Less than 48 hours after the Buffalo Sabres' season ended, they got to work building towards next season. Their first order of business, and probably the easiest, was working on a new contract for Lindy Ruff.
The Sabres' head coach was in the final year of his contract and helped lead the Sabres to a historic season that included an Atlantic Division title and ended a 14-season playoff drought. His new contract will run through the 2027-28 season.
Lindy Ruff was originally named head coach back in 1997 and has coached 17 seasons in total for the Sabres. He was originally fired after the 2012-13 season but returned ahead of the 2024-25 season and has been the head coach for the past two seasons.
Lindy Ruff has chance to chase NHL history under this new contract
Lindy Ruff is already widely considered the greatest coach the Buffalo Sabres have ever had in their franchise. He has coached the Sabres in 1,329 games, which is over 900 more than the next coach on the list in Scotty Bowman.
With that many games coached, it isn't surprising that he also would have a significant lead in every other category, from regular-season wins, regular-season points, as well as playoff games coached and playoff wins.
However, this new contract now sets up Ruff to chase after an NHL record and have the most regular-season wins with a single franchise.
The record is currently held by Al Arbour with the New York Islanders, who coached 1,500 regular-season games with the Islanders and had 740 wins. For Ruff, he currently sits at 657 wins, which puts him only 83 wins off the record.
If the Sabres have similar success to what they did this past season with 50 wins, he can easily catch Arbour.
However, prior to capturing the NHL record, Lindy Ruff can reach a major milestone that only two other coaches have reached: 1,000 career wins. Joel Quenneville reached the mark this past season and has 1,012, and the Sabres head coach has 950 after this season and could join him by the end of next season.
The Buffalo Sabres and Lindy Ruff are almost synonymous with each other, and it is only fitting that Lindy Ruff now has a chance to make NHL history and reach milestones with the franchise.
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