PARKER GURNETT
Staff Writer
“Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better days” will be playing loudly through speakers in Buffalo.
“Better Days” by the Goo Goo Dolls is, as many Sabres fans hope, what the hiring of ‘new’ head coach Lindy Ruff will bring.
The hiring of Ruff comes just six short days after the Sabres fired their former head coach Don Granato. For many Sabres fans, including myself, this marks the beginning of a new era for the team.
The Sabres have been nothing short of a disaster since the 2012-2013 season — the season in which Ruff last coached for the Sabres. Since his departure from the team in 2013, the Sabres have gone through six head coaches. On top of that, the Sabres have missed the playoffs every season since the 2010-2011 season, when they lost in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals four games to three to the Philadelphia Flyers. Since then, they have held the NHL record for most consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance and tied for longest in all four North American sports leagues, only behind the New York Jets of the NFL at 13 seasons.
So why is this hire such a big deal to Sabres fans? Just as the intro song suggests, it brings us back to the better days of Sabres hockey. During Ruff’s first tenure with the Sabres, they had an identity and spirit to the team that seemed to lack in the years following his departure. His return hopes to bring an identity to this extremely young and talented roster.
The Sabres missed the playoffs by one point in 2022-2023. Then, this past 2023-2024 season seemed to take a noticeably steep decline in the highly powerful offensive attack we saw just a season before.
The 2022 season saw the Sabres score 296 goals, which was third best in the league, but, in 2023, dropped to 246 for only 22nd best in the league.
Young stars Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens and Mattias Samuelsson are under contract until 2030, Rasmus Dahlin until 2032 and Owen Power until 2031. They also have a few other players like Jeff Skinner, Alex Tuch and Zach Benson under contract through at least 2026.
But why do these young stars matter so much? It is not just because they are under contract for so long or are the ‘faces of the franchise’. They matter because they fall perfectly into Ruff’s identity. Ruff has a knack for finding the talents in his young players and having them succeed at what they do best.
Tyler Myers won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2010, an award given to the league’s top rookie. Thomas Vanek scored 25 goals his rookie year and went on to then have 3 consecutive 35-plus goal seasons. Jason Pominville thrived, scoring over 30 goals. Chris Drury and Daniel Briere had some of their most productive seasons with the Sabres under Ruff.
What is so special about Lindy Ruff anyway? Well, for starters, he has now been employed by the Sabres in every decade of their existence after being drafted 32nd overall by the Sabres in 1979. Ruff would play for the Sabres from 1979 until he was traded at the 1989 trade deadline to the New York Rangers for a draft pick. He served as the Sabres captain for three years during his time in Buffalo. Ruff would retire from playing professional hockey in 1993, finishing his NHL playing career with 691 games played, 105 goals and 195 assists for 300 NHL points.
Ruff would be hired as the 15th head coach of the Sabres on July 21, 1997, where he had immediate success.
Ruff led the Sabres to the conference finals in his first season and the Stanley Cup Finals in his first two seasons as head coach, unfortunately losing in each series.
Following the 2005-2006 season, Ruff was the winner of the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year in the NHL. During the 2006-2007 season, Ruff became the first Sabres head coach to lead the team to back-to-back 50-win seasons. On January 6, 2011, Ruff became only the 16th coach in NHL history to win 500 games, and just the second ever to win 500 games while only coaching one team. The following game on January 8, he became the winningest head coach in NHL history who only coached one team, passing Montreal Canadiens Hall of Fame coach Toe Blake.
Ruff is also only the fourth NHL head coach to coach 1,000 games with a singular team. Ruff was fired by the Sabres midway through the 2013 season on February 20, 2013, ending his time as the NHL’s longest active-serving coach with one team and second only to Gregg Popovich of the NBA in the four major sports in North America. Ruff would finish his time with the Sabres having coached 1,165 games and leading them to a 571-432-78-84 record, which is a Win-Loss-Tie-Overtime Loss record.
Out of all the teams Ruff coached, the 2005-2007 teams that each lost in the conference finals and the current teams bear a resounding resemblance. Those teams had young stars like Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek, Maxim Afinogenov and Derek Roy — similar to the young stars the team has locked up now.
Those were the first teams I remember watching when I was younger. Even though I was extremely young at the time, I have faint memories of those teams. Now that I have gotten older and gone back and watched the highlights of my team, I have really noticed the similarities.
Ruff was able to tap into the strong suits of each of those players and I really believe that he will be able to continue his ability to tap into those abilities that his current players possess. I hope that he will be able to get the team to get the grit back that they used to have.
Overall, this hire by the Sabres should push the team to a new level with the work ethic that Ruff instills into the team.
