Buffalo Sabres: 5 Things on Lindy Ruff’s To-Do List This Season – The Hockey Writers – Buffalo Sabres

If you haven’t seen it yet, you clearly haven’t been paying attention. After yet another coaching change (the fifth in 10 years), the Buffalo Sabres have brought back former head coach Lindy Ruff to take the reins once again.

It was a shocking move considering the number of potential candidates in the mix for the vacancy, but it also makes sense when you look closer. The Sabres have fallen short in a number of areas where Ruff excels, and the hope is that he can work his magic with them again. That said, the legendary bench boss has his work cut out for him.

The Sabres are certainly not in dire straits, but they are coming off a hugely discouraging season in which they should have finally ended their dreaded playoff drought and instead flopped. Ruff isn’t tasked with turning straw into gold, but his new team has its fair share of problems and he has no choice but to tackle them head-on. Here are five things he needs to prioritize.

5. Continue the youth movement

Ruff was almost always forced to rely on young, inexperienced players during his first stint in Buffalo, but he proved to be very good at developing them into stars. Players like 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 well, as the Sabres are already a young team and there’s a good chance they’ll get even younger.

Top prospects Isak Rosen and Jiri Kulich have served their time in the minor leagues and should be at the top of the Sabres’ priority list after the stunning trade for Matthew Savoie. Neither has much to gain from returning to the American Hockey League (AHL) and deserves a chance to earn a spot 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 GM, and he’s flushed out the team’s bottom six this summer, bringing in a truly random group to replace them. But there’s still room for draft picks among all the new arrivals, and you’d think Rosen and Kulich would be the first on the list. If they’re going to be integrated, the two will need to be protected in the lineup and placed next to players who will give them the opportunity to learn and grow. Peyton Krebs spent most of last season on the fourth line, and his potential was significantly hampered by it.

Devon Levi is another key case. After spending the second half of last season with AHL Rochester and thriving, the 23-year-old will likely return to the Sabres this season ready for another try. This time around, the team will know better than to push him into a starting role, but he’ll also need to be inserted in a way that allows him to get playing time without being as overexposed as he was last season.

4. Keep the goalkeeping mentality going up

Levi isn’t the only goalie Ruff will have to carefully manage. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s breakthrough 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 depend in part on how he’s treated by the coaching staff. Unfortunately, that hasn’t always been Ruff’s strong suit.

If the veteran bench boss had one mistake during his first run in Buffalo, it was goaltending management. He was notorious for running his starters into the ground; the best example being Ryan Miller, who started in 76 games in 2007-08. His predecessor, Marty Biron, also started 72 games in 2001-02. That can be partially attributed to the lack of a viable backup at the time, but the fact remains that that can’t happen in the modern NHL.

Luukkonen proved last season that he can carry the team’s load, playing in a personal best 54 games and posting a 2.57 goals-against average. That doesn’t mean his workload will necessarily increase, though. Levi looked solid in his time with the Americans after being given the chance to grow at a more manageable pace. Assuming he returns to the Sabres, he should be more balanced and able to take on a bigger role, which should prevent his compatriot from becoming overloaded.

See also: Sabres sign Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to five-year contract

For the first time in what seems like an eternity, the Sabres appear to have found the right formula in goal. Not since Miller have they had the consistent, viable backstop that every team needs to succeed. Both Luukkonen and Levi have the potential to develop into stars and if used properly, the Sabres could have two of them.

3. Better two-way play

It’s undoubtedly been the team’s Achilles heel in recent years, and there’s no doubt about it: the Sabres’ defensive play needs to improve. No team has a real shot at success if it can’t keep the puck out of its own net, and while Luukkonen was great last season, his efforts alone weren’t enough. The defense itself isn’t the problem, it’s the offense. The Sabres aren’t going anywhere unless they find a way to be smarter without the puck. Luckily for them, their new coach appreciates that.

Ruff has always emphasized defensive awareness, and his teams in Buffalo have been the embodiment of that over the years. Under him, the Sabres excelled at goal-stopping because every player on the ice was alert at all times. Forwards consistently checked back and covered defensemen who jumped up the ice. He also used top forwards on penalty kills instead of grinders, and the team was a constant threat for shorthanded goals. The current roster needs much, much more of that. While players like 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 last season with a positive plus/minus rating. While that stat can be misleading at times, it shows how little the Sabres get on the back end, and it overshadowed the improvements the defensive corps has made. Six defensemen finished last season with positive ratings, but without the right help from forwards, it didn’t have nearly as much of an impact as it should have.

Ruff’s legendary no-nonsense style may be just what the Sabres need to improve. He expects every player to give their all and doesn’t shy away from punishing those who are slow to give. It’s that kind of discipline that separates the good teams from the bad, and the Sabres haven’t had it in a while. There’s a new sheriff in town, and the players better be ready.

2. Revitalize the attack

The biggest story of the 2023-24 campaign was that Buffalo’s previously lethal offense suddenly went cold. The Sabres have proven they can score with the best of them and will have to rediscover that to turn things around. Unfortunately for them and their new coach, they’ll be without one of their biggest pieces.

Even 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 huge shock. To make matters worse, they’ve done little to fill the void in the lineup, betting on other players to step up. While that could certainly happen, it’s still a big gamble and won’t make Ruff’s job any easier. In theory, a healthy Tage Thompson taking charge should help matters significantly after he was hampered by a wrist injury for most of last season. The big man is the key to the Sabres’ offense, and they need him to be dominant again.

No player needs to turn it around more than Dylan Cozens. The 23-year-old struggled uncharacteristically in almost every way last season, and while 47 points wasn’t terrible, he and the Sabres know he’s capable of much more. Cozens is the kind of player Ruff values, and it’s safe to assume he’ll be handed more responsibility as a result, which could help him get back into form. Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin led the team in scoring and are the two favorites for the vacant captaincy if one is mentioned. Both will need to continue to lead 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 plagued by both injuries and inconsistency last season. If JJ Peterka can repeat his success and Jack Quinn can rebound from two serious injuries, the Sabres will be a deep team that can light up the scoreboard. If luck continues to go against them, they will have to adjust. Don Granato proved he can’t roll with the punches, and it cost him his job. Ruff has had no trouble doing that in the past, and that bodes well.

1. WIN

They say that winning in sports is the cure-all, 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 left. The longest playoff drought in NHL history is now 13 years old, tied for the longest active drought in North American sports. The Sabres have tried and failed (sometimes miserably) countless times since then to regain respectability, and while they’ve come close in recent years, close still only gets you as far as 82 games.

Fans are tired of promises and have shown that their seemingly eternal patience is running out. KeyBank Center has a total capacity of just over 19,000, but over the past two seasons, Buffalo has averaged fewer than 16,000 fans per game (from ‘NHL fan attendance tracker 2023-24: Risers, fallers, trends and takeaways’, The Athletics18-04-24). That’s a dramatic decline for a fan base that once sold out 62 consecutive games from 2006 to 2007 and could continue that trend this season.

Ruff, through no fault of his own, will be under intense scrutiny as his second round begins and will be expected to improve his fortunes immediately. That may be an unfair standard to hold himself 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 reached the postseason in each of his first four seasons, and those winning ways might have continued had the franchise not been derailed by the Adelphia scandal.

Ruff’s first head coaching stint lasted 16 years, and it’s staggering to think that the drought has lasted just as long. He was at the helm during some of the most memorable moments the Sabres have ever had, and fans and the team are hoping his return will bring back those glory days. He’s no stranger to quick success in Buffalo, but the fan base’s woes will be ended by results, not words. Can he get them?