at the moment, though. 

 

Edit - sounds like this is true. They are saying it was announced on TSN radio.

I think if I was part of the Sabres brain trust I would wait out the playoffs and see what veteran coaches get the ax because they didn't get their teams to the next level.

[Dante]

Thankfully the Oilers didn't get another #1 overall.

[shrader]

34 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

Detroit has yet to recover since Babcock left. Their fans hate Blashill. They’ve finished near the bottom of the NHL basically every year since he was hired. But again, he was another in house candidate that has been groomed by the team for many years. They even brought him up to learn from Babcock before sending him to coach in the AHL. 

 

They were here very sad to see Babcock leave, btw. Ken Holland tried everything he could to get Baba to stay. I followed that whole story very closely.

 

34 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

I also disagree about Q, McLellan and Alain Vigneault being just some crappy veteran retreads. All 3 are distinguished veteran NHL coaches with proven track records of success. Q had 3 Cups. 2 of AV’s 3 teams have made the Cup finals and they’ve won 2 presidents trophies. Hisnteams have made the playoffs 9 of the last 10 years. 

McLellan is the least distinguished of the 3 (which is why he was my 3rd choice behind Q and AV) but he still has a proven track record of success. His San Jose teams made the playoffs every year. Had 3 division wins in 6 years. Made the conference finals twice. Took a historically inept Edmonton franchise to a game away from the conference finals in his 2nd year there.

 

I cut out these two portions because there's a very obvious trend among the 5 teams listed (2 separate teams for Vigneault).  The four good teams were dripping with talent while it has been essentially absent from that Detroit team.  The coaches definitely play a role in the results, but it's certainly easier to get there when you do have a good roster.  We at least have the makings of some elite talent in the form of our big two, so there's at least something to work with there.