Krueger signs on with another underdog
Ex-Oilers coach turned soccer executive returns to NHL behind bench with Sabres
Ralph Krueger came to Buffalo two weeks ago unmolested and undercover.
He watched two NHL playoff games on TV without anybody catching on to who he was when he travelled from Europe to talk to Sabres’ owner Terry Pegula about the head coaching job.
“I sat next to Sabres fans having conversations that I won’t be able to have now … I changed sports bars every period. It was a very interesting evening. I know how much hockey means to this city,” Krueger said of his reconnaissance mission.
This is a renaissance man — hockey coach, soccer CEO, motivational speaker, influential voice at the World Economic Forum — comfortable in his own skin, who didn’t get a fair shake in his one NHL lockout season as Edmonton Oilers’ head coach. Fired for Dallas Eakins who was supposed to be coming in as his associate coach, which blindsided him but didn’t put him down.
“I have no hard feelings toward Edmonton because I was grateful for the opportunity and moved on quickly from that,” said Krueger, 59, who has signed on for three years as Sabres’ head coach for what SportsNet’s Pierre Lebrun says is between $11.5 million and $12 million.
While he ran the soccer show for Southampton in the British Premiership in a major pivot from hockey, the hunger to get back to the NHL was always there because of unfinished business in Edmonton. He talked informally to Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill in the summer of 2017 — Botterill’s dad Cal, a sports psychologist, and Krueger have been longtime friends — but he wouldn’t leave his soccer commitment. Same story in 2014 when Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford wanted him as head coach, but he declined and Mike Johnston got it.
Krueger had talked of being interested in a management NHL role and his name was given to the Rangers who are trying to bring John Davidson from Columbus to New York to be team president. But the bench beckoned.
“Being at the World Cup three years ago told me in my heartof-heart I’m a coach, and my kids say that’s the happiest I’ve looked the last six years.”
That was a hiatus from his soccer duties, coaching surprising Team Euro to second-place behind Canada. Now that he’s left Southampton, he’s all in with the Sabres, the Eastern Conference version of the Oilers, missing the playoffs eight straight years. Botterill, who has fired one bench boss, Phil Housley, in his first head-coaching gig, is going for a career coach in Krueger — born in Winnipeg with a Swiss passport.
“When it was clear I was stepping away from Southampton and I wanted to come back to hockey, I opened my viewfinder and a lot of opportunities came in my direction,” said Krueger.
“But there was nothing that lit a fire like coaching. That magnet is pulling me back. I stayed very close to the game while in soccer, all my friendships are formed in hockey and I’ve talked to multiple coaches over the last few years. My startup site has always been nhl.com, watching games and observing the way the league’s operating. ”
He’s always coached the Little Engine That Could teams — the Swiss internationally, the World Cup Team Euro that seemed overmatched but wasn’t, the Oilers six years ago. Now the Sabres.
Krueger was here with Tom Renney for two years, then head coach in the 48-game lockout year in 2012-2013. He was also an adviser to the Canadian coaching staff in Sochi in 2014 with Ken Hitchcock, Lindy Ruff and Claude Julien in Mike Babcock’s group.
“It was interesting to be an assistant in Edmonton for a few years, moving from the international scene with 18 Olympic, world championship and World Cups was a learning curve for the NHL,” said Krueger, “then being head coach during the lockout year gave me a platform toward understanding what plan I needed.”
“Edmonton was a rebuilding phase, with lots of youth. This is a good mix in Buffalo … some good experience around the young players Jack (Eichel), Sam (Reinhart), Casey (Mittelstadt) and the two Rasmuses (Ristolainen and Dahlin on defence.
This group is ready to compete with anybody,” said Krueger.