Lindy Ruff is back as Sabres head coach

Just about a week after firing former head coach Don Granato, the Buffalo Sabres are bringing back an old friend to be the next bench boss. It was reported and confirmed that Lindy Ruff is the new head coach of the Sabres.

As every Sabres fan is aware, Lindy was the team's coach from 1997-2013 and was the bench boss when Buffalo was one of the best teams in the NHL. He was also the last coach to lead Buffalo to the postseason back in 2011. General manager Kevyn Adams did not waste any time bringing in a new coach.

My thoughts on the hiring, pretty surprised to be honest. If anyone asked me who I thought Buffalo should hire, my guess would have been Craig Berube. However, that is not the case as Ruff is back for his second go around with the Sabres.

Everyone has different thoughts on it but as for me, I am very excited to have Lindy back. After Buffalo relieved him of his duties, he had some bad years with his teams but good ones as well. In his four years coaching the Dallas Stars, Lindy led them to the postseason twice.

He got fired in his fourth season with the New Jersey Devils but during the 2022-2023 season, the Devils had a record of 52-22-8. Even though they lost in the second round, that was Lindy's most recent playoff team and that's one of the reasons why I am hopeful it will work with Buffalo.

Buffalo needed a coach with experience and Lindy has that. Some people think it's dumb but others like it. As for me, let's wait and see. Ruff brings the best out of his players and has the passion you want in a coach. Hopefully, Adams has a good offseason and Lindy can break the playoff drought.

People need to remember that it was not Lindy's fault when he got fired in 2013. The team was about to go into a rebuild and it was a bad situation. I am very happy Lindy is back but we will see how it plays out.