3 Goals For Sabres Ralph Krueger This Season

Overtime Heroics Editorial

2156 days ago

As one of the younger teams in all of hockey, culture should be a big deal for Krueger. We’ve seen in years past how a dysfunctional, and disconnected hockey team in Buffalo plays. It’s important that he knows where the team is mentally. People have to start wanting to play here, if you aren’t happy, then your not going to be at the top of your game. Younger guys like Mittelstadt, Dahlin, and Jokiharju will have a much smoother development process. This not only helps the team but it would help the organization as a whole. We need to see the Sabres show more emotion, more passion, and love for the game more than years prior.

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1. Establish a Healthy Culture

2. Consistent Results

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The Sabres were one of the most inconsistent teams last year, through the first three months the Sabres went 21-13-6. They then went completely down hill the next four months with a record of 12-26-4. The results were almost completely flipped. Krueger needs to find ways to consistently finish at least .500 or just above every month, that would be a major improvement. With the talent this team possesses including Eichel, Skinner, Dahlin and more. You should start to see improvement in the record in this stage of the rebuild, if not, Krueger may not have a home come April.

3. Depth Scoring

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The Sabres will go nowhere if they can"t find ways to score behind the top line. This was one of the biggest reasons of the Sabres collapse last season. They added forwards Jimmy Vesey, and Marcus Johansson in the offseason, and Victor Olofsson looks to be a real contributor in the top six. However, they need to find ways to get scoring from the third and fourth lines, Buffalo was one of the worst depth scoring teams in the NHL last season, and it can"t continue. So far this year they have had nice contributions from guys like Conor Sheary who has a pair of goals and an assist in three games, and Marcus Johansson has had two points in three games.

Ben Ressler is a Buffalo Sabres contributor at Overtime Heroics. Follow him @ressler_ben

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