Speculation: The Coaching Search (Friedman: Ruff to be next HC)

[Chainshot]

Sullivan and staff coached a worse power play than the Sabres this year. That's a PP that had Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson, Guentzel, and Rakell for most of the year.

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I don't talk puck with my PA buddies as much as I used to, so I don't know what happened there. But the numbers are enough to justify a deeper dive to see what happened there.

The reasonable folks on the Penguins board and in other places have thought Sullivan outlived his usefulness as their coach four years ago.

 

[Jim Bob]

For sure, but my feeling is that JQ is going to get reinstated at some point, and there are no warts with his ability to coach a winner. So if he's going to get back into the league, why not us?

Given talk with the Bills and Sabres that Terry is constantly asking about a prospect's character when he sits in on pre-draft scouting meetings, I would be surprised if Quenneville was the hire given what happened with Chicago.

 

[Fezzy126]

I'm I the only person who remembers Myers with Ruff? *glances at Power*

Ha, yeah, all I've thought about the past few days is "people really have forgotten about their criticisms of Ruff"

Time heals all wounds my friend

 

[Jim Bob]

The reasonable folks on the Penguins board and in other places have thought Sullivan outlived his usefulness as their coach four years ago.

If the Sabres can get a good 2 or 3 seasons out the next coaching hire, it's a win in my book. 4-5 quality seasons is a major win.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

The reasonable folks on the Penguins board and in other places have thought Sullivan outlived his usefulness as their coach four years ago.

Sullivan -- fans complained about him

Ruff -- fans complained about him

Berube -- fans complained about him

Cassidy -- fans complained about him

A coach can only do so much, and they all have their faults. Cooper and RBA are the only teams without a huge chorus of fan complaints in a regular basis. And the Cooper complaints will start coming once he doesn't have a roster full of hall-of-famers.

With a good roster, any of these coaches can probably take the teams to the playoffs.

 

[OkimLom]

I'm I the only person who remembers Myers with Ruff? *glances at Power*

I would hold that level of opinion if he didn't show some ability to allow a team to play pretty open offensively in Dallas and NJ considering he was more of a defensive coach. Ruff seemed to have adapted better to his roster compared to his years here. I'd give him a chance.

I wouldn't give him a chance if his coaching post-Sabres didn't show he could adapt to his roster/players.

 

[Chainshot]

Sullivan -- fans complained about him

Ruff -- fans complained about him

Berube -- fans complained about him

Cassidy -- fans complained about him

A coach can only do so much, and they all have their faults. Cooper and RBA are the only teams without a huge chorus of fan complaints in a regular basis. And the Cooper complaints will start coming once he doesn't have a roster full of hall-of-famers.

With a good roster, any of these coaches can probably take the teams to the playoffs.

And yet all have valid complaints about those coaches.

It doesn't really matter if someone finds Sullivan lacking for his terrible special teams or chronic favoritism or the level to which he allows his stars to not play within the team structure or even that he has survived this long based on having one of the best 1-2 center duos in the league.

I'm almost 30 minutes into that pod, still haven't heard a Peca thing.

 

[Chainshot]

I'm I the only person who remembers Myers with Ruff? *glances at Power*

Having watched how he did Holtz and Meier dirty in NJ, I'm wondering who else he would jerk around in Buffalo. Because it would happen.

 

[Jim Bob]

Sullivan -- fans complained about him

Ruff -- fans complained about him

Berube -- fans complained about him

Cassidy -- fans complained about him

A coach can only do so much, and they all have their faults. Cooper and RBA are the only teams without a huge chorus of fan complaints in a regular basis. And the Cooper complaints will start coming once he doesn't have a roster full of hall-of-famers.

With a good roster, any of these coaches can probably take the teams to the playoffs.

Every coach with NHL head coaching experience that is available has worn out his welcome somewhere. And in almost every instance, they were fired.

The same goes for GMs. The options generally fall into one of two buckets: rookies or guys with experience who have been fired elsewhere.

 

[Jacob582]

I think the Sabres are finally going to get serious.

I'm also hoping for at least one legitimate assistant coach that will knock our socks off.

 

[Jim Bob]

No way they get RBA right now.

 

[Beerz]

Every coach with NHL head coaching experience that is available has worn out his welcome somewhere. And in almost every instance, they were fired.

The same goes for GMs. The options generally fall into one of two buckets: rookies or guys with experience who have been fired elsewhere.

Hell.. even Barry Trotz was fired

 

[Jim Bob]

Hell.. even Barry Trotz was fired

Or, using GMs as an example, people were really down on GMGM after his run in Washington. And look what he has done in Vegas.

The key is getting the right guy and not just looking at how things ended elsewhere.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

So Lindy

Sounds like it's going to be Lindy and like most others I'm fine with it. I wouldn't say it's IDEAL but he kinda checks every box you'd be looking for.

Where does everyone so definitively get Lindy?

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

And yet all have valid complaints about those coaches.

It doesn't really matter if someone finds Sullivan lacking for his terrible special teams or chronic favoritism or the level to which he allows his stars to not play within the team structure or even that he has survived this long based on having one of the best 1-2 center duos in the league.

I'm almost 30 minutes into that pod, still haven't heard a Peca thing.

My point is, it's hard to tell from a fan's perspective how much is the coach's fault, and how much is the roster. Also, no coach is perfect and all have their faults.

 

[Chainshot]

My point is, it's hard to tell from a fan's perspective how much is the coach's fault, and how much is the roster. Also, no coach is perfect and all have their faults.

Yes, it's about finding the least worse option.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Every coach with NHL head coaching experience that is available has worn out his welcome somewhere. And in almost every instance, they were fired.

The same goes for GMs. The options generally fall into one of two buckets: rookies or guys with experience who have been fired elsewhere.

Yes, there is no perfect candidate and each of them have great arguments to be made for why they'd be bad. I'd recommend to Adams that he just find one that he works well with, and focus on putting a great roster together.

Yes, it's about finding the least worse option.

I'd argue that it's about finding one that you work well with, and have the same philosophies. I don't think any of them are better than all of the others year in, and year out. They have bad seasons and good seasons, it's not an absolute thing.

 

[Jim Bob]

Yes, there is no perfect candidate and each of them have great arguments to be made for why they'd be bad. I'd recommend to Adams that he just find one that he works well with, and focus on putting a great roster together.

Given the way Adams talked yesterday, I think any hire that fits the various criteria that he laid out would be a good idea for where this team is right now.

And another thing that will be important will be the rest of the coaching staff. Whomever is running the PP has to be better than what we have seen lately, for instance.

 

[KeyserSoze81]

Having watched how he did Holtz and Meier dirty in NJ, I'm wondering who else he would jerk around in Buffalo. Because it would happen.

Yep, I enjoyed the years he coached with Buffalo, but he played some weird games with players. His relationship with Vanek was borderline abusive at times. We would absolutely see a number of players suffer, and some production will suffer, but maybe it forces someone like Power to engage even a little.

 

[Zman5778]

Having watched how he did Holtz and Meier dirty in NJ, I'm wondering who else he would jerk around in Buffalo. Because it would happen.

Yeah. He jerked around some of the kids in his previous stint here......and we've got a couple good ones in Rochester now, and Savoie coming. My GUESS is that Rosen would get jerked around and maybe Kulich to some extent.

That said, he might also love love Novikov and Strbak.

 

[WiHockeyGuy]

Yeah. He jerked around some of the kids in his previous stint here......and we've got a couple good ones in Rochester now, and Savoie coming. My GUESS is that Rosen would get jerked around and maybe Kulich to some extent.

That said, he might also love love Novikov and Strbak.

I could see Benson and Wahlberg being huge Ruff guys.

 

[Ace]

Every coach has favorites who are junk and doghouses players who are good. Lindy does the latter to an extreme that can be problematic. But I’m still pretty convinced he might be the right fit for what they have. They aren’t going to be a defensive first system…all the top D are offensive D. He just turned a young team built similarly in Jersey into something that worked and got an amazing season and then the goaltending blew. They were top 10 in expected goals for THIS year. The one where they lost all the time. When he was fired the GM flat out said “I didn’t give him any goaltending”. Compare that to Adams yesterday. He praised Don too…but anything that came up about the teams play or standard or results? There was no excuse or reason. Dude just failed.

 

[buffalowing88]

I could see Benson and Wahlberg being huge Ruff guys.

For sure. Wahlberg is like his late 90's dream player.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Having watched how he did Holtz and Meier dirty in NJ, I'm wondering who else he would jerk around in Buffalo. Because it would happen.

Not tracking what went on there. What did Ruff do?

 

[Ace]

I want to meet the coach who wouldn’t love Zach Benson.