BillsFan4 Posted January 15, 2020 Author Posted January 15, 2020 This is freaking nuts! Las Vegas has lost their minds! Gallant is about as good a coach as you can get. If we didn’t have Ralph Krueger I would be begging the Sabres to fire whoever the coach was. I love the style of play Gallant pushes. It’s basically the same thing Krueger preaches. Constant puck pressure. I don’t see this firing going over well with LV players... 4
eball Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 12 hours ago, JohnC said: The Sabres home record is 14-6-3. That's impressive. They have to be better on the road. I thought the Sabres played a simple and sound game against a tough and good team. The difference for us is that our PP is starting to click. Risto playing low instead of high has made a difference. With Risto playing near the crease on the PP it has opened up space for Reinhart and his quick shot. The pass from Risto to Reinhart was pretty. When our goalie plays well we usually are in the game. I thought Ullmark kept us in this game although he seemed to scramble a tad too much. Buffalo is privileged to have a player like Eichel playing for us. The Sabres have certainly had their ups and downs this season. The difference is that after their down games this team is able to rebound. It is a much more mentally tough and resilient team. What's obvious is that the HC sets the tone. The link includes a number of post-game comments from the coach and some players. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/1-14-ralph-krueger-post-game Ullmark was a mess in the 2nd period, I'm glad he settled down. Very good win. 1
shrader Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 31 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: This is freaking nuts! Las Vegas has lost their minds! Gallant is about as good a coach as you can get. If we didn’t have Ralph Krueger I would be begging the Sabres to fire whoever the coach was. I love the style of play Gallant pushes. It’s basically the same thing Krueger preaches. Constant puck pressure. I don’t see this firing going over well with LV players... DeBoer is such an odd case too. If there is such a thing as journeyman coach, he's quickly becoming that. He's had a head coaching job in every single season since his first hire in 2008-09 and he's now off to his 4th team over that time. He gets 3-4 years at each stop, gets fired, and then immediately gets a new job. Outside of his time with perennial contender San Jose, there really isn't much to write about over that time (one cup final run with NJ). 2
snafu Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: This is freaking nuts! Las Vegas has lost their minds! Gallant is about as good a coach as you can get. If we didn’t have Ralph Krueger I would be begging the Sabres to fire whoever the coach was. I love the style of play Gallant pushes. It’s basically the same thing Krueger preaches. Constant puck pressure. I don’t see this firing going over well with LV players... Talk about a quick hook! Maybe there's a good reason for this firing, but it doesn't appear so on the surface. Did ownership expect a Finals appearance every season? 1
JohnC Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 2 hours ago, eball said: Ullmark was a mess in the 2nd period, I'm glad he settled down. Very good win. I thought he was flopping too much and leaving the crease exposed. There were more than a few occasions where the net was wide open with the goalie on his belly or back with the opposition in position for an easy tap in. We were fortunate that the Knights were not being able to get a stick on the puck during those glaring opportunities.
JohnC Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 The below link is a post-game interview of Risto. After last year's season he expressed his desire to be traded. In this 4 minute clip in an interview with Paul Hamilton he seems very happy with his play and with the team's play. Krueger has done well putting him and other players in a position to succeed. Coaching matters! https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/01-15-rasmus-ristolainen
BillsFan4 Posted January 15, 2020 Author Posted January 15, 2020 (edited) Seems like an overreaction to me. Yeah, they’ve lost their last 4 games, but he’s had unprecedented success with the LVK’s expansion team. They were in the Cup finals in their first season of existence! (which was only 2 years ago) Edited January 15, 2020 by BillsFan4 1
shrader Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 30 minutes ago, JohnC said: I thought he was flopping too much and leaving the crease exposed. There were more than a few occasions where the net was wide open with the goalie on his belly or back with the opposition in position for an easy tap in. We were fortunate that the Knights were not being able to get a stick on the puck during those glaring opportunities. That's a very common thing in Ullmark starts. It drives me mad. 1
snafu Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 4 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: Seems like an overreaction to me. Yeah, they’ve lost their last 4 games, but he’s had unprecedented success with the LVK’s expansion team. They were in the Cup finals in their first season of existence! (which was only 2 years ago) Similar (except leaving him at the airport) to his getting canned from Florida. That team wasn’t half bad, either. 1
BillsFan4 Posted January 15, 2020 Author Posted January 15, 2020 Just finished listening to McCrimmon’s press conference (uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...), and yeah, it definitely seems like a hasty decision to me. He couldn’t even say exactly why Gallant was fired. Said it was a gut feeling and it’s hard to describe the reason unless you’re around teams every day. Then he even says how the team is still in the playoff mix and the bottom hasn’t fallen out to force Gallant’s firing or anything like that. He was actually touting that they’re still in the mix! Feels like change for the sake of change more than anything else. I would be left with an awful lot of questions about Kelly McCrimmon if I were a VGK fan. Deboer is going to be under almost immediate pressure to win.
shrader Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 And now watch as Gallant winds up being the head coach in Seattle.
BillsFan4 Posted January 15, 2020 Author Posted January 15, 2020 5 minutes ago, shrader said: And now watch as Gallant winds up being the head coach in Seattle. Right? lol That would be awesome. But I don’t think he will last that long. If they came into the league next season I feel like it would be a lock. But they don’t start playing until 2021/22 season. I can’t imagine another tram not hiring Gallant before then, unless he decides to wait for Seattle or something (they’d have to make him a ridiculous offer I’d think). I just don't want him back in the east. I could see New Jersey going after him (if they were smart), but it could hurt them not having their long term GM in place right now. They kind of have to hire a GM first, unless they’re planning on naming Tom Fitzgerald full time GM.
shrader Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said: Right? lol That would be awesome. But I don’t think he will last that long. If they came into the league next season I feel like it would be a lock. But they don’t start playing until 2021/22 season. I can’t imagine another tram not hiring Gallant before then, unless he decides to wait for Seattle or something (they’d have to make him a ridiculous offer I’d think). I just don't want him back in the east. I could see New Jersey going after him (if they were smart), but it could hurt them not having their long term GM in place right now. They kind of have to hire a GM first, unless they’re planning on naming Tom Fitzgerald full time GM. I can't imagine there's anything that could stop Seattle from hiring him and putting him on the payroll right now. Also, I don't know how much time was left on his contract, but as of today he's being paid to sit on the couch. He might enjoy the down time and be content with waiting. Hynes and DeBoer didn't, but everyone's different. I guess it depends on which job becomes available. If someone like Ottawa or Detroit comes calling, I'm letting that call go to voice mail.
snafu Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 1 hour ago, shrader said: I guess it depends on which job becomes available. If someone like Ottawa or Detroit comes calling, I'm letting that call go to voice mail. I'd take the call from Yzerman.
Taro T Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 1 hour ago, shrader said: I can't imagine there's anything that could stop Seattle from hiring him and putting him on the payroll right now. Also, I don't know how much time was left on his contract, but as of today he's being paid to sit on the couch. He might enjoy the down time and be content with waiting. Hynes and DeBoer didn't, but everyone's different. I guess it depends on which job becomes available. If someone like Ottawa or Detroit comes calling, I'm letting that call go to voice mail. Pretty sure his contract ran through next season. Which makes his departure perfect for Seattle to snag him if they want. Could probably even give him some sort of "consultant" title to keep Vegas on the hook for as many $'a as possible.
Helpmenow Posted January 15, 2020 Posted January 15, 2020 Again prior management kept Ruff forever. These other franchises get rid of a coach after two average years.
BillsFan4 Posted January 16, 2020 Author Posted January 16, 2020 ?? I loved Girgensons quote. 4 hours ago, shrader said: I can't imagine there's anything that could stop Seattle from hiring him and putting him on the payroll right now. Also, I don't know how much time was left on his contract, but as of today he's being paid to sit on the couch. He might enjoy the down time and be content with waiting. Hynes and DeBoer didn't, but everyone's different. I guess it depends on which job becomes available. If someone like Ottawa or Detroit comes calling, I'm letting that call go to voice mail. Yeah, they can definitely hire him if they want. They already hired Ron Francis as their GM months ago. It’ll all come down to what Gallant wants. If he’s content to sit back for a year then it seems like a no-brainer hire (though the pressure might be high to repeat what he did in LV). But I think he’s going to get quite a few offers this offseason (maybe sooner). I’ll be surprised if he’s not tempted by some team to get back to work sooner. It would be pretty cool to see him to go Seattle though.
JohnC Posted January 16, 2020 Posted January 16, 2020 The below WGR link is a 9 min Krueger interview the day after yesterday's game. A segment of the interview talked about Risto and his play. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/ristolainen-enjoying-his-playing-time-under-krueger?view=getnewpost 1
BillsFan4 Posted January 16, 2020 Author Posted January 16, 2020 1 hour ago, JohnC said: The below WGR link is a 9 min Krueger interview the day after yesterday's game. A segment of the interview talked about Risto and his play. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/ristolainen-enjoying-his-playing-time-under-krueger?view=getnewpost Krueger’s been great for Ristolainen. Im so glad that he’s happy here and wants to stay. We are finally seeing start to fully live up to his potential and I’m glad it’s happening in a Sabres uniform instead of watching him get traded elsewhere and thrive.
bbb Posted January 16, 2020 Posted January 16, 2020 2 hours ago, JohnC said: The below WGR link is a 9 min Krueger interview the day after yesterday's game. A lot of people would call that today
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