Lindy Ruff - Coaching Career

Coaching Career

He became assistant coach of the Florida Panthers for the 1993–94 NHL season until the 1996–97 NHL season. His most success as an assistant coach was with the 1996 Florida Panthers that made it to the Stanley Cup final, but lost to the Colorado Avalanche.

Ruff was named the 15th head coach of the Buffalo Sabres on July 21, 1997. He joined a long list of former Sabres players who eventually became Sabres head coaches; Floyd Smith, Bill Inglis, Craig Ramsay, Jim Schoenfeld, and Rick Dudley were among the others. He had immediate success in Buffalo, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 1997–98 NHL season. In Ruff's second season as coach, the Sabres reached the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals before finally losing to the Dallas Stars in six games of a very controversial series. The Stars' Brett Hull scored a goal while he was inside the goaltender's crease, which was (under then 1999 rules) a clear violation. But since the Stars were already on the ice celebrating what they assumed was their Stanley Cup win, the referees and the NHL refused to continue the game. The following two seasons saw Ruff's Sabres lose in the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers and the second round to the Pittsburgh Penguins respectively. Buffalo missed the playoffs in the three seasons preceding the NHL lockout amidst the teams bankruptcy and financial problems caused by the Adelphia Communications corporate scandal. After the lockout, Ruff lead the Sabres to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances only to lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and the Ottawa Senators in 2007. Ruff is currently the longest-tenured coach in the NHL and was rewarded with a three-year contract extension that has an option for a fourth season.

Ruff is known for being blunt with the media. A well-known example of his bluntness were his comments regarding Toronto Maple Leafs player Darcy Tucker. In his post-game interview following a questionable hit on Jochen Hecht that knocked the Sabres center out of the lineup for two weeks with a sprained ACL in the 2005–06 season, Ruff said, "I want him suspended." He also said, "I have not called the NHL office all year and I will call them ten times tomorrow." He called Tucker's hit "a definition of a joke."

On April 5, 2006, Ruff became the 31st coach in NHL history to win 300 games, and just the 16th to do it with only one team. Ruff led the Sabres to their most successful regular season ever in 2006–2007, with a 53–22–7 record for a total of 113 points.

Ruff was the winner of the 2005–06 Jack Adams Award for coach of the year in the National Hockey League. Tom Renney of the New York Rangers and Peter Laviolette of the Carolina Hurricanes were also nominated.

Ruff was again nominated for the Jack Adams Award in 2006–07. His nomination was the second time he has been a finalist for coach of the year. Michel Therrien of the Pittsburgh Penguins was also a finalist while Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks won the honor. Ruff placed 2nd in the voting with 126 points to Vigneault's 134.

In February 2007 Ruff was fined US$10,000 by the NHL after a brawl with the Ottawa Senators (Which Buffalo Sabres fans started funding for the fine, But Lindy Ruff declined that offer). The league said that Ruff precipitated the brawl following a questionable hit on then co-captain Chris Drury by the Senators' Chris Neil. Because the hit to Drury did not result in a penalty, Ruff sent out Andrew Peters, Patrick Kaleta, and Adam Mair, the team's "enforcers". What followed was one of the '06–'07 season's most memorable hockey brawls. Adam Mair began the brawl, punching Ottawa's Jason Spezza as soon as the puck was dropped. Andrew Peters tried to start a fight with Dany Heatley, who was reluctant to respond, at one point even hiding behind a linesman. Even the goaltenders got into the fight, with Martin Biron challenging Ray Emery.

After a second round playoff match against the New York Rangers on April 27, 2007, Ruff would be fined again by the league after harshly criticizing officials for an alleged missed too-many-men call against the Rangers, which might have given New York a chance to tie the match in the closing minute.

In the 2006–07 season he became the first Sabres coach to lead the team to back-to-back 50 win seasons, boasting the 5th best points percentage in the league since 1979.

On October 15, 2008, Ruff became the 23rd coach in NHL history to win 400 games, and just the 7th to win 400 games for one team.

Ruff was named as an associate coach for Team Canada, which won the gold medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

On January 6, 2011, Ruff became only the 16th coach in NHL history to win 500 games, and just the 2nd to win 500 games while only having coached one team.

On January 8, 2011, Ruff became the winningest coach who only coached for one team in NHL History when the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 2–1 in OT. His 501st win behind the bench with the Sabres put him one ahead of Toe Blake who coached to 500 wins with the Montreal Canadiens. Al Arbour won more games for the New York Islanders, but he also coached the St. Louis Blues early in his career. Along with Arbour, Billy Reay, and current Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz, Ruff is one of just four coaches to coach 1,000 NHL games with a single team.

On April 29, 2011, the Buffalo Sabres announced that Ruff had agreed to a multiple year contract extension.