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Lindy Ruff’s Stanley Cup ambition will excite Sabres fans

Originally posted on NHL on ClutchPoints
By Tristin McKinstry | Last updated Oct 1, 2024 11:54 AM ET

The Buffalo Sabres hired Lindy Ruff as head coach over the summer. Ruff takes over behind the bench after the Sabres fired Don Granato following the 2023-24 season. It’s a move that surprised some around the hockey world. But if there’s anyone who knows the Buffalo franchise inside and out, it’s Ruff.

The veteran head coach has made three different stops with Buffalo over his hockey career. As a player, he skated for the Sabres from 1979 to 1989. He then became head coach of the team in 1997, holding the post all the way until 2013. Now, Ruff is back for a second time behind the bench.

Ruff is not hiding his goals and ambitions for this latest tenure, either. “Make sure I get it done,” Ruff said of his task as head coach, via NHL.com. “Get it done means win the Stanley Cup. That’s what get it done means. It doesn’t mean anything less.”

Lindy Ruff hopes to bring success to Sabres

Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff watches his team from the bench during the first period against the Pittsburgh Penguins at KeyBank Center. Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

Lindy Ruff knows he has a lot of work to do this year. The Sabres have the longest active postseason drought in the NHL. In saying this, Ruff is the coach who brought the team success in years past. Turning to a future Hall of Fame coach is certainly a gamble the team is willing to make.

It’s also a gamble with some merit to it. The Sabres last made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2011 while Ruff was coach. Additionally, the franchise made the third round of the playoffs five times during his previous two stints. He made it twice as a player and three times as a head coach. In 1999, he helped Buffalo make their lone Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1975.

Ruff understands the pressure of being a head coach in the NHL. However, this job is a bit different. By his own admission, his history with the Sabres and the city of Buffalo heightens the pressure to succeed on and off the ice.

“I’ve been in Buffalo since 1979. We kept our place the whole time and have lived here. I’m a big Bills fan and I go to Bison baseball games. I’m engrained in the community. All of our friends are here. For me it ramps up a little bit of the pressure to make sure I get it done, but at the same time I look at it as a humbling opportunity,” Ruff said, via NHL.com.

Ruff is certainly aiming high ahead of his second coaching stint with the Sabres. If he can win the Stanley Cup, it would certainly put a definitive stamp on an already Hall of Fame career. The Sabres kick off the 2024-25 campaign with a game on Friday against the New Jersey Devils in Czechia as part of the NHL Global Series.

This article first appeared on NHL on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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