The Buffalo Sabers recently announced that they had rehired Lindy Ruff as their new head coach and as he was reintroduced to the media and the city, there was some discussion about his coaching style. that. Topics such as responsibility, hard work and limited playing time if playing poorly were discussed, and when the new coach spoke, I thought about the current squad. With Don Granato being sacked and him not being able to get the best out of his players, there is still a lot of work to be done to help the players improve. With Ruff in charge, some will succeed and others will likely not adapt to his coaching style.
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Owen Power
Ruff has shown an impressive track record in making good defenders even better and the ability to transform Owen Power into a more physically productive and attacking defender is very high. However, as things currently sit, Power had a lot of instances last season where his awareness at both ends of the ice were costly to his team. His speed still needs work, and his physicality is nearly non-existent. Ruff definitely will ask more of him as he still has a lot of potential left in him to bring out, but if Power continues down the trend from last season, he may find himself on the bench more times than others.
Lindy Ruff Press Conference
Ruff made it clear in his presser that he can and will weaponize ice time to reward and punish players based on their performances, and in a world where Don Granato refused to do that to anyone besides rookies and JJ Peterka, Power will not be exempt from Ruff’s benching policies. This is not to say that it is a sure thing that Power will not succeed under Ruff, it simply is to say that based on last season’s tendencies, he may struggle if things do not improve.
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Owen Power
Ruff has shown a solid track record of making good defenders even better, and the potential to mold Owen Power into a more physical, and offensively productive defender is high. However, as things currently sit, Power had a lot of instances last season where his awareness at both ends of the ice were costly to his team. His speed still needs work and his physique is almost non-existent. Ruff will certainly ask more of him as he still has plenty of potential to develop, but if the Power continue last season’s trend, he could end up on the bench more times than the others.< br> >
Lindy Ruff Press Conference
Ruff made it clear in his press address that he can and will use ice time as a weapon to reward and punish punish players based on their performance, and in a world where Don Granato refuses to do so. As for anyone other than the rookie and JJ Peterka, Power won’t be exempt from Ruff’s reserve policies. That doesn’t mean Power won’t have success under Ruff, it just means that, based on last season’s trends, he could struggle if things don’t improve.
This choice is a little more difficult because I can see the positive and negative effects. On one hand, Peyton Krebs could play a bigger role on the team if he finally breaks through and starts producing, but if he continues to stay off the scoresheet, I don’t see that progressing in alignment in Ruff’s system. Under Granato, Krebs learned to play a defensive position on the ball and became an agitator while getting some small opportunities to showcase his playmaking ability. Under Ruff, he will have the same opportunity, but it will ultimately depend on his actual numbers and production.
As Ruff said in his press conference, He plans to reward players who play well with more ice time, and Krebs has the right tools and mentality to be one of those players. One of the most important factors going into next season, if Krebs stays with this team and isn’t traded, is his teammates. Will he have rookie Jiri Kulich on the third line? Maybe Matt Savoie? Will Jeff Skinner be a regular resident of his wing? Or will he be relegated to the fourth line with Zemgus Girgensons and perhaps a new free agent signing? There are plenty of options for Krebs as the season progresses, but if he doesn’t show his attacking side, I don’t think he’ll be successful in Ruff’s system.
L he addressed the elephant in the room as Skinner found himself in the doghouse under the Sabers head coach and was in the lineup even after the end of Granato’s tenure. Skinner still possesses all the right offensive qualities to become the NHL’s top scorer, but with the emergence of JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn and the upward trend of Zach Benson, his position in the top 6 is no longer solid. try. Under Ruff, playing on the third line will ensure you understand that more defense is needed, and unfortunately, that’s not an area where Skinner shines.
If Ruff decides to use Skinner in a pure offensive role and limit his ice time to specific moments, there may be some success, but if he becomes running the third line in Ruff’s system, there will be many difficulties. Without knowing exactly how the team will be set up for next season and how Ruff will arrange his players, it’s hard to say with certainty how Skinner will play. However, if the role he’s playing late this season is the role he’s playing now, I wouldn’t foresee Skinner playing more than 12 minutes a night; this is hard to swallow for a $9 million cap hit.
The Sabers’ outlook could also be tough
In addition to the players on the roster, with him having very little opportunity to attract leads, there may be some sticking points between the top leads and Ruff. The names that immediately come to mind are Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen. So far in their careers, both have been fairly one-way prospects and are learning to become better at their two-way game. Adding this element will only help them win Ruff’s favor in the long run, but if they play for him now, they will have a deep roster spot.
Beyond the prospects top, some other lesser known players who may struggle depending on their playing style are Alex Kiskov, Victor Neuchev and Vsevlod Komarov. Kiskov and Neuchev are pure players, tend to be defensive and have poor physical strength, and Komarov is a defender who participates in more matches than necessary. All three are a long way from playing in the NHL, but if they stick around long enough to make Ruff’s roster, they better learn how to do more than just score goals.
Ruff can get the most out of these players
Ruff has a history of being a tough coach and that’s exactly what this team needs right now, if it means eliminating removing some of the weaker tendencies of players while improving the game and challenging prospects to do more, I completely agree. All of the players mentioned have the potential to be great under Ruff, but they need to fix some key elements of their game for that to happen. With a new season on the horizon, there’s a lot to see and these players have a lot of work to do.
