Krueger faces mountain of work
Ralph krueger regularly runs in the mountains, so we know he’s in superior shape to most hockey coaches.
“He runs stairs like I do, but his stairs are in the Swiss Alps,” kidded Edmonton Oilers assistant coach Steve Smith on Wednesday. “Tough to keep up to Ralph.”
The question, though, isn’t Krueger’s stamina, it’s how he fits as the Oilers’ new head coach now. How is he going to be different from Tom Renney, who brought the longtime Swiss national team coach to the National Hockey League as his right-hand man? He’s got a lot to do: Wring 10 more wins out of the Oilers so they are in a playoff hunt next March and early April.
Get his veteran core to produce infinitely more than last season, when only Ryan Smyth (for the first half) gave them any offensive spark to complete young stars Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan NugentHopkins.
See his veterans buy into support roles, particularly Smyth and captain Shawn Horcoff.
Guide his defence into moving the puck up the ice with more alacrity so rnh, halland Co. don’t have to come back 175 feet to start the attack.
Krueger, a motivational speaker when he’s not a coach, is up for whatever hockey hills he has to climb.
He’s armed with a threeyear contract, which should buy him time to get to the next step. Returning will be loyal coaching soldiers Smith, Kelly Buchberger and goalie coach Fred Chabot, who were all part of Renney’s staff.
“Dream becomes reality,” said Krueger, 52. “I will be leaning on (former Oilers coach and now VP of hockey operations) Craig Mactavish. I’m ready for this now.”
The oilers interviewed marc Crawford, runner-up for the Montreal Canadiens’ job to Michel Therrien. They did not sound out former Calgary Flames coach Brent Sutter, but maybe Sutter’s gig as Canadian team coach at the worlds was an interview of sorts.
In the end, it came back to Krueger. He had filled in for Renney twice, once when Renney’s dad died, and last year when Renney got a concussion.