Kraken’s Dismissal Of Coach Bylsma Is Another Reason Sabres Should Be Firing Bench Boss Lindy Ruff
The NHL’s coaching carousel continued spinning like crazy Monday, with the Seattle Kraken firing bench boss Dan Bylsma after only one year on the job. The Kraken/Bylsma news followed the news this past weekend that the New York Rangers dismissed Peter Laviolette, and that the Anaheim Ducks are moving on from Greg Cronin after only two years.
Bylsma probably should’ve been given more time to implement his vision for the Kraken, but the coaching business is not a fair one. That said, from a Buffalo Sabres perspective, the slew of coaching changes only make it clearer — Lindy Ruff should’ve been fired the day the regular-season came to an end. And every day that Ruff remains employed as Sabres coach is more reason to be cynical about Buffalo management’s chances to turn the ship around.
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It doesn’t matter that Ruff’s latest tenure running the Sabres’ bench only began on April 22, 2024. Clearly, if Bylsma can be terminated after leading the Kraken to a 35-41-6 record, Ruff can be let go in the wake of a 36-39-7 mark. And here’s the bigger problem: unless Buffalo fires Ruff very soon, they’re not going to have their pick of the coaching crop. Instead, if they choose to wait until the 2025-26 regular season begins to fire Ruff, they’ll be probably going the interim coaching route and delaying someone from coming in and implementing their blueprint over the long haul.
It isn’t that Ruff is now 65 years old that is cause for the Sabres to part ways with him. Older hockey lifers are still working for NHL teams around the league. The problem with Ruff is the bottom line for any coach — wins and losses — and there were not enough victories and too many defeats for Ruff this season. The NHL is a zero-sum business, and Ruff hasn’t delivered a decent amount of wins this past season. It’s that clear and straightforward of a predicament. It’s been nearly a decade-and-a-half since there last were playoff games in Buffalo, and that’s why nobody’s job should be safe, Ruff’s job included.
Now, Sabres ownership may be waiting until the future of GM Kevyn Adams becomes clearer before they choose to fire Ruff. But there is no salary cap on coaching and management in hockey’s top league, and this is where Buffalo’s owners have to go the extra mile to atone for missing the playoffs for the past 14 seasons. If it means paying Ruff to sit at home and wait out the remainder of his current contract, so be it. Because the alternative — missing out on the next great bench boss, who can lead this Sabres team to finally get back into the playoffs — is indefensible.
Ruff’s legacy is not going to change if and when Buffalo fires him. He’s got 1,856 regular-season games under his belt, and this past year, he won his 900th-career-game, making him only the fifth coach in NHL history to reach that plateau. However, all coaches eventually get to the end of the line — and if Ruff isn’t there right now, he can certainly see the end of the line from here.
Ruff Achieves Career Mark In Sabres Season Finale
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There’s a reason NHL teams have an increasingly-quick trigger finger when it comes to letting their coaches go. You can’t fire 23 players, and you can’t fire ownership, so coaches bear the brunts of bad years. And by virtually every metric, the Sabres had another bad year. So keeping Ruff around isn’t a choice that’s likely to lead them out of this mess. They should be going with a new voice in the dressing room, and that means parting ways with Ruff A.S.A.P..
Because the longer they wait, the more they delay the inevitable. And the only people who will wind up suffering are Buffalo’s players and fans.
