Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams fired head coach Ralph Krueger and assistant coach Steve Smith on Wednesday with the team in a 12-game winless skid.
Adams spoke at length about his decision Wednesday, and said the results haven’t been good enough.
“I was trying to take a real honest, fair evaluation, and this is an opportunity for positive change," Adams said during his Zoom conference call with the media. "This is a chance for us to move forward and get this pointed in the right direction.”
Adams is going to do a thorough search, because he knows that unlike Tim Murray and Jason Botterill, he must get this right.
“I have in my head the characteristics and attributes that I think will be important. This about getting it right,” Adams said.
I have never seen a team sloppier in practice than the Buffalo Sabres. Simple passes aren’t completed on a regular basis, and going offside during drills is a regular occurrence that is never corrected.
“I need to manage better, we need to coach better, we need to scout better, we need to develop players better and we need to practice better,” Adams said passionately.
Players on this team have been going through the motions for weeks. They all say they liked Ralph Krueger, but they had a funny way of showing it on the ice. Adams said he is going to have a "very honest" conversation with the players on Thursday, because attitudes need to change.
Adams had anger in his voice, because I can tell you many players on this team have no respect for this team’s history. Many of them wouldn’t know Gil Perreault, Danny Gare or Pat LaFontaine if they fell over them.
“There has to be a pride that goes with putting on a Buffalo Sabres jersey," Adams said. "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 just is inside of you and drives you to be better every single day.
“To love to look around the city of Buffalo and see signs and people wearing jerseys; that matters, and that has to be in the DNA of our team. So 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 this season and have that characteristic about our team, it’s going to be unacceptable. That is going to be a message, and as we evaluate and scout players, that needs to be a part of it.”
I think Adams is right, and if he’s talking about the players in that dressing room right now, he better be prepared to move quite a few of them because he won’t get what he wants.
There are many things Adams sees on the ice that aren’t done by his players. That’s why it’s so puzzling that he waited so long to make this change.
“It’s compete. We need to be better in the harder areas of the game," the general manager said. "We need to defend better and quicker, and more tenaciously. We need to do a better job in the offensive zone of getting to the inside in the harder areas. We need to manage the game better. Those are the little things.”
Adams revealed that he’s been interviewing candidates to be the team’s assistant general manager.
Under Steve Smith, Jake McCabe and Rasmus Ristolainen have been playing the best hockey of their careers. At the other end, Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju have taken huge steps backwards.
New assistant coach Dan Girardi played 13 years in the NHL for the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. He retired in 2019, and Adams is looking forward to the Welland, Ontario native getting to work with the kids on defense.
“Dan is a fresh perspective and will be very relatable in certain ways, especially with the way the game’s played now,” Adams said.
The team was off on Wednesday, so their first exposure to the new coaching staff will be at Thursday’s morning skate. Girardi is under quarantine, so Rochester Americans head coach Seth Appert will help out on Thursday.
In case you missed any of Adams' comments with the Buffalo media, you can listen to the entire conference call below:
