Lindy Ruff officially hired as Sabres HC

[darksabre]

1 minute ago, That Aud Smell said:

Anyone know where to locate that video of Lindy instructing Sabres at a practice by, among other things, taking his stick and whacking it against a player's helmet? (Taylor Pyatt, maybe?) It was the subject of some debate here, years gone by. As I recall, Lindy's actions seemed to have been triggering for a former regular poster here.

Luke Adam 

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Yikes

Quote

But the job is to minimize that risk, and they just hired a coach whose teams have averaged 92.7 points per 82 in the salary-cap era.

https://eprinkside.com/2024/04/22/arrival-of-lindy-ruff-only-raises-more-questions-than-answers-for-buffalo-sabres

 

This is so on point it hurts. 

Quote

If I were a Sabres fan, I would also be terrified by the lack of imagination here; in much the same way that there was a perception Adams was hired to run the team because he was just kinda around the office that day, it's hard to shake the feeling that this is at least a little bit sleight of hand: "Remember when we were making the playoffs regularly? This guy was the coach! Don't look up how many times his teams made the playoffs since then! Or how many times we made the playoffs in that same time!"

"lack of imagination"?

I'm fine with that.  Using your imagination when hiring a coach gives you Ralph Krueger.

[That Aud Smell]

3 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Luke Adam 

Hello, friend.

I tried using Google to locate the video.

I searched "sabrespace" "lindy" "stick" -- but got too many hits. As an unexpected reward, though, I also got this as a first hit. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favour and read it now (or soon). And excuse the formatting glitches that time has visited on the post.

 

[Doohicksie]

45 minutes ago, shrader said:

I wonder what was remaining on his deal with the Devils. 

Since he's taken the Sabres HC position, his pay by the Devils drops to a small fraction of what his contract was for.

[shrader]

30 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Gotcha. I'd be surprised if Lindy had 3 or more years left on his Devils deal. My guess is that a no double dipping clause would, if carefully drafted, anticipate a scenario where the remaining term on a Devils deal could outlast the term on a subsequent deal (and then likewise wipe out the Devils' obligation to pay in that event). YMMV, as @Taro T often says.

Well at least they don’t have to give away draft compensation anymore for hiring a fired coach. What a truly awful rule that was. 

[That Aud Smell]

9 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Luke Adam 

5 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Hello, friend.

The lore is out there. But not the video clip.

 

[JohnC]

3 hours ago, Doohickie said:

We have no idea what the process was.  If the plan all along was to replace Donny at the end of the season, Kevyn could have conceivably been in talks/interviews with several candidates but because Donny was still employed they maintained confidentiality.

It wouldn't be a surprise that a decision was made on Granato before the season was over. I'm not focusing my attention on the hiring of Lindy in this process. My complaint is that there was not a meaningful process that allowed for consideration coaches who were already with other teams or teams that would shortly be available after their teams lost in the playoffs this year. The candidate list was shrunk before it needed to be. That's my main complaint. 

Ruff may turn out to be the right coach at the right time. It's an open issue for me. But why the rush to hire him? I doubt if any other organization was pursuing him. And if there was interest in him, I doubt that there was an imperative by any organization to get him signed so soon. 

The Sabre coaching search was a surprisingly truncated process. In my opinion, this was a third-rate process that seems very perplexing to me. I certainly wish Lindy well. 

[Stoner]

In a nod to those who thought Lindy's time had ended in Buffalo, he just said he wasn't the coach he needed to be in 2013. He is talking about the many changes he's made as a coach. "I'm a better coach today."

Lindy has made me laugh several times. He's a human. How many turds followed him as coach? Refreshing.

[Scottysabres]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

In a nod to those who thought Lindy's time had ended in Buffalo, he just said he wasn't the coach he needed to be in 2013. He is talking about the many changes he's made as a coach. "I'm a better coach today."

I knew it! I knew somewhere, deep down in your bowels, you were a Lindy fan.

[triumph_communes]

1 hour ago, DarthEbriate said:

Curiously, they’ve been very solid hanging onto leads the last couple seasons because they’ve been good at transition and punishing teams that open up. Start strong, then finish them, pad the stats, and play your goal songs. 

But they had nothing when facing adversity and would cower if the other team didn’t give them space. 

1 hour ago, DarthEbriate said:

Curiously, they’ve been very solid hanging onto leads the last couple seasons because they’ve been good at transition and punishing teams that open up. Start strong, then finish them, pad the stats, and play your goal songs. 

But they had nothing when facing adversity and would cower if the other team didn’t give them space. 

[Stoner]

Just now, Scottysabres said:

I knew it! I knew somewhere, deep down in your bowels, you were a Lindy fan.

Always was.

[tom webster]

3 minutes ago, JohnC said:

It wouldn't be a surprise that a decision was made on Granato before the season was over. I'm not focusing my attention on the hiring of Lindy in this process. My complaint is that there was not a meaningful process that allowed for consideration coaches who were already with other teams or teams that would shortly be available after their teams lost in the playoffs this year. The candidate list was shrunk before it needed to be. That's my main complaint. 

Ruff may turn out to be the right coach at the right time. It's an open issue for me. But why the rush to hire him? I doubt if any other organization was pursuing him. And if there was interest in him, I doubt that there was an imperative by any organization to get him signed so soon. 

The Sabre coaching search was a surprisingly truncated process. In my opinion, this was a third-rate process that seems very perplexing to me. I certainly wish Lindy well. 

If you were intent on hiring a veteran NHL coach, there aren’t many available with a better resume then Ruff’s. Berube would’ve been the only choice that won a Cup unless you wanted to sell your soul to the devil and go after Quenville. Why lengthen the process when one of the best, if not the best wanted the job? It seems to me that if Ruff never coached here and they took a month longer to hire him, ninety percent of the people criticizing the move would have nothing to complain about.

I am not sure he was the right hire. I just think he has a good to better then good chance of being the right guy.

[That Aud Smell]

10 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

I knew it! I knew somewhere, deep down in your bowels, you were a Lindy fan.

Read the story that PA wrote in May 2006, linked above.

[LGR4GM]

7 minutes ago, tom webster said:

If you were intent on hiring a veteran NHL coach, there aren’t many available with a better resume then Ruff’s. Berube would’ve been the only choice that won a Cup unless you wanted to sell your soul to the devil and go after Quenville. Why lengthen the process when one of the best, if not the best wanted the job? It seems to me that if Ruff never coached here and they took a month longer to hire him, ninety percent of the people criticizing the move would have nothing to complain about.

I am not sure he was the right hire. I just think he has a good to better then good chance of being the right guy.

He's the most experienced but saying "best" seems questionable. 

[thewookie1]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

He's the most experienced but saying "best" seems questionable. 

I'd classify him a solid hire; not a slam dunk but also not a complete travesty.

[triumph_communes]

Don’t see us getting into a Taylor Hall situation with Lindy Ruff

[SabresVet]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

That would be gross. The players can't know their head coach has one foot in retirement and his replacement is standing next to him.

He's 64 this year and the average age for a NHL HC is about 55.  Only 2 HC's - Torts and Bowness - are older of the teams with a permanent (as of now) HC.    

I'd imagine there's a succession plan and, as others have said, a way to keep him the organization which will pave the way for someone younger.

But it doesn't have to be about that now.  It's getting the team into the playoffs and an worry about who'll be HC later if it comes to that.   

[JohnC]

28 minutes ago, tom webster said:

If you were intent on hiring a veteran NHL coach, there aren’t many available with a better resume then Ruff’s. Berube would’ve been the only choice that won a Cup unless you wanted to sell your soul to the devil and go after Quenville. Why lengthen the process when one of the best, if not the best wanted the job? It seems to me that if Ruff never coached here and they took a month longer to hire him, ninety percent of the people criticizing the move would have nothing to complain about.

I am not sure he was the right hire. I just think he has a good to better then good chance of being the right guy.

My criticism isn't the specific hiring of Lindy. He may turn out to be an excellent hire. You ask why lengthen the process? There is a simple and good answer for that: You may end up with a better candidate by waiting a little longer when other candidates could have been available. Yes, Lindy fit the criteria that the GM laid out when the hiring process was established. That doesn't mean that by waiting other candidates wouldn't also fit the desired criteria. Quite the contrary, by waiting a little longer there would have been a longer list of candidates to choose from. What's wrong with that? Why the urgency to get Ruff in the fold right now? What other franchise was knocking on his door?

I'm rooting for Ruff to do well. In my mind, this hiring process was too limited and rushed. As @LGR4GM aptly stated: the organization hired the candidate that they wanted before the process was meaningfully gone through. That's not the best way to conduct business when doing a candidate search.

Edited April 23 by JohnC

[...]

36 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Always was.

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, Broken Ankles said:

Can’t believe @Pimlach didn’t take umbrage to this comment.  

“Keep my Avatars name, out your mouth”.

I should have never gone back to Toronto and that dam Harold Ballard.  

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

There's far more than those 5

Claude Julien with Montreal

Darryl Sutter in Calgary

Scotty Bowman and Ted Nolan here in Buffalo

The article is wrong then.   Bowman never left, GM to coach to GM to Coach was not the criteria.  Back in the 6 team era lots of Coaches were GMs too.  

[steveoath]

Wasn’t overawed with the hire. But a little more awed now after listening to the xbuffalo podcast. Hire makes more sense. Worth a wee listen. 

[PerreaultForever]

The bottom line for me on why this is a good move is this:

We argue on here about why they lose all the time. Is it the coach? Is it the players? Is it the culture? Is it Adams fault? Is it Pegula's? and there is some consensus but there's also a lot of differing views. With a new coach like Gallant or Berube we'd be in the same arguments should they lose. Berube was overrated. Players won't play for new coach. We chose the wrong coach and so on.

With Lindy we know this for certain, 100%, as we've seen it before. With a sufficiently talented roster Lindy knows how to win in this league. He's done it numerous times and you don't get to his win total without knowing how to win. So if this team still loses we will know for sure, 100%, that it's simply not going to happen with anybody in this franchise. There is absolutely no question that this team has to win now and barring some incredible injury bad luck they should win next year and make the playoffs and become a contender. If they still don't, then Adams has built a roster of lazy uncoachable losers (which I don't believe now) and we will have to tear it all down again and the team will likely never win until Pegula sells it. This imo will be a certainty. 

But for the moment, I now have hope for next season. 

[BigK]

22 hours ago, pastajoe said:

I was really hoping for a new person with no connection to the Sabres. Rinse and repeat.

Few if any folks left from the last time he was w Sabres.  He has had other experiences in the last decade, and comes into an essentially new franchise again.  Forget he was here before.  Irrelevant.

[Pimlach]

6 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

The bottom line for me on why this is a good move is this:

We argue on here about why they lose all the time. Is it the coach? Is it the players? Is it the culture? Is it Adams fault? Is it Pegula's? and there is some consensus but there's also a lot of differing views. With a new coach like Gallant or Berube we'd be in the same arguments should they lose. Berube was overrated. Players won't play for new coach. We chose the wrong coach and so on.

With Lindy we know this for certain, 100%, as we've seen it before. With a sufficiently talented roster Lindy knows how to win in this league. He's done it numerous times and you don't get to his win total without knowing how to win. So if this team still loses we will know for sure, 100%, that it's simply not going to happen with anybody in this franchise. There is absolutely no question that this team has to win now and barring some incredible injury bad luck they should win next year and make the playoffs and become a contender. If they still don't, then Adams has built a roster of lazy uncoachable losers (which I don't believe now) and we will have to tear it all down again and the team will likely never win until Pegula sells it. This imo will be a certainty. 

But for the moment, I now have hope for next season. 

Hmmmmmm. Ruff is not going win that much more than Granato did if they roll back the same roster.  Maybe enough to make a wild card, sure. 

Ruff talked about the little things, winning key face offs, protecting leads, winning puck battles, having leaders call out players, goaltending, building from the defense and out.   All great stuff.    They still need more players that have done that and will show the way.