Lindy Ruff ranks fourth in NHL history with 929 coaching wins, and 29 of those victories have come this season as he's put the resurgent Buffalo Sabres in position to finally end the franchise's miserable 14-year playoff drought.
So, if you're trying to figure out how to have a long, successful coaching career, studying Ruff's 25 years behind the bench is probably a good start.
One former Sabres center is doing exactly that. Steve Ott, who made a two-season pit stop in Buffalo during a 14-year playing career, recently accepted the opportunity to take over as head coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds, the St. Louis Blues' AHL affiliate.
Ott only briefly crossed paths with Ruff in Western New York, but he credits the 2006 Jack Adams Award winner for helping lay the groundwork for his coaching approach.
"I've had great head coaches as a player, from Dave Tippett, the Ken Hitchcocks, Lindy Ruffs — and then as a coach, working alongside Craig Berube, Claude Julien and [Jim Montgomery]," Ott told Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. "These are high-end coaches. So you take bits and pieces that you love from each one of them, and you make it your own."
Along with the Sabres, the 2000 first-round draft pick also played for the Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens.
Ott had served as a Blues assistant coach since 2017 before opting to take over the Thunderbirds' coaching staff in mid-January.
Could Steve Ott be considered as a future successor to Lindy Ruff as Buffalo Sabres head coach?
Ruff briefly appeared on the hot seat after the Sabres fired general manager Kevyn Adams and replaced him with Jarmo Kekalainen in mid-December. Kekalainen decided to keep the franchise legend, and that decision paid off as Buffalo is in the midst of a remarkable 18-3-1 stretch.
So, Ruff's job is now completely safe, at least as long as the Blue and Gold don't suffer a collapse during the stretch run of the campaign to miss the playoffs.
The long-term outlook behind the Buffalo bench remains uncertain, though.
Ruff, who was drafted by the Sabres with the No. 32 overall pick in the 1979 NHL Draft, will turn 66 in February and it's unclear whether he's eventually going to retire after a life in hockey or perhaps move into an executive oversight role in the organization's front office.
It was previously assumed Buffalo was aiming for Seth Appert, one of the club's current assistants who previously served as head coach of the AHL's Rochester Americans, to take over whenever Ruff decided to step aside.
That may no longer be the case. Appert was a favorite of Adams, and his lack of success as the coach in charge of the team's 21st-ranked power play may lead Kekalainen to consider outside options.
Ott would be an interesting option because he played the same style of hockey Kekalainen has been preaching since he took over the front office: a high compete level with a team-first attitude.
The Canadian center was never an elite offensive contributor, posting a modest career high of 46 points in 2008-09 with Dallas, but he racked up 1,976 hits, 1,555 penalty minutes and 237 blocked shots during his on-ice career. He also won 55.5% of his career faceoffs, an area Buffalo has struggled mightily in recent years.
Ott has interviewed for other NHL head coaching openings during his time on the St. Louis staff, so it's possible he'll land the job he covets before the Buffalo spot even becomes available.
That said, if he's still searching for that opportunity when Ruff decides to step aside, he's somebody who should at least be on Jarmo's list of candidates.
There's no timetable for when that day may arrive, though. For now, the Sabres are focused solely on bringing postseason hockey back to downtown Buffalo.