Longest-tenured Sabres head coach excited about the club's talent and potential
Longest-tenured Sabres head coach excited about the club's talent and potential
The Buffalo Sabres hiring of Lindy Ruff brought some nostalgia of the successful days of the franchise, as the former bench boss led the club to one of their two Stanley Cup Final appearances in 1999 and two Eastern Conference Finals in 2006 and 2007, but in a press conference on Tuesday, the longest tenured and winningest coach in Sabres history focused on bringing the young and talented squad back to respectability.
"(Transforming a losing culture) is not easy. You can transform the attitude of any club by having each player believe in what their strength is, what they can bring on a nightly basis, the level of compete that they can bring, and then at the end of the night, you get to win hockey games, and when you win, that belief really becomes contagious." Ruff said. “This team is so similar to where we were at (in 2006 and 2007), deep with talent, we just needed to play the game the right way."
The 64-year-old led a young New Jersey Devils club to the playoffs and a first round upset of the New York Rangers last season, and believes that the Sabres have the potential and talent to have that kind of success. Buffalo has one leg up on the Devils, as they have two goaltenders in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the system.
Ruff spent 10 years as a player with the Sabres and served as team captain before finishing his career with the New York Rangers and going into coaching. He was hired by Buffalo in 1997 and has kept an offseason home in Western New York even after being fired by the Sabres in 2013.
"I've lived in the city and I've owned a house in this city since 1979, so I think I understand from my playing days, my coaching days what a successful team is and how great the city is when you have a successful hockey club." Ruff said. "It would mean a lot to have this group of players experience what I was able to experience as a player and as a coach."
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