The Buffalo Sabers fired coach Ralph Krueger on Wednesday with their losing streak in 12 games.
The Sabers have the fewest points in the NHL with 16. They sit in eighth place in the Eastern Division, a full six points behind the Devils, who have two games in hand.
New Jersey beat Buffalo 3-2 on Tuesday night. Buffalo’s unbeaten streak is the third worst in team history and is the longest since Buffao lost a team record 14 times during the 2014-15 season.
The 61-year-old Krueger was in his second season with Buffalo. Last season, the team improved slightly with a score of 30-31-8, but still finished sixth.
This season, star Jack Eichel has missed a long time with an injury. Expensive wing Jeff Skinner was a big disappointment, and even the great free-kick winner Taylor Hall did not live up to the hype.
Buffalo is well on his way to breaking the NHL record for missing the playoffs in ten consecutive seasons.
Since Eichel joined the league in 2015-’16, he will now skate under his fourth coach and third general manager.
Krueger’s only previous NHL experience was coaching the Edmonton Oilers for 48 games in the 2012-13 season, when they won 19-22-7. Prior to that, he was the coach of the Swiss national team. After visiting the Oilers, he switched to football and held various positions in the front office with English Premier League teams.