2 reasons why the Sabres must strongly consider bringing back Lindy Ruff and 2 reasons why they shouldn’t
Former Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff is a free agent after the Devils relieved him of his duties on Monday. Should the Blue and Gold make the bold move?
Yesterday, it happened: The New Jersey Devils handed former Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff his walking papers, and he is back on the market. This season has not gone the Blue and Gold’s way, so understandably, there will be a contingent of fans who would rather see the organization make a coaching change. And with someone as popular with the fans as Ruff, many in that contingent would probably like to see him coaching the Blue and Gold once more.
Ruff remains popular because of how consistent the Sabres were under most of his leadership, especially in those early days when he led the team to two straight Conference Finals, the latter of which they turned into an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
He also led Buffalo to another pair of playoff appearances in 1999-00 and 2000-01 before the team missed for three straight years. However, between the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, Ruff once again led the team to back-to-back Conference Finals, but unfortunately, the Blue and Gold fell short of winning the Prince of Wales Trophy.
Should the Sabres bring back Lindy Ruff for 2024-25 and beyond?
Current Sabres head coach Don Granato does not have Ruff’s track record, and thanks to the disappointing product on the ice this year, his seat is getting warmer. Maybe it wasn’t hot before the Devils let Ruff go, but unless Granato at least remotely leads the Sabres into contention for the final 40 days of the season, don’t be surprised if you hear a chorus of, “Fire Granato,” grow louder, as we have heard at varying points of the season.
So, if the Sabres continue on their current trajectory, should they get rid of Granato, and if so, should they bring Ruff back to Buffalo? Let’s explore two reasons why they should and two reasons why they shouldn’t.
Why they should: Lindy Ruff has a proven track record as a head coach
Lindy Ruff is one of the better coaches of the late-20th century, and he’s still a respected name here in 2024. His career with the Devils did not end the way anybody wanted to envision it, but he will be a hot name among the coaching candidates this offseason. One reason is that he has a proven track record as a successful head coach for not one, not two, but three NHL franchises.
Ruff also has over two decades of NHL head coaching experience, and that doesn’t come unless one has proven themselves as a winner time and again as the game changes. Professional hockey is a different entity today than it was when Ruff first took over the Sabres in the 1997-98 season, and he’s adapted well as the game continues to evolve in every single stop he’s made, whether it's Buffalo, Dallas, or Newark.
Coaches who can routinely keep up with the game’s current trends, should they maintain a strong track record, will always warrant strong consideration. So if Buffalo were to make a coaching change to bring Ruff back to the team in the same capacity, they are getting somebody who the game has never passed up.
Why they shouldn’t: The Sabres firing coaches every few seasons has suffered disastrous results
While the Sabres haven’t parlayed their strong finish from 2022-23 into a top three or even a wild card spot in early March, a young group like them still has a lot of room for growth. Nobody wants to see their team on the verge of making the playoffs only to take a step back, but it shouldn’t always end in a coach losing their job.
In Lindy Ruff’s case, the Devils were one of the better teams in hockey in 2022-23, and they made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nobody expected the Sabres to accomplish that last season or even this year, even if they were expected to be serious playoff contenders.
So, firing Don Granato after one underperforming season with a young hockey team not only makes little sense, but it’s a road the Sabres have traveled one too many times with horrendous results. After they fired Ruff, they brought in Ron Rolston before ultimately rolling with Ted Nolan (who previously coached the team) in November 2013.
Then they fired Nolan in 2015 before bringing on Dan Bylsma, who lasted just two seasons. Phil Housley succeeded Bylsma in 2017, but he was gone by 2019, and they brought in Ralph Krueger, who lasted a season-and-a-half before Granato got the job.
Firing coaches the way Buffalo has since they let Ruff go has never given this team a playoff berth, so why try something that hasn’t worked in a decade?
Why they should: Ruff would immediately reignite fan interest in the team
If you have been to Sabres games in recent seasons, you may notice a few alarming issues: About 18 percent of the seats are empty, and half of the time, you see the opposing team’s colors outnumber those of the home crowd’s, plus so many cheers for the road team that you’d think the Sabres were the visitors.
Overall, it’s a demoralizing atmosphere and the product of a team that is about to hit the 13-year mark in its current playoff drought if it drops a few more games this month. Now, imagine hiring back a coach who took the team to the Stanley Cup Final once and the Conference Final on four separate occasions and one who coached several Sabres greats from the 1990s and 2000s.
That coach would immediately bring interest back to the team regardless of what the Blue and Gold do over the next several weeks. They could lose out, start rebuilding the organization from scratch (again), and project near the bottom of every statistical category in 2024-25, but fans would still show up to watch Ruff play a major role in building the team.
Okay, maybe that’s a little extreme, but the point is, if Sabres owner Terry Pegula wants to see a rise in attendance and more Sabres fans in the building, Ruff would play a huge role in bringing them back in.
Why they shouldn’t: Ruff’s most recent seasons have not been great
While Lindy Ruff would bring Sabres fans back to KeyBank Center in droves because he’s a legendary name that the fan base is familiar with, we also have to ask if the 64-year-old is still an effective coach. Last season, Ruff still looked like one of the NHL’s better coaches following a 112-point season and a second place finish in the Metropolitan Division.
But he also had three pedestrian years in New Jersey if you count 2023-24. To be fair, Ruff inherited a less-than-ideal situation in Newark, and when he arrived for the 2020-21 season, the Devils had missed the playoffs in seven of the past eight seasons and won zero playoff series.
This was clearly a situation few coaches would have succeeded in during the early years of a rebuild, but following an unprecedented 112-point season, even with injuries to a team captain and the star player at various points of 2023-24, nobody expected such a massive step back.
While you can make arguments against why Ruff’s more recent outings haven’t been great, here’s another point to consider: His teams haven’t made back-to-back playoff appearances since 2009-10 and 2010-11. Not to mention, he has won just two playoff series since 2007, the last series to date that the Buffalo Sabres have also won.
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(Data provided by Hockey-Reference)