Lindy Ruff detailed how duties will be split among his coaching staff during an appearance on “Sabres Live” with Brian Duff and Martin Biron.
Ruff’s staff was rounded out Monday with the promotions of Seth Appert to assistant coach and Amir Gulati to video coordinator. Appert and Gulati join returning assistants Mike Bales, Matt Ellis, and Marty Wilford; video coach Justin White; and on-ice rehab and skating instructor Mike Ansell.
Appert spent the past four seasons as head coach of the Rochester Americans, where he compiled a 123-94-22-10 record and led the team to three consecutive playoff berths. Gulati, a Buffalo native, spent the last two seasons as video coach for Rochester.
Appert will handle the forward group and coach the power play, Ruff announced. Wilford will continue to coach the defense and penalty kill and Bales will continue to work with the goaltenders. Ellis will be an “eye in the sky” for the staff during games and will work closely with the team’s centermen, with Ruff citing improvement in the faceoff circle as an area of focus.
“I’m excited about where we’ve got every guy,” Ruff said.
Ruff said the decision to promote Appert to his staff was a “no-brainer” following their conversations, which uncovered a shared vision for how the Sabres can play moving forward. Ruff also cited Appert’s established rapport with the players – many of whom he coached in Rochester – as a benefit.
Ruff said he and Appert will collaborate closely on the power play and have already discussed tactics to improve upon this past season, which saw the Sabres tie for 28th in the NHL with a 16.6-percent success rate.
“(We) really talked about where the NHL power plays are at and the movement inside of NHL power plays,” Ruff said. “And, even more, the way that most teams are starting to kill now where they’re set up in a diamond, they’re set up where they’re taking away the flank shots, that you have to get some motion, you have to have your bumper player be almost the important player on the ice to support wherever the pressure’s coming from to relieve that pressure to create the down-low 2-on-1s. … There are ways with motion and creating a little bit more deception, I think we can be more effective.”
Watch Ruff’s full interview with “Sabres Live” below:
