The Buffalo Sabres dropped out of the NHL coaching hunt by snaring a coach that Ottawa wasn't looking at anyway.
When the Ottawa Senators fired head coach D.J. Smith back in December, they opted to wait until after the season to decide on his replacement. That's when the biggest number of candidates would be available, versus trying to find someone in mid-season when so many of the best options are employed.
While there may be more potential coaching candidates available in the offseason, there are also more teams vying for their services. When the regular season ended, Ottawa and Buffalo both needed new coaches. LA, New Jersey and St. Louis were rolling with interim coaches. Once Columbus hires a GM, he may want his own head coach.
And of course, there's always a team or two that disappoints in the playoffs that blows out their coach. So the Senators figure to have plenty of company and competition in the search for a new bench boss for this fall.
That's why no one in the Senators' front office was disappointed to learn that the Buffalo Sabres had dropped out of the competition this week by hiring 64-year-old Lindy Ruff. It was the same strategy the Sens had used when they gave their bench to Jacques Martin: Try and stabilize things, turn back the clock, and bring back the winningest coach in club history.
But while the Sens saw it only as a temporary tactic, the Sabres are all in on Ruff, who's probably GM Kevyn Adams' final hail Mary to try and end their record 13-year playoff drought. This was a special interest hire, bringing back the guy who bleeds Buffalo Sabres' blue, a man who was a player there for 10 years and their head coach for 15.
It's fine news for the Senators because, respectfully, they didn't have Ruff on their sizeable list of coaching candidates at all. So that's one player removed from the NHL coaching game of musical chairs, but in this case, the number of chairs stays the same.
The Good Old Days
As it was with Martin, Ruff's return does bring back some great Senator memories.
In 2007, Ruff's Sabres and the Senators were among the upper class in the NHL East. Until that season, Buffalo completely had Ottawa's number, going 3 for 3 in previous playoff meetings.
But in 2007, it was all Ottawa.
No one will forget the line brawl in February of that season. It was all sparked by a massive hit by Chris Neil on Chris Drury. That led to the line brawl where an amazing shouting match ensued between Bryan Murray and an enraged Ruff, who kept telling Murray to "Go after Peters!" – strongly insinuating that Murray had instructed Neil to specifically go after his star player.
Meanwhile, Ray Emery was in his happy place.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu3REYS6cIE[/embed]
Ruff and the Sabres had their chance for real revenge in the NHL Eastern Conference Final that spring but Daniel Alfredsson made sure it didn't happen, sending the Senators to what's still the only Stanley Cup Final appearance in their history to date.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDYjCzgGXzU[/embed]