I’ve been thinking a lot about Lindy Ruff these past 24-hours. Before I get into this, I think it’s worth mentioning that my idea of how professional hockey should be played is absolutely formed around Lindy’s. The effect of my proximity to his success and my emotional investment in his teams can’t be ignored. I have a soft spot for Lindy. He’s been the coach of the Sabres for as long as I’ve been a real fan.
That being said, my opinion of Ruff at the end of the 2008-2009 season was as low as it has ever been. My position was that he seemed incapable of motivating this group of players to the point where they would consistently play up to their collective potential. So for progress to be made either Ruff had to be let go or a number of players would need to be replaced. When neither happened, my understanding of the flaws in this team suggested that next year wouldn’t be much better than the last.
Two significant developments occurred that I did not account for or predict: Tyler Myers’ impact and Ryan Miller’s ascension to superstar status. The Sabres gathered 9 more points in the 2009-2010 season than they were able to in 2008-2009. Miller and Myers must receive the bulk of the credit for that improvement.
But overall the Sabres are a more consistent team this year than they were last year too. They have a better record against the bottom feeders and I want to give Lindy Ruff some of the credit for that. Hecht and Tallinder had bounce-back years which should hopefully disabuse you of the notion that once players fall from grace under LR they’re incapable of restoring their careers in Buffalo.
Here’s the thing: Lindy Ruff has a tremendous relationship with the media in this town. Ruff offers frank, candid answers to their questions and for that, among other reasons that everyone including fans are exposed to, they respect him a great deal.
Despite this, fans and critics name forwards like Stafford and Vanek and wonder out loud why players of this kind seem to underachieve under Lindy Ruff. How long is this list of failed goal scorers? Chronologically it goes something like: MacArthur, Paille, Afinogenov, Pyatt, and these are just the most recent ones.
Of course very few prospects are going to fulfill their potential and establish a noteworthy role on this or any other NHL team, but it’s a troubling trend for forwards in Buffalo. Ruff needs to recover some of these players when they slump before it becomes a crisis and a lost season. As positive of a regular season as the Sabres had this year, some specific players were just miserable — some regressed badly.
And then there were the playoffs. I think Ruff was completely out-coached by Claude Jullien. By the way, Jullien, for what it’s worth, is no slouch. He’s won everywhere he’s been. But by any standard, Ruff had the more talented team and he was eliminated in six. Ruff doesn’t have the puck on his stick but someway, somehow, he needed to find a way to get his most talented scorers going.
What could he have done?
I would have tried putting Torres with players like Pominville, Connolly and Roy. I mean, Torres, what a nightmare his time here has been. I don’t think he was even given a fair chance. Ruff mentioning off hand that Torres came to Buffalo out of shape certainly started things out on the wrong foot. Then he got injured and he never even sniffed the scoring lines again. Wasn’t he brought in to score goals more consistently than what MacArthur was able to do for this team? He’s a bigger player who looked tough to push off the puck. I think we can all agree Pom-Con especially could have used a little more space to operate with the puck this series. Why not try Torres on the powerplay? I know this is all after the fact but I think Ruff mishandled Torres badly and he may have been able to help this team.
Ruff’s relationship with his players has always been tenuous. On one hand, he reveals that Torres, a professional athlete, has been out of shape. On the other hand, he blames the referees for costing the Sabres game-2 instead of making note that his highest paid scorers have been absolute fucking ghosts. Jag your players publicly one day then direct the spotlight elsewhere another after the lights justifiably got hot, I don’t follow.
I thought the Sabres looked unprepared to counter Boston’s game-plan in game-3 which was obviously to finish all checks and be aggressive. I thought the Sabres failure to twice protect a 2-goal lead against an offensively challenged team was telling. I thought the attention the coaching staff gave to the Sabres powerplay did more harm than good.
Ruff has always had this mystical reputation as a great playoff coach. He developed that by his ability to unify the troops, inspire them so as to maintain a high level of play, and eliminate the production of his opponents top forward line during even-strength play. The underdog Bruins presented an opponent unlike any we’ve seen a Ruff team play against. Ruff made his bones in coaching as an underdog creating hell for favorites. Ruff’s teams were beaten by superior talent, never by being outworked. That’s why he’s been immortal all these years. Ruff created diamonds when he exhaled over coal in the playoffs.
Just to be clear, Ruff’s job is safe and so is Regier’s. Don’t kid yourself. I think it’s fair to question their performance but the indisputable fact of the matter is that the two of them are each in the top quarter of the league in terms of ability to do their jobs and do it well. Their strengths greatly, greatly, outweigh their faults.
My greatest concern with Ruff is that this latest disappointing season with this group of players may have taken a lot out of him. The frustration has to be building. He hasn’t won a championship. That has to torment him. Hopefully he’s still got the fire. The day he stops believing in these players and his ability to make them better — to push them to the top — is the day his marriage to the Sabres needs to end.
I really got the impression that Lindy worked too hard this post season. He sounded exhausted by game 3, and a tired coach isn’t going to make the best decisions. I got the feeling he wasn’t getting much sleep. I questioned his decision to put Gerbe in for Torres, obviously Gerbe played great but I think your idea of getting Torres onto a scoring line might have helped more.
Watching Lindy in the game 4 press conference (the infamous “case closed”) was painful. He looked worn out and tired of dealing with these players and their underachieving. I could see him not coming back of his own accord. I hope not, as I still like him a lot, more so than Darcy.
This is really great.