The New Jersey Devils: Ruff's Riders

Alain Nasreddine did a fair job as interim head coach of the New Jersey Devils, but now, they have an official head coach, and it's a good choice: Lindy Ruff.

Nasreddine has not been outright fired, just restored to his previous position as an assistant coach. His chances of getting a head coaching job with another team are probably good.

As for the new man: He's only new to us. He's what they call a "lifer."

Lindy Cameron Ruff (no, "Lindy" is not short for something else) was born on February 17, 1960, in Warburg, Alberta. It's a town of about 800 people, about 55 miles southwest of Edmonton, so it's not quite "in the middle of nowhere."

But Canada is not like America: Aside from the capital of Ottawa, and the 3 biggest cities -- Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver -- their cities don't really have "suburbs," as we understand that term. So once you get as far from downtown as Warburg is, there's really nothing to do, except work in whatever the town's main industry is, and play whatever sport is popular there. In Canada, of course, it's hockey above all others.

Like Jim Schoenfeld, who coached the Devils into their 1st Playoff run, ending in Game 7 of the 1988 Wales Conference Finals, Ruff was a tough defenseman for the Buffalo Sabres. He was chosed by the Sabres in the 2nd round of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.

During the 1980 Playoffs, the Sabres lost to the eventual Stanley Cup winners, the New York Islanders. But not before a Stanley Cup Semifinals game in which Isles goalie Billy Smith hit Ruff with his stick and knocked him down. Ruff got up and tackled "Battlin' Billy."

In 9 full seasons with the Sabres, they made the Playoffs 7 times, including twice as regular-season Champions of the old Adams Division. But that 1980 run was the closest they got to the Cup, and would remain so until he became their head coach.

He was traded to the New York Rangers at the 1989 trade deadline, and played 2 seasons and change for them. After 2 more seasons in the minors, he was hired as part of the original coaching staff of the Florida Panthers in 1993. He was only 33 years old, and under head coach Doug MacLean, helped them reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996, only their 3rd season.

That got his original team's attention, and the Sabres brought him back as head coach in 1997. In just his 1st season, he got them to the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the Washington Capitals. In the next season, 1998-99, he got them to the Stanley Cup Finals for only the 2nd time in their history. (The 1st was in 1975, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers.) They lost to the Dallas Stars, with a controversial ending.

A corporate scandal led to financial issues for the Sabres' owners, and they missed the Playoffs the next 3 seasons. Then came the 2004-05 lockout. But Ruff, already lasting longer in the job than most coaches who haven't won the Cup (and even some who have) have done, got them back to the Conference Finals in 2006, losing to the Carolina Hurricanes; and again in 2007, losing to the Ottawa Senators. In 2006, he was given the Jack Adams Award for NHL coach of the year. He finished 2nd in the voting the next season. By this point, he was the longest-tenured coach with the same team in the NHL.

But things were already beginning to unravel. In those season, there were multiple incidents where the referees, and the League office, seemed to be taking sides with the Sabres' opponents and against the rules. After a 2007 Playoff game against the Rangers, a game the Rangers won in a series the Sabres won, Ruff criticized the officials and got fined by the League.

In spite of these incidents, he was named an assistant coach for Canada's team at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, in each case under Mike Babcock, then of the Detroit Red Wings. Canada won the Gold Medal on home ice in Vancouver in 2010, and repeated in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

On January 6, 2011, Ruff became the 16th coach in NHL history to win 500 games. Two nights later, he won his 501st, and that made him the coach with the most wins for a single team, surpassing Toe Blake of the Montreal Canadiens.

But he still couldn't win the Stanley Cup, and in the middle of the 2012-13 season, he was fired. Ironically, his next head coaching job would be with the team that beat him in his only Stanley Cup Finals to that point, the Dallas Stars. In his 1st season, he got them to their 1st Playoff berth in 6 years. But that was as far as he could get them, and he was fired at the end of the 2016-17 season.

He has spent the last 3 seasons as an assistant coach with the Rangers, under head coach David Quinn. Yesterday, after speculation that the new full-time Devils coach could be him, or Peter Laviolette, or Gerard Gallant, Lindy Ruff was hired to coach the Mulberry Street Marauders.

New Jersey Devils head coaches
1982-83 Bill MacMillan (also general manager)
1983-84 Tom McVie
1984-88 Doug Carpenter
1988-89 Jim Schoenfeld (1988 Conference Finals)
1989-91 John Cunniff
1991-92 Tom McVie, 2nd time
1992-93 Herb Brooks (1980 Olympic Gold Medal coach)
1993-98 Jacques Lemaire (1995 Stanley Cup, 1994 Conference Finals)
1998-2000 Robbie Ftorek
2000-02 Larry Robinson (2000 Stanley Cup, 2001 Conference Champions)
2002 Kevin Constantine
2002-05 Pat Burns (2003 Stanley Cup)
2005 Larry Robinson, 2nd time
2005-06 Lou Lamoriello (also general manager)
2006-07 Claude Julien
2007 Lou Lamoriello, 2nd time
2007-09 Brent Sutter
2009-10 Jacques Lemaire, 2nd time
2010 John MacLean (1988 Playoff hero, 1995 Cup winner)
2010-11 Jacques Lemaire, 3rd time
2011-14 Peter DeBoer (2012 Conference Champions)
2014-15 Adam Oates and Scott Stevens, co-coaches
2015-19 John Hynes
2019-20 Alain Nasreddine
2020-present Lindy Ruff

Tom Fitzgerald will remain as general manager.

New Jersey Devils general managers
1982-83 Bill MacMillan (also head coach)
1983-87 Max McNab
1987-2015 Lou Lamoriello (3 Stanley Cups, 2 other Finals)
2015-20 Ray Shero
2020- Tom Fitzgerald