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Sabres fans are tough but fair. We want this writer to meet your expectations. Let us know in the comments what your thoughts are, but please do so in a respectful way, with the understanding it's nerve-wracking putting yourself out there...people who abuse our contestants will be banned instantly. I have visited Buffalo often..I always found you folks as welcoming as they come.
Note: These posts were submitted prior to the Krueger Firing
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The Pegulas & Buffalo Sabres: A Decade of Mismanagement Part 1
It goes without saying that this last decade as a Sabres fan has been challenging to say the least. Every offseason we see constant change and reshuffling of coaches, GMs, scouting, players, draft capital. We can always just look at what we see on the surface, whether it be injuries or gameplan or interesting lineup choices but in the end, the results are always the same. So why not take a step back and look at the one position that hasn’t changed in that time, Ownership.
February of 2011 for every Sabres fan was a day of euphoria for the fan base. Finally, the days of penny-pinching ownership were gone and the likelihood of losing players to FA based on money like that of Briere and Drury was basically zero with a billionaire owner coming in for the first time. 10 years later and the franchise is a complete and utter disaster. So where did it go wrong? Does all this failure simply rest on the shoulders of the Pegulas or is there other underlying facts to the lack of success? In my opinion, not all of the blame is on the Pegulas but a lot of it should be directed their way.
If there’s one thing that we’ve learned in the sports world it is that ownership should stay out of the way and leave it up to the people who know and understand the business. Even though Terry broke down in tears when sitting next to famous former Sabres players at his introductory press conference and saying how passionate he was as a Sabres fan growing up doesn’t mean you know what’s best. I constantly bring the Sabres to the playoffs every year in NHL21, doesn’t mean I should be a GM in real life now. However, from all the reports we’ve heard over the years regarding this team and ownership, they still can’t seem to stop shooting themselves in the foot.
Let’s start with the Ryan O'Reilly trade. It was pretty common knowledge that he was very unhappy with being part of a losing team and even stated he lost his passion for the game while playing here(not the first and definitely won’t be the last) Our GM at the time was pressured by ownership to trade an elite 2-way center in his prime because they didn’t want to pay a signing bonus. Now any GM at the time would know that is a terrible idea for many reasons. Top centers are hard to come by in the league for starters, secondly, you are limiting who you can trade this player to because of not wanting to pay a bonus. In the end, the Sabres got a return of what can only be described as a cap dump of bottom 6 forwards, a B-level prospect, and basically 2nd rounders. So swing and a huge miss by ownership there, following it up with the Skinner signing(who again the GM at the time wasn’t in favor of) thanks in part to ownership again. So let's dive into Jeff Skinner now.
Is he worth that contract? Absolutely not, from day one I have been against this contract, if you cut that term in half it is still not worth it but makes it reasonable...kind of. The lack of scoring since signing that contract for Skinner has been very noticeable, but does it all fall on him though? I would say yes and no but leaning more towards the no and here’s why. Skinner is an elite scorer, simple as that. Does he play defense? Not very well, never has and frankly don’t see him turning into one anytime in the near future. Then why since signing that contract has he played on the bottom 6 with an average of 13 minutes per game. Since Krueger has taken over as coach, the lineup of Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart have played together for a combined time of just over 65 minutes of gameplay, over the course of about 85 games. That is less than 1 shift per game together total during that time. That line combined for roughly 40% of the Sabres goals before Krueger got here. Instead, Skinner has lost his top stop to Hall and Olofsson, with the latter getting most of those top-line minutes. Olofsson has played with Eichel for over 75% of the time since last season but has less 5v5 goals than Skinner during that time. Actually Olofsson's goal against Pittsburgh the other night was his first true 5v5 goal of the season(his only other one was actually a 6v5 goalie pulled). Yet time and time again we see Skinner put into a position to fail, trying to make Skinner into a defensive player and limiting his offensive chances is like signing Tom Brady to run a Lamar Jackson type system, it will fail in flying colours.
We are just scratching the surface of what Krueger has done to limit this team but you’ll have to wait for Part 2 of this article to come out to find out why!
The Pegulas & Buffalo Sabres: A Decade of Mismanagement Part 2
What is there to say about Ralph Krueger besides the fact that it is beyond impressive that he has kept his job for so long. He was never the right fit for this team, he might be a smart-minded person but that doesn’t mean it's going to transition to smart gameplanning. Anyone who has watched any Sabres game this year can tell you they have one gameplan and only one gameplan and if it doesn't work(which is usually every game) Krueger has shown time and time again that he doesn't know how to make adjustments or just refuses to. The dump it in deep try to get behind the D use the board play a lot and if the fans are lucky they might put someone in the slot for a shift during the game. It just doesn’t work. How can a team have the best PP at one point while also being one of the worst 5v5 scoring teams in the league? It’s simple, the skill level for the players is there and they have the talent to score, the 5v5 game plan just isn’t working but yet no adjustments have been made. Which leads back to my point about Krueger not being the proper fit for this team. Here’s a list of stats and lineup choices that will shed some light on it. (All of the following stats are from since Krueger has started coaching)
Victor Olofsson - 81GP -11G(5v5) 186 SOG 18:16 TOI 60/40 Offensive/Defensive Starts
He’s a great PP specialist with an incredible shot when given time and space but has a tough time creating that against top D pairings. He’s better suited for a 3rd line role
Jeff Skinner - 83 GP - 15G(5v5) 231 SOG 15:06 TOI 50/50 Offensive/Defensive Starts
Skinner is a top 6 winger who can create his own scoring chances. He’s played against top pairing D his whole career so he is better suited for the top 6
Rasmus Dahlin - Since coming to Buffalo he has played the whole time as LD. Even though in Frolunda he played RD. Even seeing him on the PP he’s more comfortable on the right side of the ice. Dahlin doesn’t feel comfortable playing the left side. It's pretty clear but yet no one has let him play the right side and let his creativity grow.
We are desperate for 5v5 scoring and just a simple change of the lineup would at least give the team a better chance at it. Obviously during this losing streak watching Eichel & Cozens go down wasn’t helpful but even before that we never got to see a lineup with at least offensive upside throughout it. When everyone was healthy here’s a simple change that keeps most people happy(even Ralph)
Skinner - Eichel - Mitts
Hall - Cozens - Rino
Sheahan - Staal - Olofsson
Lazar - Eakins - Rieder
We get 3 lines that could actually drive some offense, Sheahan with Staal helps cover him defensively and that 4th line gives Ralph his PK guys he loves so much. Players here would be put in a situation to succeed or at the very least put into a situation that benefits their skill level.