End of an Era in Buffalo: Lindy Ruff Fired

The big news today is that the longest tenured coach in the National Hockey League finally got the axe on Wednesday. After sixteen years behind the Buffalo Sabres bench, Lindy Ruff was relieved of his duties. The past few seasons haven't been all that good to Buffalo. Despite some of the talent on the Sabres over the past five seasons, they've only made the playoffs twice, and didn't make it past the first round either time. Now, with the team sitting at 13th in the conference, sporting a poor 6-10-1 record, it's clear that changes needed to be made.

Above: Lindy Ruff's reaction to learning he's been fired.
"And.. Todd Ricahrds hasn't been?"

General manager Darcy Regier made the tough decision to part ways with Ruff, who has coached the Sabres since 1997. Lindy Ruff has had tremendous success with Buffalo, however, has never been able to lead the team to a cup, even when they were the best team in the league at times. Now, the team is struggling to make the playoffs more often than not, and it seems as if Ruff's touch with the franchise has finally worn off.  A coaching change seems to be the best option for Buffalo to get back on track at this point, especially with a shortened season. 

"Hey ref! **** you ******* **** ****** with
 ******* ******* **** and a ***** **** sideways!"

My initial reaction to Ruff's dismissal was that it seemed rash to fire a successful coach of sixteen years based on a poor seventeen game stretch. It reminded me of the Capitals firing Bruce Boudreau (the fat guy on HBO's 24/7 that cursed a lot) because of a weak stretch of games (or his colorful vocabulary). Either way, firing good ol' Bruce was one of the worst moves that any team has made in recent memory. Boudreau, who's team started the 11-12 season with a record of 7-0, was fired in late November of that same season after a stretch that saw them win just 3 of 11 games. Despite the fact that the team was still in playoff position with a record of 12-9-1, general manager George McPhee fired Boudreau on the basis that "the team wasn't winning, obviously, and this wasn't a slump". Excuse me, Mr. McPhee, but after four straight division titles and a 7-0 start to his fifth season, a stretch of 3-7-1 would be the exact definition of a "slump". And not even a very bad one! Yet it was reason enough for McPhee to order Boudreau to take his winning ways to Anaheim, where his Ducks have compiled a 12-2-1 record so far this season. 

I want to tell you all a story to kind of illustrate why I like the move by Regier of not wasting any time  and shaking things up early this season:

The big bad John MacLean coaches his team into oblivion.

Once upon a time, in the 10-11 season, the New Jersey Devils introduced John MacLean as the new head coach. Right away, the nasty old coach began implementing a more offensive-minded approach to a team whose success has been based off their defensive systems. Since the start of the season, the team was stuck in dead last place, a dark and scary position. A coaching change wasn't made until December 23, but by then, the scared little Devils were trailing far behind the nice, safe top 8. They brought back a big, strong, handsome coach named Jacques Lemaire, and he turned the team around by focusing on defense first, a concept the players were familiar with. They became the hottest team in the league and began to surge up the standings, but weren't able to crack a playoff spot by season's end. However, had there been another couple weeks for the Devils to work with, I doubt there's anyone who doesn't believe they would have found themselves safe in the top 8. The end!

The moral of the story is that everyone would have lived happily ever after had the Devils not waited until the third month of the season to make a much-needed coaching change. That's why I like the fact that the Sabres didn't waste any time letting themselves get stuck too far behind the competition before changing coaches. They've struggled in recent years, and Ruff doesn't seem to have been able to get things going again. Getting a fresh face in there to shake things up might be what Buffalo needs to get themselves back in playoff position.

Lindy Ruff finished his tenure with the Sabres with 1,165 games coached, 571 wins, 4 conference finals appearances, 2 division titles, 1 President's Trophy, 1 Stanley Cup final appearance, and a Jack Adams award for coach of the year. He'll be replaced by Ron Rolston, coach of the team's AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Congratulations to Lindy Ruff on a long and successful stint with the Sabres, and best of luck to him in the future. My guess is his next stop will be in Colorado. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comment section below.

Photo credits: blogs.thescore.com, AP Photo, getrealhockey.blogspot.com, thesportsbuff.com