By Jordan Long
The Buffalo Sabres have their new Head Coach. The job had been open since they fired Phil Housley on April 7th. They hired Ralph Krueger, hoping to end their playoff drought.
Housley was with the Sabres the past 2 seasons. He replaced Dan Bylsma who went a disappointing 68-73-23. Housley hoped to have better results for the Sabers. It didn’t happen. Housley went an unimpressive 58-84-22 for Buffalo.
This season the Sabres stood at 30-26-8 on March 1st. It looked like they might end up over .500. They ended the year on a sour note, going 3-13-2. Their record was 33-39-10 for a total of 76 points. Buffalo missed the playoffs for the 8th consecutive year.
Buffalo couldn’t generate enough offense. When they had scoring chances, the defense either blocked a shot or took the puck away from them. If skaters had a openings to put one on net, it was saved by the goaltender. The Sabres scored 2.70 goals per game, 23rd in the NHL. On the power play, Buffalo was in the middle of the league. They could set up the power play and score on it some of the time. Their power play scored on 19.5% of their opportunities, 16th in the NHL.
When it came to defense, the Sabres couldn’t stop opponents. They allowed teams to dictate the play and couldn’t knock them off the puck. This gave rivals scoring chances and gave up 3.27 goals per game, 8th most in the NHL.
The only area where they did well was the power play kill. Teams set it up but Buffalo was able to block shots and poke check the puck away. When they grabbed the puck, Buffalo shot it to the other end of the ice. They killed off 80.9% of their penalties, 12th in the NHL.
In the end the results weren’t there for Housley. He failed to make the Sabres a playoff team in his 2 seasons. Buffalo decided Krueger is the right man for the job.
According to ESPN, Sabres’ General Manager Jason Botterill said, “Throughout his career, Ralph has shown the ability to adapt to a variety of high-pressure environments while leading some of the world’s elite players. His strong communication skills, leadership and diverse background make him a uniquely qualified candidate to lead our team going forward.”
Krueger doesn’t have much experience at the NHL level. He was the Edmonton Oilers Head Coach in the lockout shortened season in 2012. The Oilers went an unimpressive 19-22-7. Buffalo is expecting better results out of Krueger. They hope he is the answer to reaching the playoffs for the 1st time since 2011. If he fails to do so in the next few years, Buffalo could be back to the drawing board looking for yet another Head Coach.
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