Hall, a forward who signed a one-year, $8 million contract with Buffalo on Oct. 11, 2020, largely because of his strong relationship with Krueger, has scored 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) in 28 games this season. The Sabres were 0-10-2 in Krueger’s final 12 games and are 6-18-4, their .286 points percentage last in the NHL.
“It was a tough day,” Hall said before the Sabres hosted the Boston Bruins on Thursday. “We didn’t get a job done. I didn’t get a job done for him, and unfortunately he’s out of the building now. Through no fault of his own, we weren’t able to win games for him, and now we’re here. It was a tough day, for sure.”
Krueger and assistant Steve Smith were fired. Don Granato, formerly an assistant under Krueger, is taking over as coach. Development coaches Dan Girardi and Matt Ellis are joining Granato’s staff as assistants on the bench.
“Everybody has a lot of respect for Ralph,” Sabres right wing Kyle Okposo said. “I think you guys [the media] have respect for Ralph. We do in the room. It’s just a tough day. It’s a tough day for everybody, but it’s our job to go out and compete and go out and play, and we’re going to do that for our organization, for the city of Buffalo. We’re trusting Don to lead us out there tonight and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Okposo said he could sense a move would be made because of the Sabres recent play, but he wasn’t sure if it would be a trade or a coaching change.
“Obviously, it becomes a bit of a cataclysmic event with the media,” Okposo said. “There’s a lot of noise outside the room, but inside the room we were more calm. But at the end of the day, you could tell something was brewing. You could kind of see something coming.”
Hall said it’s on the players now to look in the mirror and realize their play forced general manager Kevyn Adams to make an in-season coaching change.
“We all have to do better, I think that’s the biggest thing no matter who is coaching us,” Hall said. “A coach that I think everyone in the room would agree we all really liked was just let go and doesn’t have a job anymore because of how we were playing.
“So we need to find a way to get together and win some hockey games. That’s as simple as it is. A little reset I guess is what can maybe turn things around. Obviously, there are probably going to be some adjustments made to our game that Donny would like to instill and it’s our job as players to do that as best we can.”
Hall and Okposo each said he was looking forward to playing under Granato, who was on Krueger’s staff since the start of last season.
Hall, who worked with Granato on the power play, said the new Sabres coach has an offensive mind and a forward-thinking style, and is detail-oriented without overloading the players with information.
Okposo said Granato has “a sharp hockey mind.”
“We’ve got to do a job for him,” Hall said. “We weren’t able to do a job for our last coach. We have to find a way to get our game together during this time.”
Adams said Wednesday that Hall could be traded before the NHL Trade Deadline on April 12.
“We’re open to anything and everything,” Adams said. “My job is to do anything and everything to make this franchise move in the right direction. I have a very good relationship with (Hall’s agent) Darren Ferris and Taylor. Open lines of communication and obviously days are moving forward here, so there will be a lot of conversations around that.”
Granato didn’t get a chance to meet with the players until two hours before his first game as coach because they had a scheduled off day Wednesday and morning skates Thursday were canceled due to NHL COVID-19 protocols.
“I do feel they’re ready for a next step,” Granato said of the Sabres. “They collectively take responsibility for where they’re at. You guys have heard from some guys who have expressed that. That’s a good thing for all of us.”
Granato said the key for him is knowing the players want to be motivated and improve.
“As a coach it’s nice to be able to push your guys,” Granato said. “I call it even a push capacity. How much can you actually push a guy? How much can he take or how much does he really want to resolve issues or want to become a player or score a goal? With certain guys you can push really, really hard and other guys you can’t. In this situation, these guys have a collective feel that they want to be pushed, they want to push further. I don’t mean to imply that push comes from me, that push comes from everybody, from your linemates, your teammates, us as a whole. That is something we need to take advantage of, certainly from a coaching side.”
Granato also said he’s not thinking whether he’ll eventually be hired as Sabres coach after this season because his job now is to be in the moment of helping the team improve.
“The coaching world, our job, it’s almost like your reputation is on that scoreboard every night,” Granato said. “You can’t think too far. To me, I love the challenge of trying to come in here and make improvements and get things to a more comfortable, confident position. I’m fully engaged in that. If I do that and it’s satisfactory to the team, the organization and I’m here, great. But my goal is today.”
