The last thing Botterill should do is stay idle. He invited a new interesting coach, so let-him lot more talent, sign up UFA, do exchanges (not such as in case with ROR). Krueger said it's not a realignment and we want to be closer to the playoffs, not closer to Lafreniere. Florida invited Q, and apparently goes for Bob and Panarin, Montreal certainly, too, will is active, to add talent, Boston, Tampa and Toronto always in the playoffs, Detroit with Yzerman. How do we deal with these sharks, if we go out to play children, which of course can win 10 consecutive games, but for the whole season they are not enough.

By the way wanted to say that I was wrong about Larsson, this guy is a very good fourth liner, statistics confirms this.

I guess that is why I called this post "Optimistic 2019-20 season". I am obviously overly optimistic about the players coming up. Other than Asplund, I have seen all of the other players perform and I liked what I saw. I plan to go to the 3 on 3 and the prospect challenge again this year. After watching that, I may need to tone down my optimism. IMO Betterall will surprise us again. I know I am in a minority among many fans, but he has done a remarkable job drafting, trading, managing the cap and most of all managing the media. I watched his interview announcing the hiring of Krueger. I was amazed that he said Ralph was being considered two years ago, I liked that Krueger visited the city before making his decision, I liked that he is considered a motivator but most important I heard he tries to utilize the strength of each player.

I was never a Ruff fan 1) he would call out players during his post game press conference, 2) other than when Mike Grier was on the team we never had a decent PK (now he is the NYR PK coach, look where they are) or a checking line to shut down the other teams top lines (worse example Spezza, Alfredsson and Heatley would average 2 goals a game against Buffalo), 3) I never thought he and Regier were of the same mind set, 4) I think he tried to get all of the players to fit into the "Ruff" playing mold and 5) sort of similar to the first one, I do not think he utilized the players properly. From what I have heard and read I look forward to Krueger. I hope this team is not composed of coach killers.

You are most likely correct that he will sign a UFA (this team still has $7,000,000 of cap space) and maybe make a trade (try to move Okposo as well) or two, I was only providing an optimistic projection.
Regardless thank you for your feed back it is greatly appreciated

Edit, thanks for you comment about Larsson, you are smart enough to check it out, I wish other ACGM would do the same.

So far, I am excited and happy about Krueger's appointment, these days I have read a lot of information about him, all sorts of interviews, listened to podcasts and it seems that this is a very big professional, a person who can change the culture in Buffalo, motivate, be a psychologist for these young guys who crave victories. Now we need to gather a competent coaching staff and strengthen the team. We of course can go with some children in season, but not in large numbers, this will be a huge risk. Therefore, Botterill should work very well in the offseason and provide Krueger with a good roster, so that she could at least get out of the last places and move closer to the playoffs. JUST DO IT JASON!

del

I went on line to see what out of town and national writers had to say and as you indicated there were many positive comments. But what does the local Buffalo News feature, Mike Harrington on the front page offering little praise with lots of skepticism.
As to the coaching staff, Keep Tom Ward, I think he is the PK and PP coach.
I am surprised that Housley could not do more with the defense, so we need to find a good defenseman coach, or trade for a vet who can lead by example.
To follow your lead regarding the team, maybe Marc Staal could be had for future considerations if the Rangers included another player or pick.
We need a GK coach, we lost a good one when No Nothing Nolan let Corsi go. I doubt we could lure him back or steal Mitch Korn from Barry Trotz.