TSN: Ruff here to stay!

[HugeInTheShire]

Finally the extension is announced
Thoughts?

New Jersey Devils sign head coach Lindy Ruff to multi-year extension | TSN

The New Jersey Devils re-signed head coach Lindy Ruff to a multi-year contract extension on Wednesday ahead of their opening game.

www.tsn.ca

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[tmg]

(Hastily changes “Fire Lindy” sign to “You’re Our Fire, Lindy” sign)

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Where Mercer extension?

 

[Bleedred]

I’m gonna guess it’s for probably two years starting next year.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

 

[Richer's Ghost]

 

[Nubmer6]

Where Mercer extension?

 

[AfroThunder396]

Lindy is a good coach but I don't think he's the long-term answer. We could certainly do (and have done) far worse.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

I feel like we're going to be back to the Fire Lindy chants when the team captains don't have the answers and the players hit a wall. He's a players coach which is great for youth up to a point but at some point they will need hard instruction and not a friend and that will be the next big step that Lindy can't make from what I've seen.

Sometimes you need Dad kicking your butt and not grandpa just buying you ice cream and saying it will be fine.

 

[NJDevs26]

I do find it ironic that people think Lindy isn’t the long term answer when he’s ‘only’ 63, he could easily coach another 5-10 years if his results were good enough. So it’s just a matter of preference, yet every time another vet coach also gets brought up it’s dismissed as a retread pick other than Boudreau who tbh has a similar record to Lindy anyway aside from Lindy’s first two years here. Basically people think only a young untested coach will do but that could literally go either way as we found out with guys like Ftorek, MacLean and Hynes

 

[Cheddabombs]

Coach extensions don't mean too much, aside from owners paying his salary. If the team's not getting the results we expect with Lindy then they can just let him go.

But I'll choose to positive here, go Lindy go!

 

[AfroThunder396]

His age is a minor concern for me, the bigger concern is that he's been a head coach for 22 seasons and hasn't won a championship. 3 division titles in 22 seasons. He hasn't gotten out of the 2nd round since the Bush administration. Career win percentage of 0.487%.

Now granted he was coaching a lot of bad/budget teams. But still. He is a compiler, good enough to have a job but not good enough to do anything notable. We could do much worse, but we could also do better.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

I guess even Fitz isn’t perfect

 

[devilsblood]

He earned it.

His age is a minor concern for me, the bigger concern is that he's been a head coach for 22 seasons and hasn't won a championship. 3 division titles in 22 seasons. He hasn't gotten out of the 2nd round since the Bush administration. Career win percentage of 0.487%.

Now granted he was coaching a lot of bad/budget teams. But still. He is a compiler, good enough to have a job but not good enough to do anything notable. We could do much worse, but we could also do better.

I care more about what he’s done with this team. And the results have been very good.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

I'm torn on this, on one hand I feel like the Devils caught lightning in a bottle last season and it wasn't because Ruff is an amazing coach. On the other I fell like maybe it was the players having a better understanding of what he wanted that the play finally caught up to the plan.

No idea if he's the long term answer in NJ but he's the best option right now.

 

[JrFischer54]

i dont pretend to know one coach being better then another one but i dont see how anyone could even think that he isn't the guy for the team going forward. unless this team bottoms out and misses the playoffs hes earned the contract and should be good for the next two years.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

I can't believe he's only 63... he's looked 63 for the last 15 years.

 

[Triumph]

His age is a minor concern for me, the bigger concern is that he's been a head coach for 22 seasons and hasn't won a championship. 3 division titles in 22 seasons. He hasn't gotten out of the 2nd round since the Bush administration. Career win percentage of 0.487%.

Now granted he was coaching a lot of bad/budget teams. But still. He is a compiler, good enough to have a job but not good enough to do anything notable. We could do much worse, but we could also do better.

I don't understand why this is a concern - the only concern would be, I guess, that he hasn't been given a chance to coach a Stanley Cup caliber team until now.

I noted this in the other thread but 3 recent Cup winning coaches are now unemployable (Quenneville, Babcock, Sutter). You can throw Marc Crawford in there if you want. The others - Sullivan, Bednar, Berube, Cooper, Cassidy, Laviolette, Tortorella - are currently employed. So you've got Dan Bylsma who hasn't been a head coach in 6 years, and that's about it. Boudreau has the same warts as Ruff.

 

[Guadana]

What people did expect after previous season. Game of the Devils isnt not about individual performance only. Devils arent carry by huge PP of McDrais. Its a working 5 on 5 system, that worked pretty well season before and now Devils ended previous season with the franchise records in wins and points. Above Stevens, Brodeur, Elias and Niedermayer. I would not put Devils 2023 over Devils 2021 because of expirience. But the level of performance was huge.
It would be stupid to not extend him. And if he will fail, then ok - fire Lindy. But for now he isnt.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Coach extensions don't mean too much, aside from owners paying his salary. If the team's not getting the results we expect with Lindy then they can just let him go.

But I'll choose to positive here, go Lindy go!

Yeah basically let Lindy do his job without wondering if the team is planning to dump him. That's what he had to worry about last year with Brunette in the building I'm guessing. If he's not getting it done he'll be fired, it's a part of the job description.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

This alone makes the Ruff tenure a success. This was job number 1.

 

[Cheddabombs]

This alone makes the Ruff tenure a success. This was job number 1.

100%. It's one thing for the players to just say it and back their coach, but the on-ice results of the team reflect that growth as well.

When Lindy was hired I think the consensus was hoping he'd be good with the young guys and develop them. He's done that and I think he's earned the chance to try and push them further now.

 

[Bleedred]

I can't believe he's only 63... he's looked 63 for the last 15 years.

I remember watching the video a few months ago from 2006 (I don't think it was the one where he shoots on Tootoo, that was a few years later, though I watched that one too) when one of the Toronto goons took out Afinogenov (I think that's who it was?) right before the playoffs and Lindy is furious and talking about how much of a joke it was.

He was about a year younger than I am now, actually probably closer to 2 years younger. I remember thinking ''Okay, I'd like to think I don't look as old as he does here''. He's gained a bit of weight in the face since then and the aging process has slowed down considerably for him because of that.

I don't remember him much as a player, but I remember very well when he was hired as the head coach in Buffalo when he 37. I was surprised when I found out he was actually several years younger than my parents.

While we're on the topic, I can't believe how old looking Kevin Dineen has gotten. I think he looks older than Ruff does now and he's 3 years younger. There was a time when Dineen looked significantly younger than Ruff, but he seemed to get REALLLLLY OLLDDDDD looking in the last couple of years. He looked really old I thought in his videos at training camp this year.

 

[None Shall Pass]

I am whelmed.

 

[DerekDevils30]

Guy deserved the reigns for now. Expectations are sky high going forward and I’m hopeful he can keep the wheels turning.