*Updated slightly – May, 2015*
Lindy Ruff didn’t stay unemployed long in the National Hockey League. After being ditched by the Buffalo Sabres early in the 2012-13 season, Ruff was picked up by the Dallas Stars to be their head coach for the upcoming 2013-14 NHL season (a job he kept through 2014-15). Lindy has also been named as an associate coach under Mike Babcock for Canada’s entry at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games (Canada won gold).
Lindy Ruff – The Player
Ruff played three years of junior hockey in the WHL with the Lethbridge Broncos from 1976-77 to 1978-79, although his first year consisted of just two games. He was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the second round of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, 32nd overall.
Lindy played 691 regular season games in the NHL between 1979-80 and 1990-91 with the Sabres and New York Rangers. Over that time, he scored 105 goals and assisted on 195 for 300 points while also sitting out 1,264 minutes in penalties. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Ruff added another 52 games, scoring eleven and totalling 24 points while accumulating 193 penalty minutes. Lindy was captain of the Sabres from 1986-87 until being traded to the Rangers during the 1988-89 season.
He played his last National Hockey League game in 1990-91 with New York but that wasn’t quite the end of Lindy’s professional hockey playing career. He spent two more years on the ice, the first with the Rochester Americans of the AHL and the second with the San Diego Gulls of the IHL.
The 1991-92 Rochester Americans were coached by former NHL star Don Lever. Later in the decade, the relationship between Ruff and Lever would help create one of the most successful Buffalo Sabres teams of all-time.
The 1992-93 San Diego Gulls would provide Ruff his closest chance at a playoff championship during his pro career. The team was coached by Rick Dudley, a teammate of Lindy’s with the Sabres in 1979-80 and 1980-81. No one on the Gulls played the full 82 game schedule that season and Ruff was the only player to appear in 81 games.
San Diego placed first overall in the twelve team IHL with 62 wins and 132 points. The Gulls reached the Turner Cup finals before falling apart and being swept by the Fort Wayne Komets in four games. The Komets outscored San Diego 21-5 over the series.
Lindy Ruff – The Coach
Without missing a step, Ruff immediately made the jump from player to coach. He spent four years as assistant coach of the Florida Panthers from 1993-94 to 1996-97. He mentored under Roger Neilson for the first two years and Doug MacLean for the final two years in Florida.
The following year, 1997-98, Ruff took over the head coaching job in Buffalo and remained for the next 14 plus seasons. In just his second year with the Sabres, 1998-99, the Sabres reached the Stanley Cup finals for only the second time in franchise history. Beside him on the bench was his head coach with the Rochester Americans, Don Lever. Buffalo fell to the Dallas Stars in a somewhat controversial six game series.
In 2005-06, Ruff was honoured with the Jack Adams Award as the top coach in the NHL. His assistant coach that year was Scott Arniel. Arniel and Lindy were teammates on the 1992-93 San Diego Gulls. The Sabres won 52 games that year and totalled 110 points. Buffalo lost in the Eastern Conference finals to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. Buffalo pushed Carolina to the seven game limit before falling.
Interestingly, Lindy Ruff has not yet been inducted as a member of the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame.
Lindy Ruff – Hockey Cards
The Lindy Ruff rookie card appears as number 319 in the 1980-81 O-Pee-Chee set and is valued as a common card. Not loved by the world of cardboard, Ruff appeared on an O-Pee-Chee or Topps hockey card in just six of his twelve years as a player.
| Season | Team | Lge | 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 |
| 1978-79 | Lethbridge Broncos | WHL | 24 | 9 | 18 | 27 | 108 |
| 1979-80 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 63 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 38 |
| 1980-81 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 65 | 8 | 18 | 26 | 121 |
| 1981-82 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 79 | 16 | 32 | 48 | 194 |
| 1982-83 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 60 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 130 |
| 1983-84 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 58 | 14 | 31 | 45 | 101 |
| 1984-85 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 39 | 13 | 11 | 24 | 45 |
| 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 |
| 1988-89 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 63 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 86 |
| 1988-89 | New York Rangers | NHL | 13 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 31 |
| 1989-90 | New York Rangers | NHL | 56 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 80 |
| 1990-91 | New York Rangers | NHL | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 27 |
| 1991-92 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 62 | 10 | 24 | 34 | 110 |
| 1992-93 | San Diego Gulls | IHL | 81 | 10 | 32 | 42 | 100 |
| NHL Totals | 691 | 105 | 195 | 300 | 1264 |