Did the Sabres Make the Right Move Bringing Back Lindy Ruff?

The Buffalo Sabres announced they've hired Lindy Ruff to return to the team as their newest coach. Can the last coach to bring the Sabres to the playoffs do it again?

The Buffalo Sabres chose a familiar face to be their next bench boss.

Buffalo hired Lindy Ruff to replace Don Granato, the team announced on Monday.  Ruff spent 15 seasons as Buffalo’s coach before being fired during the 2012-13 season. The 64-year-old was also the team's coach when they last made the playoffs in 2011.

In the 11 years since his first Sabres tenure, Ruff has coached the Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils — who fired him on March 4 — while also serving as an assistant with the New York Rangers. Ruff has the second-most wins among any active coach (864) and ranks fifth all-time.

“I want to be clear though that this hire was not made with nostalgia in mind,” Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said in a statement. “Lindy is the right person for the job now and any history with our organization and community is simply an added bonus. I believe wholeheartedly that Lindy can help our team reach their goals and am excited to get to work with him.”

While Adams may say otherwise, it’s hard to reconcile Ruff’s experience with Buffalo not being a factor in the hiring. At the very least, given that Buffalo fired Granato less than a week ago, it’s fair to wonder how wide of a net was cast in Adams’ search.

“This is a team ready to take the next step,” Ruff said in the team-released statement. “I am both humbled and honored to be trusted to help this team win now.”

Is Ruff the guy to steward Buffalo’s graduation from a young rebuilding team to a legitimate contender? If you look at his recent body of work, there are doubts, but he also has a reputation that could serve the team well.

Ruff’s downfall with the Devils can be attributed to how loosey-goosey he let New Jersey play. Sure, injuries decimated the Devils’ blueline, but Ruff also gave too much leash to the team's young and skilled forwards. New Jersey is an elite rush team, but aside from when they upset the Rangers in the first round last year, there are fewer rush opportunities available come playoff time. Better yet, you can’t just score off the rush, no matter how fun it may be. But New Jersey didn’t evolve from last year.

"We're not getting as much off the rush because of the way teams play us, knowing they cannot exchange rush chances with us,” Fitzgerald told reporters at the time of Ruff’s firing. “But at the end of the day, to win games and to win championships, you have to defend well."

In an interview with The Athletic last year, Flyers GM and former player under Ruff, Danny Briere, said one of Ruff’s biggest strengths is his ability to play the cards he’s dealt.

“He’s so good at coaching what he has rather than have the players adapt to his style,” Briere said.

The Sabres finished 11th in the NHL for goals against per game, with 2.96, but their offense really struggled this year, with just 2.98 goals-for per game. 

Ruff's had success with the Sabres before by using a defensive-oriented system when Dominik Hasek was at his peak. In the four years Ruff coached with Hasek on the team, the Sabres had the second-fewest goals against per game in the NHL. But Ruff also showed offensive success with Dallas, ranking second in goals-for per game in the years he spent there.

The Sabres have younger goaltending at the moment, but this is Ruff's chance to get the most out of Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and the rest of the forwards up front while using Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Bowen Byram to move the play forward from the back end in a more structured approach. And from the soundbites that trickled out of the locker room clean-out, the Sabres players are yearning for a coach to hold them accountable, which Ruff can certainly provide.

"We're ready for a little more," Sabres forward Dylan Cozens told reporters on Friday. "Whether that's pushing us a little harder, being harder on us. Whether that's just harder practices, I think we're ready now to not be as comfortable. We want to be pushed harder and maybe held to a higher standard."

If Ruff and Adams ended up on the same page as to what system needs to be enforced, then having him know when to hold players accountable and when to give them slack could prove to be key in getting the most out of each player. Otherwise, it could result in the same situation as with the Devils.