Confirmed with Link: Lindy Ruff named Head Coach, Press Conference at 1:00 PM EDT

[OkimLom]

Adams said Ellis has been reassigned.

Instead of running the PP, running the PK…

 

[Dingo44]

 

[pigpen65]

The GM who said that he didn’t get him a goaltender when asked why he made the move?

This is wild. It's like the twilight zone. This has all happened before, it's the same conversations from more than a decade ago. Just with an additional decade of excuses for Lindy that have built up though. A guy that has coached this long, if he's a good coach, shouldn't need any excuses. There should be actual successes and championships in his past to point too. Has he even gotten to the finals since '99?

 

[Husko]

Hours later this is still blowing my mind. I would have preferred rehiring Tim Murray to bringing Ruff back. Murray would have made more sense. At least you could make the argument that he was inexperienced and has maybe gotten better in in interim. Ruff has spent the interim underachiever and getting fired for the exact same reasons he got fired the first time in Buffalo. Just mind blowing how utterly stupid this is.

What was that reason?

 

[Havok89]

I don’t hate it, he brings the experience and accountability this team needs. The coaching search was ovbiously not extensive however.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

This was not a spur of the moment decision. And if you know who you want, why go thru some sort of process that wastes time and creates false expectations?

(This ain't a government job opportunity when EVERYONE who applies must be given equal consideration.....)

But.......so many can't help but be critical of everything..... I guess it's the WNY philosophy.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Hey, so- I quit. I can’t be a Sabres fan anymore. Sorry y’all, you’re great, but Pegula makes the worst f***ing decisions and there is no hope.

Dude has failed outta the league 2.5 times, how is that our hire? Never won shit, just crashed for the second time with the devils, a team very similar to ours-

Nah, f*** it, I’m not analyzing this shit only to find it was the cheapest option- I’m done. Peace. If I was wrong, rub it in my face.

But dude, I’m finding a squad that doesn’t shoot itself in the foot first step outta the hospital.

This was not a spur of the moment decision. And if you know who you want, why go thru some sort of process that wastes time and creates false expectations?

(This ain't a government job opportunity when EVERYONE who applies must be given equal consideration.....)

But.......so many can't help but be critical of everything..... I guess it's the WNY philosophy.

Because ruff is a failure of a coach. I don’t care how elaborate your plans to buy a Ford Pinto, it’s a dumb idea.

 

[Husko]

The vitriol that some responses have shock me. Did y'all even live through the Briere/Drury teams? The no goal team? The team has sucked for over a decade. Let yourself be happy we brought back that last competent coach they had and embrace the warm fuzzies it comes with.

At worst this is marginally worse than whatever other retread option you wanted.

 

[toomuchsauce]

the interview:

TP: "you...you remember...that time when you said, "You coach, Mike"? You remember that?"

Lindy Ruff: "Yeah"

TP: "That was awesome"

 

[EichHart]

Would you guys have rather had Gallant, Berube, or Ruff? For me personally I'd take the other 2 in a heartbeat over Ruff. However, Ruff instantly sells hundreds if not thousands of new season tickets this summer. It was a great marketing ploy to get people vested again, I see it all over my socials.

 

[Chainshot]

For people pooping on the Devils tenure - he got no saves and the GM didn't make a goalie move until after he fired him. It's not like Jack Hughes wasn't straight up saying they needed saves:

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

What was that reason?

I already asked him. His answer was that Millet got hit by Lucic and the team didn’t respond. I feel like I’m talking to a toddler.

 

[Chainshot]

Would you guys have rather had Gallant, Berube, or Ruff? For me personally I'd take the other 2 in a heartbeat over Ruff. However, Ruff instantly sells hundreds if not thousands of new season tickets this summer. It was a great marketing ploy to get people vested again, I see it all over my socials.

I doubt most Sabre fans or at least most WNYers are that gullible after years of this team to think they're going to run right out and buy tickets.

 

[Chainshot]

Instead of running the PP, running the PK…

With Lindy, not running it: playing on it.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Any major hire the Sabres org has to meet 3 criteria:

1. Best hire
2. Who Terry is willing to hire.
3. Who will take the job.

Under those 3 circumstances I think Lindy is in the top tier.

Pro's: I think this could set the stage to push Terry a step further back from hockey decisions and/or an eventual promotion of Lindy to POHO. Even if this whole Adams/Ruff era fails I would rather Lindy hire the next GM than Terry.

Cons: They fired Donnie 6 days ago. They either didn't even try and hire another candidate or there are a huge amount of candidates that don't meet no. 2 or no. 3 above. Both are giant red flags for the org.

Cons:?

I'd agree if the selection wasn't Ruff......... Frankly, there's no one better out there who is available. Go with the known quantity. And get it done now!

Berube wasn't ever a real consideration anyways. (And I didn't want Steve Ott back in Buffalo either.)

This organization, like Hollywood, is completely out of fresh ideas. Just lazy sequels.

Hey, at least this head coach hire involved the GM actually driving down the street to conduct his interview, vs the last hire which required a simple jaunt down to the end of the hallway. Who knows, maybe next time we look beyond the greater Buffalo metropolitan area to find our next coach.

In any case, good luck Lindy.

This organization has done enough off the wall and no efing clue experimentation with coaches and GMs.

Ef that noise.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

The vitriol that some responses have shock me. Did y'all even live through the Briere/Drury teams? The no goal team? The team has sucked for over a decade. Let yourself be happy we brought back that last competent coach they had and embrace the warm fuzzies it comes with.

At worst this is marginally worse than whatever other retread option you wanted.

Plus regardless which retread they get, it's only part of the puzzle. There is some serious roster adjustments needs to make this team a consistent winner. I think any of the retreads commonly bandied about can get them ~10 more points and get them to the playoffs. I think any of them can with the right roster and a little luck get ~15-20 or more points and win a playoff round or more. The "right roster" bit though does a LOT of heavy lifting.

 

[EichHart]

I doubt most Sabre fans or at least most WNYers are that gullible after years of this team to think they're going to run right out and buy tickets.

I’m not so sure. Last game I went to had 10 or so we want ruff back signs. This city loves him.

 

[pigpen65]

What was that reason?

Has everybody's memory been erased? We've already lived through this. It was recognized that Ruff wasn't a good enough coach to ever win a championship (which has since been proven correct) and the Sabres never finished poorly enough to draft a super star center. So we moved on from Ruff and started a tank. It's crazy that we have legit come full circle. Everything has gone so unbelievably badly that we have totally forgotten about winning a cup and are back to just wanting playoffs. Ruff will get playoffs. A monkey with lipstick could get playoffs the past 3 years if Adams would have just gotten a goalie. Ruff is not getting a cup though. He gets embarrassed by other coaches in the playoffs when teams actually have time to game plan. My memory is faded but I think the Sabres chased Cam Ward in 2 or 3 games in the 06-07 series and ended up losing all of them. I remember missing the playoffs one year by a point when the Sabres lost to the last place thrashers, at home, in a 3rd period collapse. I remember the year the Sabres missed the playoffs with Andreychuk only getting 4th line minutes and benched half the games, then he won a cup the next year with Tampa Bay, as their captain. Afinogenov had a career year the year after the Sabres missed the playoffs with him on the bench all year. That was Ruff. Just a long line of boneheaded, stubborn, underachieving blunders that got him fired in Buffalo. I'm the only one that remembers any of this? What about Lucic concussing Miller? Or Gomez breaking his ankle? Nobody else?

 

[MOGlLNY]

Hey, so- I quit. I can’t be a Sabres fan anymore. Sorry y’all, you’re great, but Pegula makes the worst f***ing decisions and there is no hope.

Dude has failed outta the league 2.5 times, how is that our hire? Never won shit, just crashed for the second time with the devils, a team very similar to ours-

Nah, f*** it, I’m not analyzing this shit only to find it was the cheapest option- I’m done. Peace. If I was wrong, rub it in my face.

But dude, I’m finding a squad that doesn’t shoot itself in the foot first step outta the hospital.



Because ruff is a failure of a coach. I don’t care how elaborate your plans to buy a Ford Pinto, it’s a dumb idea.

Oh no. Bye

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Hey, so- I quit. I can’t be a Sabres fan anymore. Sorry y’all, you’re great, but Pegula makes the worst f***ing decisions and there is no hope.

Dude has failed outta the league 2.5 times, how is that our hire? Never won shit, just crashed for the second time with the devils, a team very similar to ours-

Nah, f*** it, I’m not analyzing this shit only to find it was the cheapest option- I’m done. Peace. If I was wrong, rub it in my face.

But dude, I’m finding a squad that doesn’t shoot itself in the foot first step outta the hospital.



Because ruff is a failure of a coach. I don’t care how elaborate your plans to buy a Ford Pinto, it’s a dumb idea.

A failed coach who has consistently been on the coaching staff of Team Canada over the past 2 decades. Coaching some of the best players in the world.

But of course, Team Canada doesn't know anything. Alt the expertise on coaches is here on the Sabres HF Boards.

Fine. Go somewhere else. And don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

 

[Dingo44]

Sabres name Lindy Ruff as head coach

The Sabres have not made the playoffs since Ruff was fired in 2013.

theathletic.com

“I am thrilled to welcome Lindy back as the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres,” Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said in a statement. “As I went through the hiring process, it quickly became clear Lindy was the person for the job. He has experience, a proven track record, familiarity with young players, and so much more. I want to be clear though that this hire was not made with nostalgia in mind. Lindy is the right person for the job now and any history with our organization and community is simply an added bonus. I believe wholeheartedly that Lindy can help our team reach their goals and am excited to get to work with him.”

“I am thankful to Terry, the Pegula family, and Kevyn Adams for this opportunity,” Ruff said. “This is a team ready to take the next step. I am both humbled and honored to be trusted to help this team win now. It is not a job that I take lightly. It is my goal to ensure that players believe in each other, play for each other and love being a Buffalo Sabre. There is no doubt that we all need to embrace the challenge ahead of us. The work starts today and I could not be more excited.”

 

[rams]

I don’t hate it, he brings the experience and accountability this team needs

The coaching search was ovbiously not extensive however.

non existant

 

[Zip15]

I see we are now in the "Re-hiring Joe Gibbs" phase of Terry's odyssey to make the Sabres the worst-run professional sports organization since Dan Snyder's Redskins/WFT/Commanders fiasco.

 

[5 Minute Major]

i gotta say, before this happened, I was firmly on team "Lindy Ruff should be one of the candidates for the job, of course. He's an experienced NHL coach. Just because the nostalgia factor exists doesn't mean he's automatically going to be bad or unqualified because of it."

However, after they conducted a "search" that lasted...a few days(?) and included - from the looks of it - no other candidates, I think I've actually shifted to team "oh shit the owner made them hire Lindy Ruff purely because of nostalgia for the time he tried to fight Bryan Murray, and because he's a Bills fan."

I do think Lindy could do a good job and get more out of these players...but this does not immediately give off the appearance of being a thorough, well-wrought process.

Why do people seem to forget the Kevyn Adams coached under Lindy Ruff.

You tell me, what 2 to 3 hour interview could possibly give Adams more insight into any other candidate than the one he spent significant time with?

 

[LongWayDown37]

This is wild. It's like the twilight zone. This has all happened before, it's the same conversations from more than a decade ago. Just with an additional decade of excuses for Lindy that have built up though. A guy that has coached this long, if he's a good coach, shouldn't need any excuses. There should be actual successes and championships in his past to point too. Has he even gotten to the finals since '99?

Man. I am not excited at all about bringing Lindy back. It wreaks of an organization that doesn't know what else to do.

But the worst part is that this idiot will be back in full form making these forums unreadable until the time Lindy gets fired again...