BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres announced Wednesday morning on Twitter that head coach Ralph Krueger and assistant coach Steve Smith have been relieved of their duties.
"For me, this is about results that hadn't been good enough," General Manager Kevyn Adams said after the firing.
"I was trying to take a real, honest, fair evaluation, understanding the adversity and the situation our team was in - taking it all into account - but it felt like the right time now, and this is about moving forward."
The Sabres have struggled through the 2021 season, and are 6-18-4 as of Wednesday morning. Things got worse for the team after their season paused for two weeks in February because of a COVID-19 outbreak among the team. Krueger also tested positive for the virus in that time frame, and said he experienced moderate to severe symptoms, like aches and fatigue.
The Sabres went 2-14-2 since their return from the outbreak and are currently on a 12-game losing streak. The final of Krueger's 97 games as head coach was a 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils, who had lost 11-straight games at home, on Tuesday night.
Krueger had been with the team since 2019 and was the sixth coach of the Pegula ownership. Since Terry Pegula was introduced as owner Lindy Ruff, Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan, Dan Bylsma, Phil Housley and, until this morning, Krueger have manned the Sabres' bench.
Assistant Coach Don Granato will take over in the interim. The Sabres' Director of Player Development, Matt Ellis, and Development Coach, Dan Girardi, will take over as assistant coaches.
Many analysts have said for weeks now that this announcement was a matter of "when" not "if". In fact, on Tuesday, Channel 2 Sports Director Adam Benigni expressed his surprise that the Sabres had still not made a coaching change.
Adams said the decision was still difficult. "Ultimately wins and losses are what you’re judged on and what happens in the standing,s but it’s deeper than that... The players really, really love Ralph Krueger. They respect him and believe in Ralph... so understanding that dynamic of where our locker room was like obviously talking to a lot of players, how are they doing with each other," Adams said.
"I’ve been part of situations in the past as a player where when things aren’t going well, it can get toxic quick. It really can. Trying to keep a pulse on that, our locker room, the guys are getting along, the coaches communicated well with the players throughout this whole process. For me, that’s part of the evaluation and then obviously you have all the other stuff that goes along with the coaching part. Ultimately, the results speak for themselves. The standings speak for themselves. We’re not where we need to be and I felt it was the right time to make the change."
Now the search for a new head coach begins, and Adams said he will not rush the process.
"I have in my head and I’ve thought a lot about this recently, characteristics and attributes that I think will be important for this organization, this team moving forward. There will be a lot of people that I will speak to. There will be other people part of the process as we go along," Adams said. "What I don’t want to do is rush into anything of make a quick decision without truly taking as much time as we need because this is about getting it right... This is about getting the right person and it’s critical.”
Adams will have more than coaching vacancies to fill, and ahead of his first trade deadline as a general manager, he said he is looking to hire an assistant general manager now.
He also plans to address the culture surrounding the team with the players on Thursday.
"I’m going to have a very honest conversation about that tomorrow when our players are here. There has to be a pride that goes with putting on a Buffalo Sabres jersey. There has to be a pride of showing up every day and being a National Hockey League player... and that has to be something that is just inside you and drives you to be better every single day," Adams said.
Adams said the passionate fanbase in Buffalo needs to drive the players and be a part of the team's DNA.
"I don’t care where we are in the standings right now. If we do not show up at the rink tomorrow and for the rest of that season have that characteristic about our team, it’s going to be unacceptable," Adams said. "That is going to be a message and something that I’m going to spend time on. As we evaluate players, as we scout players, that needs to be part of it. You just have to love to show up every day and want to compete and be a Buffalo Sabre."
