Lindy Ruff officially hired as Sabres HC

[triumph_communes]

If I remember right, Ruff games were lots of early leads that would become hold the fort scenarios that relied upon good defense and goaltending. Always wished they tried to run things up, but it’s a long season.

 

Almost polar opposite to what we have now. Let’s hope the middle ground is the landing spot…

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, triumph_communes said:

If I remember right, Ruff games were lots of early leads that would become hold the fort scenarios that relied upon good defense and goaltending. Always wished they tried to run things up, but it’s a long season.

 

Almost polar opposite to what we have now. Let’s hope the middle ground is the landing spot…

Alamo mode is back!

[MISabresFan]

15 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Yikes

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. 

 

The key (from the article) to all this, finding the correct people or person.  Bills have Josh, Beane and Sean.  Sabers have what?  Young prospects including a goalie.?  Sabers appear to be put together from the boys club.

[darksabre]

33 minutes ago, JustOneParade said:

Here's my simple take on things, FWIW. Lindy would have gotten this year's team into the playoffs, but no further than the first round. The roster needs work to get beyond that point going forward.

That would have been enough to get my group to renew our season tickets. And probably a lot of others too.

[Demoted]

59 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

So is this 1-2 years of Adams experiment and then Lindy takes over as GM?

[Flashsabre]

People say “how many times did he make the playoffs in Dallas and NJ?” But what was the state of Dallas when he took over and the state of the devils when he took over?” He built both lowly clubs up to get into the playoffs. 
 

You could take prime Scotty Bowman and put him behind the bench of the SJ Sharks the past two years and say “ Well he missed the playoffs the past two years.”

This roster is ready to compete (and Adams better improve it this summer) so it is a different situation Lindy is walking into.

[That Aud Smell]

A 2-year deal?

That's interesting, actually.

You hear that coaches don't want to be lame ducks. Isn't that what happened with Granato when he got extended in early 2023 through 2025-2026? Lindy will start out in the penultimate year of his deal.

Hmm. Bets being hedged? On both sides?

[Mango]

2 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

People say “how many times did he make the playoffs in Dallas and NJ?” But what was the state of Dallas when he took over and the state of the devils when he took over?” He built both lowly clubs up to get into the playoffs. 
 

You could take prime Scotty Bowman and put him behind the bench of the SJ Sharks the past two years and say “ Well he missed the playoffs the past two years.”

This roster is ready to compete (and Adams better improve it this summer) so it is a different situation Lindy is walking into.

Despite the Appert succession plan rumors I really believe that Adams just hired his new boss. Because if this goes exceedingly well Lindy will still be employed by the org in some senior advisor/POHO role. And if this thing fails, Lindy will be leading the search for a new GM and Adams is out the door. 


 

[JustOneParade]

4 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

A 2-year deal?

That's interesting, actually.

You hear that coaches don't want to be lame ducks. Isn't that what happened with Granato when he got extended in early 2023 through 2025-2026? Lindy will start out in the penultimate year of his deal.

Hmm. Bets being hedged? On both sides?

Or maybe Lindy announces at his presser today that he's signed an extension that kicks in for the '26/27 season. 😄 

[LabattBlue]

I would bet the house that Lindy has been promised a FO position if either he decides after two years he is done as a HC, or the progress is just not there.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

Or Karmanos.

Not bad for a yes man.

[triumph_communes]

Or it means the owner is being cheap and Lindy was the only coach willing to only take a 2 year deal. 

[shrader]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

Arbour has zero loser points, Lindy 153. Doesn’t show how many OT wins he had.

I agree that career winning percentage isn’t great proof of a coach’s ability. And I agree with your point, even if it wasn’t the one I was trying to make.

Mine was that it’s kinda like ranking goalies based on the same stat. Too many underlying variables.

Just for the record, I don’t care one bit about the loser points. Those are ties. The shoot out win is the phony point. 

[Kristian]

At least he has NHL experience, so I guess in that sense, the franchise is moving forward…

[shrader]

20 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

A 2-year deal?

That's interesting, actually.

You hear that coaches don't want to be lame ducks. Isn't that what happened with Granato when he got extended in early 2023 through 2025-2026? Lindy will start out in the penultimate year of his deal.

Hmm. Bets being hedged? On both sides?

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

[PromoTheRobot]

1 minute ago, triumph_communes said:

Or it means the owner is being cheap and Lindy was the only coach willing to only take a 2 year deal. 

Or Appert will join as Lindy's assistant and future HC. Ruff retires or joins FO.

51 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Yikes

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. 

 

Almost like you wrote it.

[That Aud Smell]

7 minutes ago, shrader said:

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

Good question. I'd guess no more than 2. There should be (?) setoff/offset language in the Devils' contract (i.e., no double dippin').

Also: Shoutout to a DEAL WITH THE DEVIL.

[shrader]

9 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Or Appert will join as Lindy's assistant and future HC. Ruff retires or joins FO.

Almost like you wrote it.

It’s subscription so I can only read the first few lines. That said, Lambert has always been a douche daring back to his college days. The first line at that link shows to me that he’s still that douche. 

[shrader]

1 minute ago, That Aud Smell said:

Good question. I'd guess no more than 2. There should be (?) setoff/offset language in the Devils' contract (i.e., no double dippin').

Also: Shoutout to a DEAL WITH THE DEVIL.

Yeah, no double dipping, but I have no idea what a two year deal does if you have more than two years remaining. I assume the original team is still on the hook for those extra years, but that’s just a guess. Lawyerese confuses me. 

[That Aud Smell]

1 minute ago, shrader said:

Yeah, no double dipping, but I have no idea what a two year deal does if you have more than two years remaining. I assume the original team is still on the hook for those extra years, but that’s just a guess. Lawyerese confuses me. 

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.

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

That is an exceptional Tweet in relation to what the team did this year.

As @Thorny has been pointing out, Sabres PR has become pretty sharp.

And this is the key. Fix the critical issues that crushed the Oreo up (autocorrect “previous” but too good to delete), without exposing entirely new ones.

Will Ruff and his staff get the team to show up in the first, get the power play to average (with all the top-first-round talent), and gain some structure defensively still with a bunch of kids on the blue line? Do that, and you may make the playoffs. 

But it’s not all on the staff. TNT, Cozens, Krebs, ??… that’s not a playoff-caliber center spine.

[bob_sauve28]

49 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Alamo mode is back!

I think we have the players to do that now.

[DarthEbriate]

53 minutes ago, triumph_communes said:

If I remember right, Ruff games were lots of early leads that would become hold the fort scenarios that relied upon good defense and goaltending. Always wished they tried to run things up, but it’s a long season.

Almost polar opposite to what we have now. Let’s hope the middle ground is the landing spot…

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. 

[Broken Ankles]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

I think it’s kinda interesting that career winning percentage is being used as a mark against Lindy. Here are 10 of his peers:

• Darryl Sutter .498
• Pat Burns .492
• Pat Quinn .489
• Jacques Lemaire .489
• Lindy Ruff .487
• Al Arbour .487
• Mike Keenan .485
• John Torterella .480
• Dick Irvin .477
• Paul Maurice .470

And for fun:

• Punch Imlach .452

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

“Keep my Avatars name, out your mouth”.

[That Aud Smell]

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.