During the Buzzcast this week discussing the changes in Buffalo, I made a throwaway line about maybe the Sabres would want Lindy Ruff back. That comment was tongue-in-cheek but I was asked today if I thought the Sabres would ever come for Ruff, or more importantly, Chris Drury? This was far from my thought when I said this, but based on the suggestion, made by TommyGTrain, I thought it might be an interesting blog and I think Mike Augello for his assistance as well.
Ruff, as seen below and known to all, both played and coached in Buffalo. He clearly is more well-known for his stint behind the bench rather than on the ice, despite serving as the team's captain for three seasons. Ruff is far from beloved in New York, as he has drawn much of the ire for the Rangers' spotty defensive play, so his departure would not result in many tears. Buffalo has Ralph Kreuger as coach, but as we saw the other day, no change would shock us given the Pegulas. That said, I would be fairly surprised if Ruff coached the team again. But a front office, face of the franchise/ambassador type position, in line with the comments made by Terry and Kim Pegula last week, would not be that big of a surprise, if that was something Ruff wanted, as a way to somewhat placate the fanbase, though Ruff didn't depart town with hosannas coming his way.
Ruff's Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Bio:
After serving as an assistant coach for the Florida Panthers for four seasons, Ruff, who played most of his NHL career for the Sabres, serving as captain of the team for nearly three years, returned to Buffalo in 1997 to become the head coach of the Sabres.In his second season as head coach, Ruff led the 1998-99 Sabres to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 24 years and established himself as one of the league’s top coaches. He achieved a club record that season for the most wins (14) in one playoff year. In the process, Ruff became only the third head coach under the present Stanley Cup playoff format to lead his team to the Conference Finals in each of his first two seasons.
Ruff is the longest-tenured coach in the NHL, having just completed his 13th year behind the Sabres bench. Ruff has compiled a career record of 483-361-140, and his 483 wins is tops among all NHL coaches with their current team. Ruff is 17th all-time in NHL career wins, and is the all-time winningest coach in Sabres’ history. He is also the Sabres’ all-time leader in playoff games coached (94), and wins (54).
The 2006-07 Sabres had their finest year under Ruff statistically with a franchise-record 53 wins and the first Presidents Trophy in club history. It was also the first time in franchise history the Sabres posted back-to-back 50-win seasons. Buffalo returned to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive season, and the fourth time under Ruff’s guidance.
In 2006, the NHL awarded Ruff the Jack Adams Award as the league’s Coach of the Year. He has twice served as the head coach in the NHL’s All-Star Game. In 1999 he coached the World Team, and he returned to the All-Star Game in 2007 to lead the Eastern Conference squad.
Ruff was let go 17 games into the 2012-13 season, landing with Dallas to start the 2013-14 campaign. He won 40, 41 and then 50 games, losing in the Western Conference semis, but was fired after missing the playoffs following the 2016-17 campaign. On July 10, 2017, Ruff was named as assistant coach of the Rangers.
Ruff has had success behind the bench on the international stage as well. He capped off the 2008-09 season by guiding Team Canada to a silver medal at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in Switzerland, and in 2010 he was a member of the coaching staff for Team Canada’s gold medal winning hockey team at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Drury is a whole different matter altogether, as he had a fairly storybook career. As a kid, he won the Little League World Series for Trumbull, Ct. In college, he was the Hobey Baker Award-winner with Boston University, then won the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year with the Colorado Avalanche. Drury lifted the Stanley Cup as a member of the Avalanche and was a two-time Olympic silver medalist with the United States. In addition, he was the captain of both the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers.
Despite his stint with the Rangers ending with a buyout in June 2011 followed by his retirement two months later, no one ever questioned Drury's hockey acumen. This became readily apparent when In September 2015, the Rangers named Drury their director of player development. A year later, Drury was promoted by the Rangers to assistant general manager and the following season, Drury assumed the role as general manager of New York's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. In order to keep Drury in the folder, in March 2019, the Rangers signed Drury to a contract extension.
Jeff Gorton is firmly entrenched as GM but New York brass think very highly of Drury. He likely is being groomed to replace Gorton someday, but if a team came calling for a higher-level role, namely GM, the Rangers likely would not block him from moving. Buffalo, who is still paying Jason Botterill, slid Kevyn Adams, a former assistant coach under Ruff and who has a good relationship with Krueger, into the role. If the Pegulas wanted to make a splash, upgrading the hockey knowledge in the front office and also restore some of the luster to an organization that rightly has been a pinata the past several years but especially the past week. bringing in Drury would certainly be a smart move.
In addition, this kind of move - unlikely as it may be due to financial reasons and Adams just assuming the role of GM- also would go a long way to appease and mollify a disgruntled Jack Eichel. For Drury to be interested, he would want complete control of the front office, though seeing how the Pugulas operate could be a non-starter. So while this type of management change probably is not one for now and does have hurdles to jump, this could be one for the somewhat immediate future, especially if Pegula hired Drury as head of hockey operations or a hockey COO type role, which would be above the GM.