The Great Pit of Carkoon may be the fictional desert home for the monstrous sarlacc that greedily consumes any living sacrifice dropped into its gaping maw.
Or Star Wars’ infamous sarlacc pit might well be located out back of the rink, a blaster’s shot away from the KeyBank Center, where the latest victims of the Buffalo Sabres organizational chart can be devoured.
One by one, new hopes arrive to Western New York.
They come with promise and plans, energy and enthusiasm.
One by one, the results — all that losing — swallows them whole.
Head coach Ralph Krueger and assistant Steve Smith, a pair of fresh casualties, were handed their walking papers by rookie GM Kevyn Adams on St. Patrick’s Day morning amidst a 12-game losing trench and a dead-last 6-18-4 campaign.
Another reason to day drink in Buffalo.
“It feels like we’re in a very deep, dark place right now,” Krueger had said after being shut out for a fourth time during the skid. “And the only way we get into any light is keeping the fight in the team and sticking together. We’re not going to get any outside help or pity.”
With no experienced president of hockey ops to turn to, we pity the plight of Adams here. We do.
Caught between an ill-advised ownership group (Terry and Kim Pegula) and a rookie interim coach (the suddenly promoted Don Granato), Adams put on a brave face and said mostly the right things after Krueger’s dismal record — 36-49-12, with a minus-59 goal differential — forced his hand.
To his credit, Adams did not act like the meme dog with the top hat sipping coffee as the house burns down around him.
This is not fine. And the first step to solving the problem is acknowledging how deep the rotten runs.
“We have to be better in every single area of this organization. It starts with me. I need to manage better,” Adams said. “We need to coach better. We need to scout better. We need to develop players better. We need to practise better. I mean, you name it, we need to do it better. Period.”
Adams went on: “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, of looking around and saying, ‘I’m one of the 700 [or so]to get to do this every day.’ And that has to be something that just is inside you and drives you to be better every single day. To love to look around the city of Buffalo and see Sabres hats and signs and people wearing jerseys — that matters, and that has to be within the DNA of our team.”
In a month that has also seen Darryl Sutter drive from the farm to the bench, the conclusion of the Krueger experience is both a failure for the out-of-the-box bench hires and another example that coaching can’t solve what ails this roster.
Face of the franchise Jack Eichel raved about Krueger in Year 1 of his transition from European soccer back to North American hockey, then put up an MVP-conversation performance in 2019-20. Krueger played an integral role helping Adams recruit fellow ex-Oiler Taylor Hall in the 2020 off-season.
But injuries, a harsh bout of COVID, mediocre goaltending, a treacherous East division and multiple cap-crushing contracts conspired to turn a bad team worse.
Again, the coach — one Adams maintains the players love and respect (and, yet, did not play hard for?) — takes the fall.
The PegulEra began in 2011 and has mowed through six coaches already: Lindy Ruff, Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan, Dan Bylsma, Phil Housley and Krueger.
(Ironically, it was Ruff’s Devils who delivered the final loss and healthy scratch Jeff Skinner who scored the final Sabres goal of Krueger’s run.)
Krueger will still collect a $3.75-million salary through 2021-22, as the search for his replacement begins immediately. Adams, who will also be hiring an assistant GM, refuses to put a timeline or a list of qualifications on that hire.
“This is about getting the right person — and it’s critical,” Adams said. “I do believe every crisis is an opportunity for positive change.”
For an executive who was told to fire 22 staff members upon his own hire in June, more change is coming.
Adams is open for business at the trade deadline, and he noted the volume of calls coming his way.
The GM’s own first two significant acquisitions, Taylor Hall and Eric Staal, must be flipped into longer-term assets, and conversations regarding potentially waving Hall’s no-move clause have begun.
“We’re open to anything and everything,” Adams said.
The less urgent but more important matter surrounding the rebuild of the rebuild is the future of superstar Eichel, under contract through 2026. His no-move clause, however, kicks in after the 2021-22 season.
Adams informed his captain of Krueger’s firing Wednesday morning but did not divulge Eichel’s reaction. The GM also bobbed and weaved when asked directly about the speculation surrounding Eichel’s future in Buffalo, home of the NHL’s longest playoff drought.
“From the beginning, one of the things I said was, building a relationship with Jack was important. We’ve spoken at length in the off-season and into the season,” Adams said. “Jack knows my door’s always open. We talk regular.”
The Eichel issue, much like the Krueger issue, boils down to one thing: winning.
Adams has called for more pride. But can pride exist without wins?
“Let’s not overcomplicate this,” Adams said. “We want to be better. We have to be better. And we will be better.”
They better be better.
Because it can’t get much worse… can it?
