It was time… it’s been time for a long while. Over the last 2 and a half months, Ralph Krueger has quickly become the most hated figure in all of Buffalo sports. Just saying his name to any Sabres fan will likely gauge a negative reaction due to the dumpster fire that has occurred since mid-February. A lot of factors have led up to this moment, but before we discuss it, I think that it would be best if we saw how we got here.
The 2019-20 Season
After the conclusion of the 2018-19 season, the Sabres once again felt that there needed to be a change in the head coaching position. Heading into December of that season the team was 17-7-3, hot off the infamous 10-game win streak. But the remainder of the year was a disaster, with the team finishing 33-39-10. Whether it was the Pegulas or Jason Botterill, a decision was made to relieve Phil Housley of his head coaching duties.
After a couple weeks of searching, they would find his replacement: Ralph Krueger, who had one previous stint as a head coach with the Edmonton Oilers in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season. That team finished 19-22-7, which was highlighted with a team that relied on its #8 ranked power play and #9 ranked penalty kill, and an emerging star in Taylor Hall who had 50 points in 45 games. Unfortunately for Krueger, who had been around as an assistant for a couple of years prior, he was fired after another losing season for the struggling Oilers. After this firing, Krueger would serve as an advisor for Team Canada during the 2014 Olympics. However following this, Krueger would decide to switch over to soccer and was hired as director of Southampton FC. He would serve here for 5 years before being dismissed in April of 2019. He did have a brief stint as head coach of Team Europe during the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, who would actually make it to the finals before falling to Canada. On the surface, it looked like a solid hire, someone who could provide the Sabres with the stability they had been lacking since Lindy Ruff was fired.
The team thrived through their first month of play, carrying a 9-2-2 record and once again sitting atop the league’s standings. However, just like the previous season, the team would quickly fall back to the bottom and continue to lack the consistency needed to make the playoffs. Most embarrassing of all is that the Sabres would finish 25th, just one place out of the 24 team playoffs that the NHL would implement after the pause.
That isn’t to say there weren’t any positives. Olofsson had a great rookie season, Ullmark came into his own, and Jack Eichel had an MVP-worthy campaign,but many of the problems that we are seeing now began last season:
Until he suffered a season ending injury in the NHL Global Series against Tampa Bay, Vladimir Sobotka was seen as a viable second right wing option. Despite only putting up 3 points in 16 games, Krueger never took him off that line until he was injured. While the team did do its best while he was there (although that’s hardly because of him), it was a confusing lineup choice that would only hint towards the future questionable decisions he would continue to make.
The debacle with Skinner also started last year. Despite having some early season success with Marcus Johansson, he struggled mightily after Johansson was injured in November. He would bounce up and down the lineup, but was never able to find his way onto Eichel’s wing. Especially after being glued to his wing during the entire previous season, it was suspicious that he never had any significant time with him. This would obviously continue into this season, but we’ll get to that.
And then there was Rasmus Dahlin, who after putting up a historic season as an 18 year old, struggled heavily to start the year. He seemed like a completely different player for about half the season, before seeming to find his game again before the COVID-19 pause. What was seen as a typical sophomore slump for the young player has evidently turned into something more, but we’ll also get to that.
However, even after all of the question marks, Sabres fans still had reason to have a foundation of hope for the coming season. The additions of Eric Staal and Taylor Hall, along with the promotion of Dylan Cozens to the big club gave a lot of hope that the Sabres would be right up there in the playoff race. However, as we know, that was most certainly not the case.
The 2020-21 Season
To say that this season has been a disaster, does not do it enough justice. Everything that could have gone wrong for the team has gone wrong.
Eric Staal? Not a number two center anymore.
Taylor Hall? 2 goals in 27 games.
Ullmark finding his game? Out for a month.
McCabe having a stellar season? Out for 6-8 months.
Eichel looking to have another MVP-like season? Cracked rib during camp, now out for likely the rest of the season.
Saying all of this would make one think that the Sabres were just cursed, and that Ralph deserved at least one more season.
No.
That was the exact opposite of what the team and this franchise needed. There is only one way to describe how Ralph has run this team into the ground: Incompetence. It is clear that he had no answer for their scoring woes, no answer for their ineptitude, and no answer for how to manage the roster.
Where to even start with the mishaps?
The Jeff Skinner Saga
We will never know what the cause was or why it happened, but the first day that Ralph Krueger stepped on the ice with Jeff Skinner, he saw something that he did not like. He viewed a “flaw” in his game that would cause him to fundamentally change how Skinner was deployed on the ice.
When Jeff Skinner signed his 8-year, $72 million deal in 2019, I highly doubt that this was what he had in mind. If you recall during that period when Jeff was waiting to sign, he was waiting to see who Botterill selected as coach before he was going to put his name on the dotted line. I would be pretty confident in saying that Botterill/Krueger promised Skinner his role on the first line, or at the very least second line, when he was first brought in. He would not have committed here knowing that he would end up being a healthy scratch for consecutive games, just two years into the deal.
But like I said, something clearly changed. Anyone that has ever played on a sports team knows that coaches just have players that they do not like for whatever reason, and Jeff unfortunately had fallen into this spot. Ralph just never saw him as that first line talent. I don’t know what there wasn’t to like about Skinner; the 40 goal season he had was most definitely NOT an outlier. He scored 31 goals in his rookie season, 33 in 2013-14, and 37 in 2016-17, never having as talented a center as Jack Eichel. What do you know? Just one season with Eichel caused Skinner to have a career year, who woulda thought?
That isn’t to say that Skinner hasn’t disappointed this season. 2 goals in the 25 games is flat out unacceptable, but when he is averaging no more than 12 minutes a night and playing with bottom-six role players like Curtis Lazar and Riley Sheahan in a defensive role, you cannot expect him to produce as he did with no changes. Even in spite of all these hindrances, he still created offense all season and continued to drive play despite his limited role.
To end up scratching him for consecutive games is just a slap in the face to Jeff. Putting him in the press box to watch these games is just foolish. He’s a veteran in the league and had nothing to learn from taking a few games off, other than seeing the offense was worse without him. The lack of production is clearly why he was sat, but to have that as the primary reason is downright bewildering. Jeff taking a seat while Okposo and Eakin continued to have nightly spots in the lineup is disgraceful and enough to request a trade. What I love most about Jeff is the way that he’s handled this situation. In any other league, a scenario like this would have resulted in a trade request within the week, but Jeff has managed it with pure class and never made any noise about his complaints. Which made it all the more satisfying when he would get his poetic justice by scoring what ended up being the last goal with Krueger as head coach. It’s the type of vindication that Jeff deserved after being so horribly managed.
Many fans around the league have already begun to view Skinner’s contract as the worst in the entire league. While most Sabres fans would agree that he is overpaid, it would be naive to think that he is truly the albatross that the rest of the league views him as. I truly believe that he can revive that 2018-19 spark if he’s just given another chance. Here’s to hoping that Don Granato or the next coach-to-be can get the old Skinner going again.
The Stagnant Development of Rasmus Dahlin
What is happening right now to Rasmus Dahlin is scary. Rasmus was regarded as a generational talent and now it seems that he has butchered any sort of confidence that he had. Going back to Dahlin’s draft year or even his rookie campaign in 2018-19 is like traveling to another universe at this point. There is no flourish, no creativity, and no boldness anymore. The days of seeing Dahlin make a move that would just make you smile to yourself are gone, and what we are left with is a player that has no confidence to show off his talents. Every now and again you will see that same player pop up for a brief moment, but that’s all it ever is: a moment.
In my personal opinion, plus minus is not a very reliable stat when it comes to evaluating a player’s defensive skills. It often is more reflective of the team that player is on and the situations they are deployed in. Dahlin having the single-worst plus minus in the entire league is a troubling stat. Defense wasn’t really ever a problem his first season; it was never his strength, but he was a mostly complete player when he first came into the league. Now, it’s obvious that his defensive skills have regressed hard. Numerous times this season he has turned the puck over or lost his man in front of the net and you’re just left wondering to yourself, What is going on inside of his head? It’s obvious that compared to when Housley was head coach, Dahlin has not been given the green light to carry the puck up the ice consistently. He’s been encouraged to “work” on his defense and play a more conservative style.
This is how you ruin a player. Forcing him to play a way that is entirely different than what got them to the NHL. While Byslma and Housley certainly had their problems as coaches, they at least knew how to develop the young core of this team. You never heard about them trying to force Eichel or Reinhart to focus on their defensive games. They understood that you should let these guys loose offensively; the players should not have to change their game to fit the system, the coaches need to adapt their systems so that it fits the strengths of their players.
I still think that Rasmus Dahlin can develop into what we thought he could, but time is running out to stop this decline that will ruin him forever. Hopefully Granato gives Dahlin the full green light and unleashes him, with maybe even Dan Girardi being able to help develop as well.
Ralph’s “Communication”
From the very first day he was hired, Krueger emphasized the importance of communication within the organization. Whether it’s the communication between the players and coaches, or between the coach and the GM, he stressed that it was a necessity in order to be successful. Now we certainly can all agree with this opinion, having transparency on all levels is key to having a consistent understanding within. However, the problem lies with the hypocrisy that Krueger has shown when it comes to being on the same page as everyone else.
How many times has he implied that an injury was day-to-day only for us to find out later that it is much more severe? This season it has already happened numerous times. Eichel, Ullmark, and Borgen were all named as day-to-day but turned into much worse than what we initially thought shortly after. You might think that maybe the Sabres medical staff has been handing him misinformation and he’s only been relaying what he’s been told, which would be fine and understandable. But, this was not the only instance.
This has been highlighted most during this season on numerous occasions. When Jack was taken out of the lineup at the last minute in a game against the Devils, fans quickly pointed back to the previous game where Jack was clearly showing some signs of pain. However, Krueger said after the game that it was a “new development” that came up during warmups. Fans didn’t trust this explanation, but his words had to be accepted as the “truth”. The next time that Jack was able to be interviewed, instead of backing up his coach’s remarks, he confirmed what the fans had been thinking and said that he had acquired the injury in a previous game. How can this happen? Ralph talked so much about communication, yet can’t even confirm with his star player when he was injured? If Ralph knew about when he was really injured then that means he lied to the entire media, which would probably be even worse.
There was also when Krueger proceeded to scratch Skinner for consecutive games, which (understandably) caused Skinner’s agent to worry and have to speak to Kevyn Adams about the situation. The conversation seemingly went well, but what is appalling is that Krueger had no idea that the two parties had spoken to one another. How can that be?
Reflection On The Krueger Era
It has just been so disappointing to watch another coach not live up to the promises that he gave the fanbase once again. Nearly every single player has regressed this season under Krueger and it was just clear that whatever answers he thought he had for the team just weren’t there.
It’s really unfortunate to see his tenure end this way. I remember when Housley was fired and thinking that the Hall of Famer was never going to be cheered by fans again if he was ever honored by the Sabres, but with Krueger I feel 100x as worse about his future. I don’t know if fans will ever want to associate with him again. A 12 game losing streak to end his career in Buffalo will most likely forever taint any positive relationship he could have with the fans. As bad as it went, the players never had a bad thing to say about him (and that’s including Skinner). There was clearly respect there on a human level.
Pierre LeBrun said that he reached out to Ralph after he was let go and asked about his experience, where Ralph responded with "I loved every minute! What an amazing game hockey is. On to new adventures with more wisdom in the bag."
Instead of Ralph implying that he disagreed with the firing or he was disappointed in how it ended, he gave the most humble and kind response. Hopefully, when we look back at his tenure we just see a nice guy who was put in a bad situation, but given how truly bad it went I don't think he'll get that nice of a treatment.
Now that Krueger has been relieved of his duties, the future of the current iteration of Sabres is fairly uncertain. Don Granato has taken over as Interim Head Coach, but Kevyn Adams has made it clear that a coaching search will be done to name another new head coach.
With the coaching free agent class filled with big names like Bruce Boudreau, Claude Julien, and Gerard Gallant, along with the rumored interest in Providence HC Nate Leaman, Adams will have some tough decisions to make. He has also said that he is looking for some help in the front office which will be another interesting situation to monitor. Not to mention that we still have half the season to complete. It will be interesting to see how the players will play under Granato and if he can create a spark with the remaining core.
The trade deadline still looms upon us, and there are a number of players that have a decent possibility of being traded (i.e. Hall, Staal, Montour, etc.). It’s gonna be an interesting second half of the season Sabres fans, so buckle up because we’re about to find out if Kevyn Adams was the right guy for the job.
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