With their 12-game lost streak, the Buffalo Sabers fired coach Ralph Krueger on Wednesday.
The Sabers have the fewest points in the NHL with 16. They are in eighth place in the East Division, a full six points behind the Devils, who have two games in hand.
New Jersey defeated Buffalo 3-2 on Tuesday night. Buffalo’s winless streak matches the third worst in team history and is the longest since Buffao lost a team record 14 midway through 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 lot of time with an injury, expensive winger Jeff Skinner was a big disappointment and even Taylor Hall’s big takeover has failed to live up to the hype.
Buffalo is on track to match the NHL record for missing the playoffs on 10 consecutive seasons.
Since entering the league in 2015-16, Eichel has now skated 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, turning 19-22-7. Before that, he was coach of the Swiss national team. After his stint with the Oilers, he switched to football and held several front office positions with English Premier League teams.