After another loss last night took it to 12 in a row, the Buffalo Sabres finally did what everyone expected. Ralph Krueger has been relieved of his duties as head coach. The Sabres lost 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils and sit dead last in the NHL at 6-18-4. They have been shutout as many times as they’ve won and there appears to be a clear lack of effort from some of the players.
The Sabres will have Don Granato as interim head coach and he will be joined by assistants Matt Ellis and Dan Girardi. The search for a new head coach begins immediately, though GM Kevyn Adams would not put a timeline on it.
Amazingly, as John Vogl of The Athletic explains, players in Buffalo and those who had previously played for Krueger have expressed how much they loved playing for him. That love didn’t come through on the ice this season for the Sabres and the team was forced to make a change, though whether it will actually result in a better effort is still up for debate.
The Sabres will still be on the hook for the rest of Krueger’s contract unless another NHL team wishes to hire him. Many have speculated that is why the team took so long to make the change with finances so tight during this season. Hired at the start of the 2019-20 season, Krueger’s time in Buffalo will end with a 36-49-12 record and not even a sniff of the postseason.
Losing permeates the entire Sabre organization. They need to change everything but the team name and logo.
Get a real GM.
Literally, trade every single player. Eichel, Dahlin, Risto, Reinhart, Olofsson, etc.
Pile up the assets.
Sign veterans based SOLELY on their character.
Hire the best coach in the AHL.
Accept it will take 5 years.
This sounds like what most teams do, but it has to go to the Nth degree. Everything is rotten and rusty. Leave any part and it will rot and rust whatever else you bring in contact with it.
Terry and Kim need to sell the team or at least Kim needs to GTFO and no longer be President of Hockey Ops.
AI’d like to see what a coach who knows how to properly use players like Hall, Risto, Eichel, etc and that comes with a winning pedigree can get out of this group before they are stripped for parts. Cause I’d imagine that you can probably get something out of that team if you have the right guy in there. It may not be much, mind you, but I think you owe it to the fans to hire a coach with experience and a winning track record before you burn it down (again).
Finally: This is going to be a massive decision for Kevyn Adams and he needs to put his foot down when Terry and Kim tell him to go cheap with their next hire. He needs to bring in someone like Boudreau who can light a flipping fire under their asses. If that doesn’t work, then rebuild from absolute zero.
trading a young defenseman that was the top pick 3 years ago is not what rebuilding teams do. has he been disappointing? sure but the coaching staff was the major contributor to that.
Let’s see how the team plays for the interim coach.
Could be that the players hated Krueger’s system & how he handled the lines. If the team plays around .500 (or better) the rest of the season then you know it was more the coach & his handling of the players. If not then a major move of some players is warranted.
Blow it up and start over with whoever it was they drafted last year and this upcoming years top pick is as the new faces of the franchise
1. Probably the worst goaltending tandem in the league
2. Skinner and Okposo 15 mill a year of dead money
3. Nylander and Mittelstadt picked at #8 in back to back years have disappointed so far.
Why they passed on a chance to hire Hextall i will never understand. If they are going to tear down and rebuild they are halfway there. Not much left to tear down. You know your team sucks when Curtis Lazar plays 13 minutes a night.
it always leads back to goaltending. their goalies suck. and it permeates out. Hence the defense sucks as well
what could he have possibly done better?
@DarkSide830 – Not accept the job in the first place. :)
Now starring as the new Sabres’ bench boss…
May I have the envelope, please?
Direct from the Pegula Telegram Company…
New coach found. STOP Name is… Bowman. STOP Un-retired? STOP
Will coach for All-You-Can-Eat wings at the Anchor Bar. STOP!
Note to poor Dwayne in Buffalo – And you thought it couldn’t get more bizzare? STOP!STOP!STOP!
(You’ll thank us when the Sabres’ championship banner is raised *soon*)
The Sabres will find a way to make the situation worse, just wait. I wonder what Ted Nolan is doing nowadays.
Hi Gavin,
Can you please add the ‘assistant coach Steve Smith’ name in the sentence and the title? Steve Smith has also been fired, the same time that Ralph Krueger got fired. Please & thank you.
“assistant coach Steve Smith”.
he should never been the coach..pls..like other comment on here I really wonder what Ted Nolan is doing…but I know a lot of people will say Ted Nolan old style coach..ya but a winning coach…clean house with everyone
Five-star tease for March 17 – NHL.com article by Heather Engel – “Hall could be traded by Sabres; GM ‘open to anything and everything'”
Maybe Kevyn Adams could bundle Taylor with the Pegulas to ARI for more draft picks…oh, crap, I forgot about that Chayka stuff…make that OTT, then.
Hall is not an elite player. When will the NHL wake up to this fact?