Buffalo Sabres on a nostalgic quest for past triumphs

The Buffalo Sabres have missed the NHL playoffs 13 consecutive seasons, breaking the previous record by three seasons (and counting?) held by both the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers (10 each).

The next closest team with an active playoff drought are the Detroit Red Wings, who have missed the playoffs in eight straight seasons.
To put this in perspective of how incredible of a feat this is in a league where literally half the teams make the playoffs, there are children in their freshman year of high school who were not born yet the last time the Sabres made the playoffs.

So, how do the Sabres hope to rectify this situation? By firing up the ole’ time machine and bringing back their most successful head coach in team history. Lindy Ruff coached the Sabres for 16 seasons: 1167
games with a record of 571-434-78 (ties)-84 (OTL). Since Ruff was fired, five different head coaches were hired and fired.

While many fans believe that this is just a Terry Pegula nostalgia hire, it goes way beyond that. Lindy Ruff is one of the most successful NHL coaches of all time and when he became available, if he had never coached the Sabres in the past, would have been a no-brainer hire, right?

A coach who has successfully guided young teams in the past to surpass the highest of expectations. A coach who coaches to the strength of his team, willing to change his own personal coaching style to fit the players abilities he has to work with.

From 1998 to 2002, Lindy had the greatest goalie on the planet, and while not too many goal scorers, the Sabres played a defense-first type of game that led to many 2-1 type games, mostly in the win column.

After the lockout of 2004-05, the Sabres came back with a whole new core of young guns with talent, speed and vigor. Ruff adapted his team to the new style the NHL tried to implement, allowing skill players to play and limit the grabbing and clutching. That team coming out of the lockout was predicted to finish in 14th place in the conference (out of 15 teams). That season, the Sabres finished with 110 points, third best in the conference and fifth best in the NHL.

“Oh now do you believe, now do you believe. These guys are good, scary good.”

The iconic call by former play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret after Jason Pominville’s overtime goal to send the Sabres to the conference championship series, when everyone doubted how good that team was.

Eventually, the Sabres fell on hard times, as GM Darcy Regier warned fans that “suffering” will be coming as the rebuild would commence. Part of the rebuild would be Lindy Ruff getting the axe.

Now, nine years later, Coach Ruff is back. With a brand-new core, a mixture of youth and aged veterans, some skill and talent, and relatively unknowns in the net, Lindy is hoping to bring back the magic he once provided the team and the city. Can he do it? Or are we looking at 14 years of no-playoff hockey in Buffalo?