If you somehow haven’t seen by now, you clearly don’t pay much attention. After yet another coaching change (their fifth in 10 years), the Buffalo Sabres have brought back former longtime head coach Lindy Ruff to once again take the reins.
It was a shocking move given how many potential candidates were thought to be in the mix for the vacancy, but it also makes sense when looking closer. The Sabres are lacking in numerous areas that Ruff excels in and the hope is that he can work his magic with them once again. That being said, the legendary bench boss has his work cut out for him.
The Sabres aren’t in dire straits by any means, but they’re coming off a vastly disheartening season in which they were expected to finally end their dreaded playoff drought but instead flopped. Ruff isn’t tasked with spinning straw into gold, but his new team has its fair share of issues and he has no choice but to tackle them head on. Here are five things he must prioritize.
5. Continue the Youth Movement
Ruff was almost always forced to rely on young, unproven players during his first tenure in Buffalo but proved to be very good at developing them into stars. The likes of Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville all became NHL All-Stars under his tutelage and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. That bodes very well because the Sabres are already a young team and there’s a good chance that they’re about to get even younger.
Top prospects Isak Rosen and Jiri Kulich have served their time in the minors and should be at the top of the Sabres’ priorities after the stunning trade of Matthew Savoie. Neither stands to gain much more from being returned to the American Hockey League (AHL) and deserves the opportunity to earn a place for themselves in Buffalo. If not, what’s the point of having them at all?
Ruff’s former assistant coach Kevyn Adams is now his general manager and he flushed out the team’s bottom-six this summer, bringing in a truly random bunch to replace them. But there’s still room for call-ups amidst all the newcomers and one would think that Rosen and Kulich would be the first on the list. If integrated, the two will have to be protected in the lineup and placed alongside players that will give them opportunities to learn and grow. Peyton Krebs spent the majority of last season on the fourth line and his potential was significantly hindered by it.
Devon Levi is another crucial case. After spending the second half of last season with AHL Rochester and flourishing there, the 23-year-old will more than likely be back with the Sabres this season and ready for another crack at it. This time the team will know better than to put him in the starting role, but he’ll also have to be incorporated in a way that will allow him to receive playing time without being as over-exposed as he was last season.
4. Keep the Goaltending Trending Upward
Levi isn’t the only goaltender Ruff will have to manage carefully. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen‘s breakout was the story of last season for the Sabres and he’ll enter this season as their rightful number one after signing a five-year extension this week. Fans will be waiting to see if he can replicate his success and that will hinge in part on how he’s handled by the coaching staff. Unfortunately, that hasn’t always been Ruff’s strong suit.
If the veteran bench boss had one flaw during his first run in Buffalo, it was the management of his goaltenders. He was notorious for riding his starter into the ground; the best example is Ryan Miller, who appeared in a whopping 76 games in the 2007-08 season. His predecessor Marty Biron started in 72 games in the 2001-02 campaign as well. That can partially be attributed to the team’s lack of a viable backup throughout that time, but the fact remains that in the modern NHL, that can’t happen.
Luukkonen proved last season that he can shoulder the weight of the team, appearing in a career-high 54 games and posting a 2.57 goals-against average. However, that doesn’t mean his workload should necessarily increase. Levi looked solid in his run with the Americans after having a chance to grow at a more manageable rate. Assuming he returns to the Sabres, he should be more poised and capable of taking on a bigger role that should prevent his compatriot from being overburdened.
See Also: Sabres Sign Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to 5-Year Deal
For the first time in what seems like an eternity, it seems the Sabres have found the right formula in goal. Not since Miller have they had the consistently viable backstop that every team needs to succeed. Both Luukkonen and Levi have the potential to be stars and if handled correctly, the Sabres could have two.
3. Better Two-Way Play
It’s unquestionably been the team’s Achilles’ heel over the past number of years and there’s no two ways about it – the Sabres’ defensive play has to improve. No team has any real chance at success if it can’t keep the puck out of its own net, and though Luukkonen was terrific last season, his efforts alone were never going to cut it. The defense itself isn’t the issue, but rather the forwards. The Sabres aren’t going anywhere unless they can find a way to be smarter without the puck. Luckily for them, their new coach prizes this.
Ruff has always placed heavy emphasis on defensive awareness and his teams in Buffalo over the years were the embodiment of such. Under him, the Sabres excelled at preventing goals because every player on the ice was alert at all times. Forwards consistently backchecked and covered for defensemen who jumped up ice. He also employed top forwards on the penalty kill instead of grinders and the team was a constant threat for shorthanded goals. The current squad needs much, much more of that. Though the likes of Alex Tuch and Jordan Greenway are notable exceptions, too many of their forwards struggle in defensive situations.
Only four forwards (Tuch, Greenway, JJ Peterka and Peyton Krebs) finished with a positive plus/minus rating last season. Though that statistic can sometimes be deceptive, it goes to show that the Sabres don’t get much on the back end, and it overshadowed the improvements that the defensive corps made. Six defensemen finished with positive ratings last season, but without proper help from forwards, it didn’t make anywhere near as big an impact as it should have.
Ruff’s legendary no-nonsense style might be exactly what the Sabres need to improve. He expects a full effort out of every player and isn’t above punishing those who turn in lethargic efforts. It’s that kind of discipline that separates the good teams from the bad and the Sabres haven’t had it for a while now. A new sheriff is in town, and the players had better be ready.
2. Revive the Offense
The biggest story of the 2023-24 campaign was Buffalo’s formerly lethal onslaught suddenly going stone cold. The Sabres have proven that they can score with the best of them and will need to rediscover that to turn things around. Unfortunately for them and their new coach, they’ll have to do it without one of their biggest pieces.
Though Jeff Skinner was coming off one of the worst seasons of his career, the Sabres’ decision to buy him out still came as a major shock. To make matters worse, they’ve done little to fill the resulting void in the lineup and are betting on other players stepping up. While that certainly could happen, it’s still a major gamble and won’t make Ruff’s job any easier. In theory, a healthy Tage Thompson leading the charge should help matters considerably after he was hampered by a wrist injury for much of last season. The big man is the key to the Sabres’ offense and they need him to be dominant once again.
No players need to turn it around more than Dylan Cozens, however. The 23-year-old struggled uncharacteristically in just about every sense last season, and though 47 points wasn’t terrible, he and the Sabres alike know that he’s capable of far more. Cozens is the kind of player that Ruff prizes and it’s safe to assume he’ll be trusted with more responsibilities because of that, which could help him return to form. Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin co-led the team in scoring and are the two favorites for the vacant captaincy should one be named. Both will have to continue to lead the way on and off the ice.
If the Sabres can get all of their offensive pieces going, they have the potential to be formidable, even without Skinner. The roster is talented but was confounded by both injury and inconsistency last season. If JJ Peterka can replicate his success and Jack Quinn can regain himself after two severe injuries, the Sabres will be a deep team that can light up the score sheet. If luck continues to go against them, they’ll have to adjust. Don Granato proved himself incapable of rolling with the punches and it cost him his job. Ruff has had no issues with that in the past, and that bodes very well.
1. WIN
It’s said that in sports, winning cures everything, and the Sabres need that now more than ever. It’s been 11 years since Ruff last stood behind the bench at KeyBank Center and the team hasn’t appeared in a postseason game since he departed. The NHL’s longest-ever playoff drought is now 13 years old and tied for the longest active in North American sports. The Sabres have tried and failed (sometimes miserably) numerous times since then to get back to respectability, and while they’ve gotten close in recent years, close still only gets you to 82 games.
Fans are tired of promises and have shown that their seemingly eternal patience is reaching its end. KeyBank Center has a total capacity of just over 19,000, but over the past two seasons, Buffalo has averaged less than 16,000 fans per game (from ‘NHL fan attendance tracker 2023-24: Risers, fallers, trends and takeaways’, The Athletic, 4/18/24). That is a dramatic drop for a fanbase that once sold out 62 consecutive games from 2006 to 2007 and it may continue this season.
Through no fault of his own, Ruff is going to be held under the microscope intensely as his second go-around begins and he’s expected to bring instantly improved fortunes. That might be an unfair standard to be held to, but he’s done it before. The Sabres reached the Eastern Conference Final in his first season and the Stanley Cup Final in his second. In fact, the team made the postseason in each of his first four seasons and those winning ways may have continued had the franchise not been derailed by the Adelphia scandal.
Ruff’s first tenure as head coach lasted 16 years and it’s baffling to think that the drought is approaching that same length. He’s been at the helm for some of the most memorable moments the Sabres have ever had and fans and the team alike are hoping that his return will bring back those glory days. He’s no stranger to quick success in Buffalo but the fanbase’s misery will be ended by results, not words. Can he obtain them?
