Ralph Krueger once again appears to roast Jeff Skinner.

You know I can't quite figure out why some people have gotten the crazy notion in their heads that Buffalo Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger does not like forward Jeff Skinner very much.

On Sunday the Sabres bench boss once again took what appeared to be a jab at his own player when speaking to the media, or at the very least something of a backhanded compliment. The Sabres had just suffered yet another ugly loss to the New York Islanders on Sunday when Krueger was asked about Skinner, who recorded his first goal of the season in the game. Instead of praising a player that he has been criticized for mishandling, Krueger seemingly decided to call out Skinner's style of play.

That's certainly something for Jeff Skinner, who has measured his whole career on goals; getting that zero out of the way is an encouraging sign moving forward..." said Krueger during his post game comments.

Now before I criticize Krueger I will defend him a little here. I can certainly understand why a head coach would not be happy with 1 goal in 20 games from a player that carries a massive cap hit of $9 million per season, even more so when that player is a career -28 during his tenure with your team, but Krueger hasn't exactly put Skinner in positions to excel this season either. 

The goal scoring forward has been made a healthy scratch at times and has been largely relegated to playing with what fans would consider the lesser members of the Sabres roster as opposed to getting top line minutes alongside a player like Sabres superstar Jack Eichel. That being said though, after scoring his first goal of the season on Sunday the Sabres are currently paying Skinner $9 million per goal this season, and I have no trouble seeing how that would drive any head coach in the National Hockey League up a wall.

I'm not sure this has been the best tactic on the part of Krueger as pressure from the Sabres fan base has been mounting. Fans have largely sided with Skinner in this feud, calling for Krueger's job going back several weeks now, and I don't suspect things will change any time soon.

I'll leave you with an interesting take on this feud from a disgruntled Sabres fan.