How communication, sports science played roles in Sabres camp

Ralph Krueger was given a unique task as head coach for Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. His job was to unite a melting-pot roster comprised of players from eight different countries, many of whom were stars on their NHL teams, and have them buy into a common purpose.
He had less than two weeks to do it.
"He has a really good character," said Sabres forward Tobias Rieder, who was a member of Team Europe. "His speeches are really good. It motivates you. It makes you want to do good for you coach. He just has that charisma."

You might remember the story. Team Europe went from an unproven concept to a tournament finalist, falling 2-1 to superpower Canada in the gold medal game. Years later, upon Krueger's appointment as Sabres head coach, Thomas Vanek would recall the coach's role in their success.
"He's able to really coach the mind," Vanek told The Instigators in 2019. "Not only hockey. Coach the mind of the whole group."
Krueger was presented with a similar task entering this season, with a training camp of just 14 days, an influx of new key players, and a set of COVID-19 protocols that limited off-ice interaction. He and his staff developed a schedule geared toward maximizing players' physical and mental readiness.
The Sabres open the season Thursday against the Washington Capitals, the same team they defeated in a shootout 312 days ago in what would be their last game of 2020.
Here is a look inside the two weeks that prepared the Sabres for the big day.

"Quality over quantity"

Taylor Hall recognized the drills as he took part in his first practice with the Sabres on Jan. 1. He also felt familiar in the atmosphere set by Krueger, his coach for three seasons in Edmonton.
"A lot of the philosophies are the exact same," Hall said. "Our meetings are fast, our meeting are to the point, and that's how our practices are as well. They're filled with pace, they're filled with quickness and high quality.
"I think he's a big quality-over-quantity guy and I think that's a great trait that you want to have in a coach, especially a coach when you're on a new team. To have that, it's to the point. There's not a lot of gray areas with Ralph, and I think that's a great thing."
"Quality" was the word used by Krueger when he addressed the media prior to the start of camp. The Sabres opted to start right off the bat with a practice group that would resemble their NHL roster, separated from a smaller group of young players who would have to push their way to the top. They opened with up-tempo, physically demanding practices to reacclimate players to game speed.
"We definitely want to increase the pace of the Buffalo Sabres this year," Krueger said after the first practice. "So, we need to feel it in sections of practice through drills that are designed for that pace to express itself. And then we will slow it down and speed it up."
Communication was paramount in all directions. Newcomers skated with returning players, prompting teaching moments between teammates as additions familiarized themselves with Krueger's principles. A socially distanced meeting area was set up rink-side for team-wide video instruction.

"It's shorter than usual, so you're getting some stuff given to you on a daily basis," said defenseman Matt Irwin, who signed a one-year deal to join the team during the offseason. "But it certainly wasn't overwhelming in any regards. It was well planned out, I think, by the staff in terms of being able to implement new things or things that they wanted to grow on from last year.
"With that, having that open line of communication, it just makes it that much easier to get the point across, ask questions, and then just go out and execute on the ice and go from there. Everything has been super smooth on and off the ice."

Smart, progressive intensity

No coach can succeed without the support of their staff. Krueger leaned on the expertise of his performance specialists, head strength and conditioning coach Dr. Ed Gannon and lead sports scientist Dr. Dean Higham, to help construct a camp schedule that would optimize physical performance.
They landed on a periodized structure broken into three phases. The Sabres had three practices leading into their first intrasquad scrimmage, followed by a recovery day. That cycle repeated for the second phase. Phase 3 was a pair of practice days leading into the opener against Washington.
Players were constantly monitored along the way. Gannon and Higham stayed in close contact with players and their trainers throughout the long offseason, tailoring individual plans based on each player's training environment, their personal goals, and the goals of the organization. The constant communication assured there would be no surprises when players arrived for the start of camp.
The Sabres have a variety of tools at their disposal to create a picture of how each athlete is reacting physically to the rigors of camp. Off the ice, they measure neuromuscular status and hydration levels. On it, they keep track of heart rates and use accelerometer sensers planted into players' shoulder pads to determine a individual workloads.
"The training camp period is a reconditioning period," Gannon said. "The goal of the training camp period is to bridge the gap, build up the sport-specific intensities to prepare them to play. That's something they just don't get during the offseason.
"There's a time restriction there. But we do have to ensure that we're pushing volume, but pushing intensity in a smart, progressive way to bridge that gap between practice and play. This time around, we had two weeks to do it in, which is shorter than we usually get."
The idea for the first two phases was to build gradual physiological stress and then back off to allow recovery. Measurements over the past two days indicated a positive bounce back in terms of how the players reacted to Saturday's scrimmage.

The monitoring continues throughout the season. Krueger said he expects to begin each day with a conversation with his sports science department to determine players' availability and potential workloads, which becomes more crucial than ever during a condensed 56-game season. It's not only about measuring players' recovery needs; it's about creating the proper plan to ensure taxi squad players remain in game shape so that they're ready to play any number of minutes on a given day.
"That line of communication between the support staff and Ralph and his coaches continues on all season," Higham said. "All of the information to players continues on all season and our monitoring and the tools that we introduced in training camp continue all season.
"… There's constant communication. We're always making adjustments to make sure the guys are getting what they need."