Yes, there is the Minnesota Wild with their
spectacular Suter/Parise-addition, yes there are the Edmonton Oilers with the
combination of Yakupov and Schultz, yes there are a couple of teams who looked like
picking really great at the draft-table. Yes, LA Kings managed to keep their
core-competence and look like contenders again for the near future and yes, the
combination of Crosby/Malkin must be frightening for all opponents in every
game they face the Pens. And yes, I really believe that the Pens did also
pretty well in the return on investment (Staal-trade) and they managed to draft
a really promising young d-man. Yes, these are all summer-winners in my eyes.
Back in Switzerland the ZSC-Lions managed to get the maybe best Swiss forward
in Roman Wick – for free – this must be very strange for the North American and
Russian Readers, yes they didn’t have to give something in return and he also
doesn’t count against a salary-cap, because there isn’t such a thing, it was
just a money-question. In Switzerland and most European leagues we don’t have a
salary-cap, we don’t have a draft- or trade-system, it’s just money that talks.
Boring compared to the more competitive North American rules who got adapted
also from the KHL in the meantime. Back to the topic: All these winners in the
summer-hockey-circus can’t compete with the biggest winner overall:
It’s the new head-coach of the Edmonton Oilers, Ralph
Krueger. Why is that?
1 1. The Edmonton Oilers have a very exciting
young team with some of the brightest talents in hockey (Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins,
Yakupov plus they have Schultz/Musil/Pääjärvi and maybe even some more. They finished
last or close to the bottom in the last couple of years but are already very
close to success. This is the best situation for a new head-coach. He can lose
nearly nothing but win everything and the chance for everything is pretty good
because of the high-end-talent he can work with.
2. Reading all the comments in North
America about Ralph Krueger I’m very sure that he is underrated in the eyes of
a lot of hockey-writers. And to be underrated is one of the best situations in
terms of being successful in the future, in hockey, in sports and in life.
3. Ralph Krueger is an excellent coach.
Back in Switzerland he was very focused on results and in most years he
overachieved with a team with limited skills. His game-strategies were not very
spectacular but some of his results were. Ralph Krueger is a coach with a high
intellect and he is very keen on hockey and also keen on learning, learning
life-long. Although he owns a big self-confidence he also is modest enough to
listen to all sort of hockey-people and picking brains from all over the world.
He tries to eliminate unpredictable things with the focus on all details who
can be controlled and prepared. He is very well organized, listens also to
scientific findings and analyses and is a very good teacher for young players
in the mental and tactical aspects. He owns a psychological degree and his
motivational approach probably doesn’t really reach highly educated managers
but for young hockey-players it will definitely work for a good period of time.
He owns an excellent tactical knowledge and knows so much about hockey. This
did, will and MUST impress players.
The combination of these three aspects makes Ralph
Krueger the biggest winner in this summer-hockey. Very soon he will become one
of the most respected NHL head-coaches, mark my words! And the Oilers have a
bright near future!
Zurich, 7th July 2012 / Thomas Roost
