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Note: These posts were submitted prior to the Krueger Firing
Groundhog Day That pretty much sums up the last 10 plus years for Sabres fans. Every year when the season ends, we are teased with hope and promise that things will change. We get up every morning to the sound of Sonny and Cher on the radio. The players? It's hard to look at the players objectively given the years of turmoil. Up Front Skinner was a 40 goal scorer less then 2 years ago and now he is playing on a line with Riley Sheahan and Curtis Lazar most nights. Both of those are fringe NHL players at best on a decent team. Eichel last season looked like he was turning the corner and playing a complete two-way game. This season he looks either lost, hurt, gripping the stick too tight, or a combination of all three things. Reinhart. The player is who he is. Some fans will dog him on a regular basis because his name is not Leon. Years of losing makes him a common scapegoat esp. with Leon taking home the Hart trophy. Olofsson is a feel-good story as he was developed properly and was a 7th round pick. He has 30 goals in 87 games which is impressive. Looking at the sabres depth chart, it's mind-numbing that he spends more time with Eichel than Hall and Skinner combined but more on that later. Hall is one of those players that is very frustrating. On paper he was supposed to help the sabres become a top 10 scoring team and after 27 games have 1 even-strength goal. The rest of the guys upfront (over 22 years old) are nothing more than pluggers. Mittelstadt and Thompson look good one day, and like they belong in the AHL the next. Cozens should be a good one down the road, but as sabres fans, we all know how that can play out. The D We were all told Dahlin was the best D prospect since Pronger when we got him. Year 1 under Housley looked good, really good at times. Lately under the leadership of Krueger, looks more like former NHL player Andre Benoit than the great prospect we tanked for. Risto is risto. Love the guy 1 out of 4 games. Sometimes 1 out of 4 shifts. The other times, many want him gone. Really nothing else special about the D core vets. If Miller or Montour were shopped out, no tears would be shed. Henri Jokiharju looked like a promising top 4 d man until Krueger got a hold of him. McCabe probably walks this summer. Some nice glimpses have been seen from Borgen and Bryson but we have been down that road with other prospects over the last 14 years. Goaltending Ullmark got hurt but was showing potential. He has been dinged up a bit now over the years. Hutton will be gone in a few months and the door couldn't hit him in the rear soon enough. Johansson looks like he will never be an NHL goalie but with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Portillo in the pipeline we have potential. Some older sabres fans remember Noronen and Enroth though and remind others that potential is just that. Prospects You would think with all the years of losing, we would have the best prospect pool in the NHL. Nope middle of the pack at best. Part of it is due to players not panning out, refusing to sign here or wasted draft picks traded for players that never stuck around here. Seems like a constant plan would put us in a better position than win now, no wait rebuild, no win now. Etc. The head coach Clearly, the game has passed Krueger by. He refuses to change the lines unless there is an injury. He refuses to change the game plan. The worst part is some players who bring zero offense gets 15 minutes a night while people who could score either sit in the stands or on the bench for the majority of the game. This roster is constructed with goal scorers, let them score goals and focus on that. Perfect world, Krueger is not promoted and a younger minded coach will be the next coach. I prefer someone under 50 years. Some will argue that constant change is bad. I will counter with the simple fact that you know what you have with Krueger. It's clearly not working so no need to hold onto him. The GM Adams is inexperienced and it shows. A video went viral where Kevyn and Terry Pegula were glowing about competing for a cup if they got Hall. Clearly, that didn't work. There is nothing wrong with a young inexperienced GM, if allowed to do his job. Many people are unsure if he is calling the shots, or the owners, or the coach. There is no hockey minded team president, one of the owners is. There is no experienced assistant GM but there should be. The owners They clearly lucked out with the bills but it took a few coaches and gm's to get there. Best thing for them is to have Kim Pegula step aside from team president and hire a proven NHL executive, but it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon. So we must continue to suffer and burn away years of Eichel and Dahlin. What is the best short-term solution? Honestly if Kevyn Adams is going to be the long-term solution for the sabres as GM he should fire Krueger ASAP. We have a rookie AHL coach in Rochester so he can't be promoted. These assistant NHL coaches, I want nothing to do with them behind the bench. Adams should name himself intern head coach for the rest of the season and evaluate the team right away. Get a direct feeling if Hall is a long-term solution or a rental for a failed season. This team literally has scoring wingers in Hall, Skinner, Reinart, and Olofsson. Play those 4 in your top 2 lines, PERIOD. Figure out if Mittelstadt is a middle 6 center, middle 6 winger or not a fixture for the future. Figure out if Risto can be a contributor moving forward or a summer trade that needs to happen. Play Dahlin and Jokiharju together and see what they have. I could literally go on for hours. It's been a long 10 years for us sabres fans once the Pegula's bought the team. The next 10 years could feel longer. What say you?