Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said he's witnessed vastly improved on-ice communication between his players during the early stages of training camp and preseason.
"You watch a game now, you're seeing guys' hands are moving," Ruff told reporters Tuesday. "It's like having a bunch of Italian players. The hands are going all the time and so... We speak Italian."
The coach's remarks come on the heels of an impressive 4-0 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the team's preseason opener Monday night. The Sabres have a rematch with the Jackets scheduled for Tuesday night at the KeyBank Center.
Buffalo is preparing for a 2025-26 season where it'll attempt to snap a 14-year playoff drought, which is the longest such streak in NHL history.
Buffalo Sabres must play better team hockey to make a serious push toward the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The Sabres have enjoyed stretches of strong play in recent years. They were one of the most exciting teams in hockey during the 2022-23 campaign, which saw them miss the postseason by one point. Late last season, they won eight times in a nine-game stretch.
What they've lacked, however, is consistency. A major part of that crucial trait, which will help the club avoid things like the 13-game losing streak that doomed their 2024-25 season, is better on-ice communication between players.
It's something that was clearly missing throughout the first year of Ruff's second tenure behind the Buffalo bench. Players seemed out of sync far too often, particularly in the season's first half.
That's why the longtime coach's comments, while funny on the surface, are also super important in regards to team chemistry.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams explained the front office shifted focus during the offseason. They stopped trying to chase one-dimensional scorers and instead targeted high-IQ, battle-tested players with NHL experience.
"We were very intentional about this in the offseason," Adams told reporters last week. "Less worried about the talent and the scoring and trying more to get that harder to play against, two-way, veteran players that understand how to play in this league. That, to me, is where the focus was and needed to be."
He added: "I believe we're ready to take a big step this year."
That helps explain why Buffalo traded high-scoring winger JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth and didn't directly fill the top-six void his departure created. The team will instead on more well-rounded players like Zach Benson and Ryan McLeod to handle those key roles.
Now, it's up for debate whether the Sabres' new approach will be successful. It's possible the loss of Peterka and the inability (or unwillingness) to land any star-studded additions will cause the team's offensive losses to offset the expected defensive gains.
That said, it's understandable that Adams and Ruff wanted to try something different. Buffalo finished eighth in the NHL in goals scored last season (269) and still missed the playoffs by 12 points.
Perhaps a communication-driven, defense-minded style, while still having a couple high-end talents like Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin to spur the offense, is the brand of hockey the Sabres need to play to win games on a more consistent basis.
It won't be long before Buffalo sports fans find out whether that's the case. Ruff's crew is scheduled to open the regular season Oct. 9 when they host the New York Rangers.