Ralph Krueger is the new head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.
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Originally Posted by Blunderbore
oh my god what.
you don't follow the WC's closely do you? in late Krueger years his team was gunning as much as it could while lacking any Niederreiter-rated offensive talent. Pluss' line was pure joy to watch, and all this while being really tight on defense but not just letting the Hiller/Stefan/Gerber save their ***** but actually trying to play defense. if he had two decent scoring lines at his hands simultaneously, not one, the team could be doing real things. then Simpson comes and has a younger and more gifted core and boom - they are now trying to trap and aren't making the playoffs. still that plug Sutter had some hardest time beating them and had to have his a** saved by Eberle. i don't want it on the Oilers, we already had it with Renney.
Krueger is one of the more successful and intriguing European coaches of the last decade or two, has a nice portfolio and is already familiar with the squad. i'd better give him a try than pursue some half-proven mediocrity in Sutter.
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Originally Posted by Valic
I didn't do that one I just wanted permission to add to it haha.
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Originally Posted by Supermullet
Go for it. I think the roman numeral guy did the title/date changes. Roman numeral guy rules.
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Originally Posted by I am the Liquor
What do the WC's, international hockey, and big ice have to do with the nhl?
Oh, that's right, nothing!
Krueger or any other coach that would be hired by the Oilers is set up to fail right off the bat.
Without major roster changes (there wont be) this is a lottery team.
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Originally Posted by JonQuixote
Absolutely. There's a degree of familiarity in Kruger because he's been here for a while, and I think that kind of undermines what a fresh choice he is (and was, when he first came over).
A good choice? Only time will tell. But it's definitely an original choice, and clearly merit-based.
Compared to Sutter, who has done eff all at the NHL level but bail on 2 NHL teams after leading them to profound mediocrity and underachievement? This choice is a breath of fresh air.
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Originally Posted by I am the Liquor
Merit based?
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Originally Posted by JonQuixote
I disagree. This team will only go as far as the kids are able to carry it, when they're ready to carry it.
Major roster changes won't change that, unless it's blowing out the young core in exchange for older, ready-now top line players (with worse contracts, less potential).
Another top-4 defenseman and some goaltending insurance (either a reliable vet or other promising neophyte in case Dubnyk falters under a full load) would certainly help.
But there's no magic GM fix for this team. It's all about Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, Petry, Dubnyk and now Yakupov (And to a lesser extent, Paajarvi, Gagner, and Smid).
This team goes as far as they can carry. And nothing is going to change that. All the team can do is protect and maybe slightly expedite the process (which, to some degree, they have).
But the kids will have to keep performing at a high (or higher) level while facing increasingly tougher competition. Once they can do it regularly, we'll be in the playoffs.
And not before. Unless we want to give up on the youth movement.
Did he used to ride the bus with Lowe? Is he besties with Katz? Are they too cheap to sign Sutter or Crawford? Does he have a big name they can sell to the fans and a face they can put on posters? A conspiracy to suck hard for the next 3 years until that building is built, and they need a patsy and fall guy?
What other reason could this on-the-surface strange choice (that's sure to build the ire of quick-rage fans like you) have behind it than he convinced them he was the best man for the job? There were so many big names and rising stars in this hunt, to go with Kruger is... unexpected (except for the fact that we've had enough buzz to brace for/expect it for a while).
I'm glad they're not going with someone from the OBC, but to me promoting Kreuger and not going after a big name like Sutter just says that this is yet another throwaway year.
Once again I like this move, it sends a message of an expectation that the team adhere to system based play at the hands of a team system style coach. This team was getting results when it played the system last year. A gameplan that they stubbornly refused to adhere to with any consistency.
If this team wants to get better, and to the next level, then they need to consistently play the kind of hockey that the better clubs play. You, know, the hockey that was being played in May and June while the Oilers were golfing again for months..
Finally, there seems to be a lot of people arguing for "fresh" or "change" for the sake of it. With the misleading premise that hiring from within is "old boys club". Krueger has always been fresh lifeblood to this org and about bringing change. Now he's bringing some stability and consistency as the players already know his expectations and the grooming already occurred for this transition and especially during Renney's concussion.
I'm glad they're not going with someone from the OBC, but to me promoting Kreuger and not going after a big name like Sutter just says that this is yet another throwaway year.
I didn't read all 1000 posts in volume I of this thread, so apologies, but can someone please explain the current thinking on why it took ~ 3 months to hire a guy you had in your backyard for >1 year?
Why wait until the morning you absolutely need him for the Schultz campaign?
I didn't read all 1000 posts in volume I of this thread, so apologies, but can someone please explain the current thinking on why it took ~ 3 months to hire a guy you had in your backyard for >1 year?
Why wait until the morning you absolutely need him for the Schultz campaign?
I didn't read all 1000 posts in volume I of this thread, so apologies, but can someone please explain the current thinking on why it took ~ 3 months to hire a guy you had in your backyard for >1 year?
Why wait until the morning you absolutely need him for the Schultz campaign?
This management is a$$ backward.
Think they wanted to talk to a few guys that were still coaching during the playoffs.
To be fair Washington also just named their coach as well. So Tambo still owns the crown for the slowest GM but just barely. I think he wanted to wait until every other team named their coaches to narrow the field and make his job easier. Decisions... decisions.
the bright side is the oilers drafted yakupov last week, if they drafted murray and then this, what a disaster, still a disaster imo. losing faith in this club.
It was only a couple of weeks ago Todd McLellan was confirmed to still coach for SJ.
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Originally Posted by nexttothemoon
To be fair Washington also just named their coach as well. So Tambo still owns the crown for the slowest GM but just barely. I think he wanted to wait until every other team named their coaches to narrow the field and make his job easier. Decisions... decisions.
just because other teams can be slow about things doesn't make it okay for the Oilers to do it.
I don't know why it took so long to announce him I've known since may he would be coach, i guess they wanted to keep it on the down low just like the pick.
that's the biggest problem. They don't tell anybody anything until it happens, and then people just fill in the gaps with all sorts of spin and nonsense and perhaps even some truth; it all becomes a cumulative negativity that, IMO, hobbles the team's ability to speak to the fans and they don't strike the proper balance between "talking the talk" and "walking the walk".
<-- Credit goes to The Nemesis.
