Buffalo Sabres & NHL 2020-2021

[Bob in Mich]

9 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

The funny thing is *most* major league coaches, in any sport, tend to be this way.

They have learned 1 way to do it coming up through their career, and only 1 way.

 

They then shove that system onto the players even when it doesn't work.

 

A master chef can make a great meal no matter what's looking good at the market that day.

 

Not the same with professional sports coaching.

 

Obviously, Ralph was a huge mistake.  That point is beyond argument at this point.

 

So the only question to ask, right now, is why is Ralph still around?

 

Money?  Terry actually thinks he'll turn it around?  Terry is waiting for their #1 replacement option to become available?

If it's the latter, they should still fire Ralph immediately.

 

Retaining him at this point is bad for everyone involved.  It makes Pegula look like an idiot or a jerk.  It casts a really dark shadow on the Sabres brand, as viewed from around the league.

 

And it puts poor old Ralph is a really bad spot too.  He ran out of things to say a long time ago.  

 

He should be removed immediately, with an interim put in place until their ideal replacement candidate can be made available.

 

So again, why in the world is Ralph still around?

 

Good question, isn't it?

  

 

I think it was Lance Lysowski(sp) that said this season, due to no fans, management is way less responsive to the fan complaints.  That makes the most sense to me.  

[BillsFan4]

I heard that the upper body injury Eichel sustained at the beginning of training camp was 2-3 cracked ribs but I can’t find a source for it.

 

This is the closest I can find:

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-nhl-ralph-krueger-jack-eichel-coronavirus-pandemic-008ae1601b5d9394fcc16024814a97a0

 

AP confirms it was a rib injury but doesn’t go into detail.
 

It would make sense why he was struggling If he was playing through a rib injury like that. Rib injuries are super painful. I fractured 3 ribs in a car accident a couple years ago and damn was it painful. It hurt to even breathe. Laughing or coughing was ridiculously painful. I couldn’t imagine having that injury and full grown pro athletes slamming into me. 

[SinceThe70s]

2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

I heard that the upper body injury Eichel sustained at the beginning of training camp was 2-3 cracked ribs but I can’t find a source for it.

 

This is the closest I can find:

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-nhl-ralph-krueger-jack-eichel-coronavirus-pandemic-008ae1601b5d9394fcc16024814a97a0

 

AP confirms it was a rib injury but doesn’t go into detail.
 

It would make sense why he was struggling If he was playing through a rib injury like that. Rib injuries are super painful. I fractured 3 ribs in a car accident a couple years ago and damn was it painful. It hurt to even breathe. Laughing or coughing was ridiculously painful. I couldn’t imagine having that injury and full grown pro athletes slamming into me. 

 

I had a minor cracked rib once, slept on it and the next morning ended up writhing on the floor in pain with every breath I tried to take. 

 

No clue what's going on with Eichel, but if he's a guy that's playing through pain and not b!tchin about it he's a guy I'd want to hold on to.

[Rockpile233]

I think they should have open fan tryouts at this point.

 

Would be more fun to watch! 

[thenorthremembers]

If Ralph isnt fired after tonight...

Hutton shouldnt be in the NH, Stahl is horrendous, Dahlin and Colin Miller look like they both belong on the Amerks.

 

What a total pukefest.

[BADOLBILZ]

47 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

If Ralph isnt fired after tonight...

Hutton shouldnt be in the NH, Stahl is horrendous, Dahlin and Colin Miller look like they both belong on the Amerks.

 

What a total pukefest.

 

 

On the plus side.......almost to the half way point of season.

[Nextmanup]

I watched the entire game tonight against the Caps.

 

This is a low point in a season of low points.  The team quit!  

 

If Ralph isn't fired TOMORROW, this franchise will suffer irrevocable damage.

 

This is on TERRY PEGULA and no one else.

 

RALPH MUST BE FIRED TOMORROW.

 

 

[Jauronimo]

26 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

I watched the entire game tonight against the Caps.

 

This is a low point in a season of low points.  The team quit!  

 

If Ralph isn't fired TOMORROW, this franchise will suffer irrevocable damage.

 

This is on TERRY PEGULA and no one else.

 

RALPH MUST BE FIRED TOMORROW.

 

 

Ralph isn't going anywhere.  No amount of ranting and raving is going to change that.

[oldmanfan]

6 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

I watched the entire game tonight against the Caps.

 

This is a low point in a season of low points.  The team quit!  

 

If Ralph isn't fired TOMORROW, this franchise will suffer irrevocable damage.

 

This is on TERRY PEGULA and no one else.

 

RALPH MUST BE FIRED TOMORROW.

 

 

Sure. Fire him.  Then the players can quit on the next guy.  Like they did on Bylsma and Housley, and now Ralph.  

 

I'm sorry, but when you have the kind of (non) effort you saw yesterday that should be all you need to see to determine it's about the players.  No heart, no guts, no pride, no nothing.  Risto seemed to say it's just the way it is and he can't change it?  How about some effort, some veteran leadership?

 

Adams made his NHL living by his work ethic.  He must be steaming, knowing he wants to get rid of practically every guy on the roster, and that it's impossible to do so right now.  

 

Ralph will be gone soon.  I hope most of this roster goes with him.  

[ChevyVanMiller]

After last night’s performance, surely they will fire Ralph...

 

https://media.giphy.com/media/UVwoTQ0OvhqohViQqC/giphy.gif

 

 

 

 

[Greg S]

On 3/12/2021 at 2:55 PM, BillsFan4 said:

 

Vogl tweeted that it was actually even worse. Only 856 tickets sold so far.

 

I’m surprised they were even able to sell 850! 😂 

 

When Bills tickets go on sale I bet they sell 60,000 seasons easy. If they don't cap it then it will probably be more. The Bills will be sold out for the season before the season even starts.  Why should fans spend their hard earned money to watch a mess. The Sabres don't deserve fans to spend money on them. The Bills do.

[Bob in Mich]

The realization that you care more about the team winning than the team,  is sobering.  Makes one feel a bit foolish

[Rockpile233]

4 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

Sure. Fire him.  Then the players can quit on the next guy.  Like they did on Bylsma and Housley, and now Ralph.  

 

I'm sorry, but when you have the kind of (non) effort you saw yesterday that should be all you need to see to determine it's about the players.  No heart, no guts, no pride, no nothing.  Risto seemed to say it's just the way it is and he can't change it?  How about some effort, some veteran leadership?

 

Adams made his NHL living by his work ethic.  He must be steaming, knowing he wants to get rid of practically every guy on the roster, and that it's impossible to do so right now.  

 

Ralph will be gone soon.  I hope most of this roster goes with him.  

I completely agree. I blame the owners most followed by the players and finally whatever coach they are cycling through at the moment. This is not an endorsement for Kreuger who is clearly in over his head BTY.

 

I’m just sick of hearing guys like Reinhart say it’s hard to muster up the energy. (And yes I know he’s been one of the decent pieces) Sound bites like that are a big part of the issue. Whether the specific cause is quitting on this coach or being burned out by years of losing or having an issue with competitiveness...I don’t think anyone really cares at this point. Take this awful season out of the equation and we’ve still seen these core guys have trouble mustering the energy period to period at the sign of any adversity.

 

You learn early in business school that when the culture is poisoned you need to change the people. As many as possible as quickly as possible. (Hmmm sounds like something another coach/GM pair did when they came to town).

 

 

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

12 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

Hutton shouldn't be in the NHL

 

Who shouldn't be playing in the NHL right now (too young, too old, not good enough):

 

Rasmus Asplund 
William Borgen 
Brandon Davidson 
Cody Eakin 
Taylor Hall 
Carter Hutton 
Matt Irwin 
Jonas Johansson 
Colin Miller 
Casey Mittelstadt 
Brandon Montour 
Kyle Okposo
Tobias Rieder 
Riley Sheahan 
Jeff Skinner 
C.J. Smith 
Eric Staal 
Tage Thompson     
Dustin Tokarski 

 

Who should be playing in the NHL right now:

 

Jacob Bryson 
Dylan Cozens 
Rasmus Dahlin 
Jack Eichel
Zemgus Girgensons
Curtis Lazar 
Jake McCabe
Victor Olofsson 
Sam Reinhart 
Rasmus Ristolainen     
Linus Ullmark     

 

[BillsFan4]

12 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

On the plus side.......almost to the half way point of season.

Oh good lord the season isn’t even half over yet?? 🤢🤮

[K-9]

22 minutes ago, \GoBillsInDallas/ said:

 

Who shouldn't be playing in the NHL right now (too young, too old, not good enough):

 

Rasmus Asplund 
William Borgen 
Brandon Davidson 
Cody Eakin 
Taylor Hall 
Carter Hutton 
Matt Irwin 
Jonas Johansson 
Colin Miller 
Casey Mittelstadt 
Brandon Montour 
Kyle Okposo
Tobias Rieder 
Riley Sheahan 
Jeff Skinner 
C.J. Smith 
Eric Staal 
Tage Thompson     
Dustin Tokarski 

 

Who should be playing in the NHL right now:

 

Jacob Bryson 
Dylan Cozens 
Rasmus Dahlin 
Jack Eichel
Zemgus Girgensons
Curtis Lazar 
Jake McCabe
Victor Olofsson 
Sam Reinhart 
Rasmus Ristolainen     
Linus Ullmark     

 

Borgen is a good player and worth keeping. Can’t argue with the rest of that list, though. 

[May Day 10]

5 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

Sure. Fire him.  Then the players can quit on the next guy.  Like they did on Bylsma and Housley, and now Ralph.  

 

I'm sorry, but when you have the kind of (non) effort you saw yesterday that should be all you need to see to determine it's about the players.  No heart, no guts, no pride, no nothing.  Risto seemed to say it's just the way it is and he can't change it?  How about some effort, some veteran leadership?

 

Adams made his NHL living by his work ethic.  He must be steaming, knowing he wants to get rid of practically every guy on the roster, and that it's impossible to do so right now.  

 

Ralph will be gone soon.  I hope most of this roster goes with him.  

 

The players keep quitting.  There is no leadership, including Eichel.  

 

There is no management. Adams is a fake GM with zero-point-zero experience.  Krueger is a HC with limited NHL experience, and he has done a lot of losing in that experience.

 

They have gutted their entire hockey department.   Promoted a few intern-level employees to head of Scouting and head of analytics and pushed a ton more responsibility onto those positions.

 

Ownership thinks if the media was nicer to them, then the fans would love them and the team would perform better.  

 

 

 

This team was trying to contend this year.  They signed Hall to a 1 year deal, brought in Staal.  Spend 99% of the cap... and they have a team that has won 4 regulation/OT games out of 27!.  This isnt some sort of team deep in a tear-down.  This level of failure is beyond comprehension.

 

 

This organization is so far from contending.  Like another galaxy.  Even if the Clampetts came to terms with how severely damaged their franchise is, it is still an enormously heavy-lift, everything needs to be cleansed out, and we are looking at a 3-4 year rebuild to do it the right way.   What is going to happen is A: they will stay with Kruger because they will excuse the season away to injuries, covid, hard division, etc and "continuity".... or B: can Krueger after the season, keep everything else the same, and hire a crappy NCAA/USDP coach like the Providence HC with no NHL experience and no ability to shoulder this massive lift here with this group of millionaire personalities.  In that case, we are going to have to wait 2 more years of disaster until the Pegulas figure out it isnt working, then we again need to hope they do the right thing, get experience at the top of the org, and begin a 3-4 year rebuild.  There is no end in sight.

 

 

 

But you know 'the lines of communication have never been better' or something like that.

[oldmanfan]

55 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

 

The players keep quitting.  There is no leadership, including Eichel.  

 

There is no management. Adams is a fake GM with zero-point-zero experience.  Krueger is a HC with limited NHL experience, and he has done a lot of losing in that experience.

 

They have gutted their entire hockey department.   Promoted a few intern-level employees to head of Scouting and head of analytics and pushed a ton more responsibility onto those positions.

 

Ownership thinks if the media was nicer to them, then the fans would love them and the team would perform better.  

 

 

 

This team was trying to contend this year.  They signed Hall to a 1 year deal, brought in Staal.  Spend 99% of the cap... and they have a team that has won 4 regulation/OT games out of 27!.  This isnt some sort of team deep in a tear-down.  This level of failure is beyond comprehension.

 

 

This organization is so far from contending.  Like another galaxy.  Even if the Clampetts came to terms with how severely damaged their franchise is, it is still an enormously heavy-lift, everything needs to be cleansed out, and we are looking at a 3-4 year rebuild to do it the right way.   What is going to happen is A: they will stay with Kruger because they will excuse the season away to injuries, covid, hard division, etc and "continuity".... or B: can Krueger after the season, keep everything else the same, and hire a crappy NCAA/USDP coach like the Providence HC with no NHL experience and no ability to shoulder this massive lift here with this group of millionaire personalities.  In that case, we are going to have to wait 2 more years of disaster until the Pegulas figure out it isnt working, then we again need to hope they do the right thing, get experience at the top of the org, and begin a 3-4 year rebuild.  There is no end in sight.

 

 

 

But you know 'the lines of communication have never been better' or something like that.

I will say this for the Pegulas:  I don't think they want the Sabres to be this bad.  No one does.  As far as the coach, I think one of the hardest things in sports is to identify the guy who will take that step up to be a really good HC.  Some say they were lucky on McDermott, but the NFL committee had him on their radar screen, and McD had a definitive plan and process in place, and with Beane had the support of the owners to clean house and build a roster with guys they felt fit the mold.

 

Has Kruger had that opportunity?  Housley?  Bylsma?  I don't know.  I think Murray was a disaster as GM and Botterill wasn't far behind, but each were considered bright young minds ready for their shot.  Same with Housley as HC.  Some say the Sabres need a veteran coach; you don't want for example the Providence HC.  Well, they went and got a former Cup winner in Bylsma and look where it got them.  How many people wanted Babcok and now he's a college coach.  The NHL likes to recycle HCs who got fired one place for whatever reason; sometimes it works and sometimes (probably more times) it doesn't.

 

Unlike the NFL, the NHL (and especially the NBA as a comparison) the lunatics run the asylum; the NHL and NBA are leagues where it's the players that play the music and the coach that has to dance.  I think the Pegulas are looking for a similar route for success as they did with the Bills, a HC and GM with a specific plan and process to achieve success, and then giving them the freedom to get the players they feel will match their plan.  I think they saw a HC like that in Kruger.  Now, it may very well be that Kruger's plan is crap, but I wonder if you got a couple drinks in him what he'd say, and whether he feels he has players that can actually win.  

 

Regardless, I am sure Kruger will be gone.  Adams I think deserves a shot to bring in a HC that he feels matches how he wants to build a team, and given his experience in the league he should have a pretty good idea what he thinks will work.  And before he looks for a HC,  if I'm Terry and Kim I have Adams spend some time with McD and Beane to discuss general philosophies and methods to establish the process and culture he wants and needs.  Then Terry and Kim need to let him do it, and if that means moving a ton of players out fine by me.  I don't think they need a President of Hockey; they need a competent GM and HC that are in sync for once, and they need to make it clear to the players who drives the bus.

And for God's sakes find a goaile!

Edited March 16, 2021 by oldmanfan

[The Jokeman]

I'll say it again, bring in Jim Rutherford for the rest of the season to oversee the rest of the year. Then let him  make the moves that need to be made with the GM or HC etc as need after the season. I want Krueger gone yesterday but without Eichel or Ullmark this team isn't going to be able to compete as we've seen. 

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

20 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

McD had a definitive plan and process in place