Lindy Ruff

Lindy Ruff
Born	(1960-02-17) February 17, 1960 Warburg, AB, CAN
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position	Left wing/defence
Played for	Buffalo Sabres New York Rangers
NHL draft	32nd overall, 1979 Buffalo Sabres
Playing career	1979–1991

Lindy Cameron Ruff (born February 17, 1960 in Warburg, Alberta) is the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. Ruff played in the NHL for the Sabres and New York Rangers as a left winger/defenceman. Currently, he is the longest-tenured head coach in the NHL.

Playing career

Ruff was chosen in the second round, 32nd overall of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. He played for the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers. Ruff gained a reputation as a player for his toughness, character and hard work on the ice. An illustration of this came in a May 10, 1980 playoff game against the New York Islanders where opposing goaltender Billy Smith struck Ruff with his stick as he passed in front of his net. Ruff got up, skated back to the goaltender and tackled him.

Ruff played most of his NHL career for the Sabres, serving as captain of the team for nearly three years, but he was traded to the Rangers at the 1989 NHL trade deadline in exchange for a draft pick. The Sabres would use that pick to select Richard Smehlik, who would later play for several years under Ruff.

Ruff played in 691 NHL games, scoring 105 goals and adding 195 assists for an even total of 300 points. He also recorded 1,264 penalty minutes. In 52 playoff games, Ruff recorded 11 goals and 13 assists while accumulating 193 penalty minutes.

Coaching career

He became assistant coach of the Florida Panthers for the 1993–94 NHL season until the 1996–97 NHL season. His most success as an assistant coach was with the 1996 Florida Panthers that made it to the Stanley Cup final, but lost to the Colorado Avalanche.

Ruff was named the 15th head coach of the Buffalo Sabres on July 21, 1997. He had immediate success in Buffalo, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 1997–98 NHL season. In Ruff's second season as coach, the Sabres reached the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals before finally losing to the Dallas Stars in six games. The following two seasons saw Ruff's Sabres lose in the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers and the second round to the Pittsburgh Penguins respectively. Buffalo missed the playoffs in the three seasons preceding the NHL lockout amidst the teams bankruptcy and financial problems caused by the Adelphia Communications corporate scandal. After the lockout, Ruff lead the Sabres to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances only to lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and the Ottawa Senators in 2007. Ruff is currently the longest-tenured coach in the NHL and was rewarded with a three-year contract extension that has an option for a fourth season.

Ruff is known for being blunt with the media. A well-known example of his bluntness were his comments regarding Toronto Maple Leafs player Darcy Tucker. In his post-game interview following a questionable hit on Jochen Hecht that knocked the Sabres centre out of the lineup for two weeks with a sprained ACL in the 2005–06 season, Ruff said, "I want him [Tucker] suspended." He also said, "I have not called the NHL office all year and I will call them ten times tomorrow." He called Tucker's hit "a definition of a joke."

On April 5, 2006, Ruff became the 31st coach in NHL history to win 300 games, and just the 16th to do it with only one team. Ruff led the Sabres to their most successful regular season ever in 2006–2007, with a 53–22–7 record for a total of 113 points.

Ruff was the winner of the 2005–06 Jack Adams Award for coach of the year in the National Hockey League. Tom Renney of the New York Rangers and Peter Laviolette of the Carolina Hurricanes were also nominated.

Ruff was again nominated for the Jack Adams Award in 2006–07. His nomination was the second time he has been a finalist for coach of the year. Michel Therrien of the Pittsburgh Penguins was also a finalist while Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks won the honor. Ruff placed 2nd in the voting with 126 points to Vigneault's 134.

In February 2007 Ruff was fined US$10,000 by the NHL after a brawl with the Ottawa Senators. The league said that Ruff precipitated the brawl following a questionable hit on Chris Drury by Chris Neil. Because the hit to Drury did not result in a penalty, Ruff sent out Andrew Peters, Patrick Kaleta, and Adam Mair; the team's "enforcers". What followed was one of the '06-'07 season's most memorable hockey brawls. Adam Mair began the brawl, punching Ottawa's Jason Spezza as soon as the puck was dropped. Andrew Peters tried to start a fight with Dany Heatley, who didn't want to fight. Even the goaltenders got into the fight, with Martin Biron challenging Ray Emery.

After a second round playoff match against the New York Rangers on April 27, 2007, Ruff would be fined again by the league after harshly criticizing officials for an obvious missed too-many-men call against the Rangers, giving New York a chance to tie the match in the closing minute.

In the 2006–07 season he became the first Sabres coach to lead the team to back-to-back 50 win seasons, boasting the 5th best points percentage in the league since 1979.

On October 15, 2008, Ruff became the 23rd coach in NHL history to win 400 games, and just the 7th to win 400 games for one team.

Ruff ranks 19th in the history of the NHL with 438 regular season coaching wins. His 52 career playoff wins are tied for 15th place on the all-time list. Among coaches with 40 or more playoff wins, Ruff is in the top 6 in terms of career winning percentage.

Ruff was named as an associate coach for Team Canada for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season							Post season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Finish	W	L	Win %	Result
BUF	1997–98	82	36	29	17	-	89	3rd in Northeast	10	5	.667	Conference Finalist
BUF	1998–99	82	37	28	17	-	93	4th in Northeast	14	7	.667	Stanley Cup Finalist
BUF	1999–00	82	35	32	11	4	85	3rd in Northeast	1	4	.200	Conference Quarter-Finalist
BUF	2000–01	82	46	30	5	1	98	2nd in Northeast	7	6	.538	Conference Semi-Finalist
BUF	2001–02	82	35	35	11	1	82	5th in Northeast	-	-	-
BUF	2002–03	82	27	37	10	8	72	5th in Northeast	-	-	-
BUF	2003–04	82	37	34	7	4	85	5th in Northeast	-	-	-
BUF	2005–06	82	52	24	-	6	110	2nd in Northeast	11	7	.611	Conference Finalist
BUF	2006–07	82	53	22	-	7	113	1st in Northeast	9	7	.563	Conference Finalist
BUF	2007–08	82	39	31	-	12	90	4th in Northeast	-	-	-
BUF	2008–09	82	41	32	-	9	91	3rd in Northeast	-	-	-
BUF	2009–10	82	45	27	-	10	100	1st in Northeast	2	4	.333	Conference Quarter-Finalist
Total		984	483	361	78	62	1106		54	40	.574

Personal

Ruff's younger brother, Brent Ruff, was one of four teammates killed in a bus crash while playing for the Swift Current Broncos in 1986.

Another younger brother, Marty Ruff, was a first round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues, but never appeared in an NHL game.

An older brother, Randy Ruff, played and coached in junior hockey.

Lindy and his wife Gaye have four children, Brett, Eryn and twins Madeline and Bryan.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1976–77	Taber Golden Suns	AJHL		60	13	33	46	112		—	—	—	—	—
1976–77	Lethbridge Broncos	WCHL		2	0	2	2	0		—	—	—	—	—
1977–78	Lethbridge Broncos	WCHL		66	9	24	33	219		8	2	8	10	4
1978–79	Lethbridge Broncos	WHL		24	9	18	27	108		6	0	1	1	0
1979–80	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		63	5	14	19	38		8	1	1	2	19
1980–81	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		65	8	18	26	121		6	3	1	4	23
1981–82	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		79	16	32	48	194		4	0	0	0	28
1982–83	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		60	12	17	29	130		10	4	2	6	47
1983–84	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		58	14	31	45	101		3	1	0	1	9
1984–85	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		39	13	11	24	45		5	2	4	5	15
1985–86	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		54	20	12	32	158		—	—	—	—	—
1986–87	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		50	6	14	20	74		—	—	—	—	—
1987–88	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		77	2	23	25	179		6	0	2	2	23
1988–89	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		63	6	11	17	86		—	—	—	—	—
1988–89	New York Rangers	NHL		13	0	5	5	31		2	0	0	0	17
1989–90	New York Rangers	NHL		56	3	6	9	80		8	0	3	3	12
1990–91	New York Rangers	NHL		14	0	1	1	27		—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	Rochester Americans	AHL		62	10	24	34	110		13	0	4	4	16
1992–93	San Diego Gulls	IHL		81	10	32	42	100		14	1	6	7	26
NHL totals				691	105	195	300	1264		52	11	13	24	193

See also

• Captain (hockey)
• List of NHL head coaches

External links

• Lindy Ruff career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database