Since Sunday night, I have been asked repeatedly how on Earth did the Buffalo Sabres stealthily steal the number one unrestricted free agent away in Taylor Hall away from the rest of the clubs like Colorado, Calgary, Columbus, Nashville, Dallas and Anaheim?
How??!!
My answer is simple.
Ralph Kreuger is the Taylor Hall Whisperer.
Hall played for Kreuger when he was the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers in 2012-13.
Kreuger also served as Tom Renney’s associate coach in Edmonton during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. Steve Smith ran the D for the Oilers from 2010-2013. Kreuger and Smith now run the bench in Buffalo.
Kreuger has friends in low places. It's almost as if he has adopted a dual portfolio in Buffalo where he is the head coach as well as an assistant to general manager Kevyn Adams. Kreuger has management experience and obviously isn't afraid to show it. In the NHL, as in life, leaders lead.
Kreuger is leading in Buffalo.
To hear Kevyn Adams tell the story of the Hall signing in Buffalo, he and Kreuger acted in tandem in attacking the Hall opportunity. Adams called Hall’s agent Darren Ferris when the unrestricted free agency window opened on Friday afternoon. Adams and Kreuger also engaged Terry and Kim Pegula in multiple conversations.
On Monday morning, Kreuger told his side of the Hall courtship to WGR-AM. What exactly did Kreuger say to close Hall on playing for the Sabres?
"Number one is the culture that we worked so hard on last season," Krueger said. "Here we are a few months later and we still have to admit we're not happy with where we ended or the final results. But there was an amazing evolution within the group, within the team. I know that culture means a lot to Taylor, what's going on in the room, what's the relationship between the coaches and the players and the spirit. Our core spirit is strong.
"We all knew we needed to strengthen our lineup to take that next step. The opportunity for him to play with Jack Eichel, who is an absolute unique center man in this league, and also just the environment here in Buffalo, the historic hockey town that is hungering for that next level and playoff hockey and the opportunity that's within that, what would happen." Kreuger had Hall at “Jack Eichel….
Hall earned the Hart Trophy in 2018 while playing with center Nico Hischier in New Jersey. All due respect to Hischier, but he is nowhere near being the elite center that Jack Eichel is in today’s NHL.
Hall has never played with a center man as dynamic and as dominant as Eichel. He’s about to play with the best center man of his ten year NHL career. "There is very few players in the world who can decide games on their own in the National Hockey League," Krueger said. "If somebody wins the MVP as he (Hall) did a couple years ago, then he's quite clearly an impact player and one of the elite forwards in the National Hockey League. "What he has, very similar to Jack (Eichel) too, is this drive to make a difference especially when games are on the line. The competitiveness that he brings on a day-to-day basis. Of course, he can match it with his skill set, which is unique. He has a speed and a power in him which very few players have. Sabres fans are going to love it! It's a powerful addition to our lineup."
It’s October 12 and its way too soon to be writing the Buffalo forward lines on the dry erase board. One thing for certain on Canadian Thanksgiving is Hall will be paired with Eichel.
Krueger and Adams are definitely interested in locking up Hall on a long-term contract. However, they will walk before they run with Hall. The goal of the manager and the head coach is to get Hall immersed in the culture and get him comfortable with his new teammates. Seeing will be believing regarding locking up Hall to a multi-year contract extension. He’s in “show me, don’t tell me mode… right now and rightly so. "I really know Taylor very well," Kreuger said. "He is extremely competitive, but he wants an environment that's working, and he wants an environment where he is also enjoying every day at the rink. Of course, the winning needs to be a part of that equation. But I am extremely confident that things going well and the experiences that he will have here very quickly once he gets to know Buffalo, he'll get to see what a great city this is to live in, the high quality of life that's available to anybody here that opens their eyes.
"He is more of a small-town guy. I think he will embrace this versus the big city life. He is coming into an environment that I believe really suits who he is as a person. So, I'm optimistic that this has potential long-term legs."
Hall will have his turn to tell his side of the courtship process at 2:00pm this afternoon when he meets with Buffalo hockey media. I’ll be there and will share Hall’s story later today.