Replacing Ruff: A Blueprint

Floyd Smith!!

Yes Lindy is the man. 15yrs of putting players in the wrong positions, changing lines frequently so that they have no chemistry. Yes sir Lindy is the right guy

How can anyone think ruff is a good coach he has had plenty of time to win with this team and can't. The sooner he's gone the better. Look at last years record

My concerns with Lindy aren't about his resume. As you said, only Bowman has won multiple Cups as a coach in recent memory. My take from that, and my take from the Sabres winning the Presidents' Trophy with Ruff in 07 but finishing last in the division with him for 3 straight years pre-lockout, is that it's a player's league. Players win Cups. And players get tired of coaches, especially coaches with certainly styles. Is it unreasonable that Ruff could be tuned out at some point after about 15 years behind the bench? Also, end of the year issues seemed to suggest that Ruff doesn't want a strong captain in the locker room, which is a role I wish we'd fill (although Pommer did really well, at least on the ice). Lindy's never managed his goalies well, consistently overplaying Miller which could stunt Enroth's development. Do you remember how lame the team played in front of Lalime and Thibault? I remember lots of nights where it looked like playing our back-up was a surrender. I put that on the coach. Lastly, Ruff's style puts Vanek on the ice for fewer offensive possessions than almost any other team's top scorer. I think he could get 40 with the right chances. You're right that we people talk about casting off Lindy with careless assumptions that other great coaches are just sitting around, but how many teams have won the Cup in years where their head coach was replaced midseason (the Kings this year)? I just don't believe that "Lindy's System" is the path to victory. Great players are, and we need more of them like everybody else.

My thoughts on Lindy: Experience : A Record of Success : C+ Developer and Motivator : C- Leadership and Respect : B Passion, Authenticity, and Likability : B- IMO I'd rather go back to Ted Nolan. At least his teams were exciting to watch. Watching Ruff teams is like watching paint dry.

Lindy Ruff seems to meet every one of the criteria, so we should change coaches, just because it hasn't happened yet. Let's see what happens with a healthy roster.

Honestly Ruff is a good coach. Sometimes his strategy works and sometimes it doesnt. For example this year wasnt his fault, the players understood what they had to do but they couldnt do it. The slump plane and simply killed them. At the end of the year when the team was into it and listened to the coach they were nearly unbeatable. Would it be nice to have a better coach? Sure but right now not one name comes to mind. i say though that Regier is a joke, get rid of Hechet, all he does is play 5 games all year then he is done...

I think in a perfect world all these criteria have to is met and maybe there is no one out there more qualified to be a head coach but out of everything you said the one thing a coach needs more than anything is the ability to get the best out of his players. Lindy has not been able to do that with this team since drury and briere left. I'm not blaming him for all of it but its about time for a fresh message l and system. I don't doubt he will go somewhere and in the right situation win a cup. It just isn't here. Also fire darcy and somehow get Rick dudley. All he does is build cup champs, see Tampa and Chicago.

That would be Regier

lindy is a great coach. is his time really done in buffalo though? if you can find somebody that has met or exceeded the 5 qualifications your talking about and stanley cup series experience, then yes its time to move on from lindy. the real problem is darcy tho not lindy.

Maybe getting rid of Darcy Reiger is the answer. We can actually get someone in there that will help.

I don't doubt that Lindy Ruff is a great coach, but we can't forget that he collaborates with Darcy Regier on the roster of this team, so our failures in certain areas are just as much his fault as they are Darcy's. Worth considering when you talk about whether or not he should still have a job, especially when the ultimate goal is winning the Cup (which he hasn't done.)

nobody has a track record resembling anything close to that except Lindy Ruff.

I'm with Kathy. Looking at the criteria, Lindy has it all (except MAYBE 10 series, because I get to seven easily, but am unsure of ten). It's a tough road to walk. And when I look at it, there is no one who stands out as available that would be BETTER than Lindy. Because if the answer isn't someone who is better, then you're doing nothing but grabbing headlines.

Sounds like Ruff would be a good fit to me.

The perfect Coach is Lindy Ruff for the Sabres.

That's pretty good. To bad most of the idiot Sabres fans won't even get it.