The Buffalo Sabres fired head coach Ralph Krueger on Tuesday in the midst of a 12-game winless skid.
Don Granato has been named interim head coach, with development coaches Matt Ellis and Dan Girardi will joining him behind the bench as assistants. while assistant Steve Smith was also relieved of his duties on Tuesday.
Krueger’s firing comes two weeks after general manager Kevyn Adams said he was evaluating the entire operation, including the coach, with the Sabres in jeopardy of extending their playoff drought to an NHL record-matching 10th season.
“I loved every minute!” Krueger texted TSN Insider Pierre LeBrun, regarding his time in Buffalo. ‘What an amazing game hockey is. On to new adventures with more wisdom in the bag.”
Buffalo’s 0-10-2 streak matches the third-worst in team history, and it’s the longest since a team-record 14 straight losses midway through the 2014-15 season. At 6-18-4, the Sabres rank last in the NHL in victories and points, and they have been shut out as many times as they’ve won this season.
Krueger is the third NHL coach to be fired during this shortened, 56-game season with all divisional play. He’s the first outside the North Division, which has seen Montreal let go of Claude Julien and Calgary replace Geoff Ward with two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Darryl Sutter.
Adams considered taking over behind the bench but had previously elected not to do so because it would take away from his managerial duties leading up to the NHL’s trade deadline next month.
Krueger lasted fewer than two seasons in Buffalo and had one year remaining on his contract.
“All I can say is I continue to enjoy doing this job also in a difficult time,” Krueger said, following the loss at New Jersey. “It’s easy to stand here when things are going well. It’s not that easy to stand here right now in this adversity. But I know we are we are learning and growing as an organization and we will take strength out of this in the future.”
Defenceman Brandon Montour acknowledged the team was bracing for changes.
“That’s 12 in a row now. It is what it is. It’s a business,” Montour said. “I think guys expect something just to get out of this in any way possible.”
Krueger’s firing continues to spin a revolving door of coaching and general manager changes in Buffalo. He became Buffalo’s fifth coach since Lindy Ruff was fired a month into the lockout-shortened 2013 season. And his firing comes nine months after Adams became the team’s third GM in six years after Jason Botterill was abruptly dismissed following a three-year tenure.
The Sabres have lurched from one crisis to another this season, dealing with a host of injuries to key players — captain Jack Eichel hasn’t been healthy all season and is out indefinitely with an upper body injury — a two-week COVID-19-forced pause to their schedule and being placed in the reformatted and ultra-competitive East Division.
Though the Sabres were considered playoff long-shots to begin with, few expected the team to perform so poorly, especially following an off-season in which Buffalo signed 2018 NHL MVP Taylor Hall in free agency and acquired veteran Eric Staal in a trade with Minnesota.
The additions have barely made a dent for a team that ranks last in the NHL in averaging 2.07 goals per game and scoring 36 times in five-on-five situations.
Krueger’s status was placed in question following a difficult two-week stretch in which the Sabres were shut out on back-to-back days by Philadelphia, and after a series of mixed messages from the coach regarding the injury status of Eichel and the reasons for high-priced forward Jeff Skinner being benched for three games.
Ultimately, the lack of offence and what’s become a normal series of breakdowns on defence placed the focus on whether Krueger’s philosophy was outdated, too easy to counter, didn’t fit the players on the roster or a combination of all three.
The 61-year-old Krueger was praised upon his arrival for having a reputation of being an innovator and motivator despite being out of hockey for five seasons while overseeing English Premier League soccer club Southampton. Krueger’s past, however, was rooted in hockey, mostly at the international level.
He was a long-time coach of the Swiss national team and served as a consultant for the Mike Babcock-coached Canadian national team, which won the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He took time out from soccer in 2016 to coach Team Europe to a second-place finish at the World Cup of Hockey.
At the NHL level, Krueger spent two seasons as an assistant coach in Edmonton before taking over as the Oilers head coach in 2012-13. He was fired immediately following the lockout-shortened 48-game season.
Krueger now has the distinction of never completing a full 82-game NHL campaign. His first season in Buffalo was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. With a 30-31-8 record when the season was paused in mid-March, the Sabres finished a percentage point behind Montreal, which clinched the Eastern Conference’s 12th and final playoff berth.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
