Coaching changes for Sabres, Sharks
Lindy Ruff is on his way back behind the Sabres bench. David Quinn is out as the Sharks’ bench boss. Round and round goes the NHL coaching merrygo-round.
The harder one to digest is the Ruff redux in Buffalo, where he stood watch over what was once a formidable lineup backed by the otherworldly Dominik Hasek. Yes, we really are 25 years past the Sabres losing in Game 6 of the 1999 Cup Final vs. Dallas (with Brett Hull’s skate in the . . . oh, never mind).
The Sabres are desperate for a franchise reboot. They have not not been in the playoffs since 2011, when Ruff was still their coach. Bringing him back now, at 64, has to feel so “yesterday” to a fan base aching for a better “tomorrow.” “He knows how to win,” said beleaguered Sabres owner Terry Pegula at Ruff ’s re-intro press conference. “He knows how to take a team to another level.”
OK, look, Ruff has been a solid NHL coach, and his Sabres teams made it to three other conference finals beyond Cup Final run in ‘99. His extended tours with Dallas and New Jersey (fired there just days before this year’s trade deadline) were decidedly unspectacular.
The Sabres have some tantalizing young talent, including Alex Tuch, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, and ol’ Lindy is new-age enough to know you can’t treat the working help the way he was treated as a late-20th century defenseman for the Sabres.
“You just can’t be yelling and screaming at players anymore,” he said at the press conference.
But what Ruff has yet to prove in the new-age NHL is that he can connect with and motivate skilled kids who have yet to grasp the true grind of the game. No doubt he knows it all, but can he get them to believe it and buy in? If not, more pain ahead for the Crossed Swords.
In San Jose, it had to be hard for general manager Mike Grier to send Quinn, a fellow Boston University Terrier, out the door (albeit with a year’s pay still coming). Quinn, 57, twice now has been left holding the whistle on clubs in the midst of massive roster transition. The circumstances were somewhat different with the Rangers than the Sharks, but in both instances his tools at hand made it difficult to compete.
Grier’s plan from Day 1 was to strip down the lineup and start anew. He followed through, dumping pricey pieces such as Erik Karlsson (to Pittsburgh), Timo Meier (to New Jersey), and Tomas Hertl (now living a best life in Vegas). Grier obviously was not convinced, after two years of watching day to day, that Quinn was the right guy to lead the renaissance with a reworked lineup, one that still needs Grier to enhance greatly via free agency or trade.
Next man up for the Sharks? How about two men? Ex-Sharks favorite Marco Sturm has spent the last two seasons as head coach at AHL Ontario (Calif.). Prior to there, Sturm, 45, spent four years as an assistant on the Kings’ staff.
A smart play for Grier could be to reunite Claude Julien and Sturm, with Julien in charge and Sturm as associate coach. Sturm played three of his five seasons in Boston under Julien’s watch. They’d make a solid duo, ideally with Sturm ultimately transitioning to the top spot in 2-3 years with order restored.