Ruff 'humbled' to reach 1,800-game milestone as NHL coach

BUFFALO -- As a player, Lindy Ruff hadn’t considered coaching as a possible career once he retired. A conversation with Roger Neilson changed that, though, and it’s led to a run that will see the Buffalo Sabres coach step behind the bench for his 1,800th NHL game on Thursday.

Ruff will hit the milestone when the Sabres (11-12-2), who launched both his playing and head coaching career in the NHL, host the Winnipeg Jets at KeyBank Center (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, TSN3).

“I really just approach it game by game,” Ruff said. “I think I've been fortunate. I've been lucky to have the job I've had and play for the teams and coach the teams I have. Been humbled by that opportunity.”

Ruff will become the fourth coach in NHL history to reach 1,800 games, joining Barry Trotz (1,812), Paul Maurice (1,874) and Scotty Bowman (2,141).

“He's an incredible coach, an incredible person, and I think he's done a really good job coming in and helping us and our young group and trying to mold us to be better,” Buffalo forward Alex Tuch said. “He's had a really successful career. I've been lucky enough to be able to watch him since I was a kid, and to see him have success coaching the Sabres, it's been a lot of fun. And, I mean, that's an incredible milestone. Here's to 1,800 more.”

Ruff first considered the idea of becoming a coach after the 1990-91 season, his last as an NHL player. For the majority of that season, Ruff was an extra with the New York Rangers and eventually became the one leading the extra's skate, which a coach typically does.

At his end-of-season meeting, Neilson, who had just finished his second season as Rangers coach, suggested Ruff consider coaching. At the time, though, Ruff wanted to keep playing, something he did for two more seasons with Rochester of the American Hockey League (1991-92) and San Diego of the International Hockey League (1992-93).

But in 1993-94, he made the switch into coaching, becoming an assistant on Neilson’s staff for the Florida Panthers’ inaugural season.

“I didn't even know a lot about coaching as a young assistant in Florida,” he said. “[Neilson] is probably the major reason I am where I am today, especially the detail he put into the game and really the way he treated his coaches, the way he treated other people. He went about the game the right way.”

After four seasons as an assistant in Florida, which included a trip to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, Ruff was hired as coach of the Sabres, a tenure that lasted 15 seasons from 1997-2013. Buffalo qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs eight times under his guidance, including advancing to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999, when it lost to the Dallas Stars in six games.

“A lot of great memories and a lot of really good teams that I wish would have gotten further down the road,” Ruff said.

After being fired by the Sabres, Ruff spent four seasons as coach of the Stars (2013-17) and New Jersey Devils (2020-24) before being brought back by Buffalo to replace Don Granato on April 22. In total, Ruff is 875-691-155 with 78 ties as an NHL coach, ranking fifth in League history in wins.

“The best coaches have ways of adding new things into their repertoire as they go along, and they take the experiences and they learn from them, they add others, they learn from others,” said Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams, who was an assistant on Ruff’s staff for two seasons from 2011-13. “Even where he is in the experience he has, he's always trying to learn more and learn from other people. I think that's part of the reason he’s been able to last so long.”

Ruff, who was selected by the Sabres in the second round (No. 32) of the 1979 NHL Draft and played 608 of his 691 regular-season games with Buffalo, is well-known for his passion both as a player and a coach. And even at the age of 64, he still has that passion, which he will try to use to help lead the Sabres back to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.

“He’s very intense, wants to win,” forward Tage Thompson said. “He's had success in the past, and it's something that not a lot of us in here have had and something we're starving for. ... We're trending in the right direction. Obviously, we have more, but I think when we've committed to playing the right way and the way that he sets out in front of us we've been playing some really good hockey.”

Ruff is still a highly competitive person regardless of “what type of game you set up,” something that “fuels the energy for coaching and playing.” But over time and as players have changed, he, too, has evolved as an individual and coach.

“I've been able to control my emotions a lot better than I did as a younger coach,” he said. “I understand that the game is a lot different and the interaction you have with the players is more important than the X’s and O’s, and I think the players respect that the most. They like being pushed, they like being held to a high standard if it's done the right way.”

The players have echoed those sentiments, saying they like not only how he’s kept the energy high in the room while also ensuring players are held accountable, but that he’ll endure all the highs and lows right along with them.

“He comes in and he wants us to have fun and enjoy coming into the rink,” Tuch said. “That starts with hard work, but also you do have to come in and you have to enjoy each other. He's really pushed the idea of we're in this together, the coach is right on the bus with us. ... He's having a lot of fun with it. It's really cool.”