The Sabres advanced to the 1999 Stanley Cup Final, a six-game loss to the Stars, in Ruffs second season. He won the Jack Adams Award voted as NHL coach of the year in 2005-06 and was runner-up to Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks in 2006-07 after Buffalo had its best NHL season (53-22-7, 113 points). There were seven other coaching modifications in the NHL throughout the regular season. Costs Peters resigned as Calgary Flames coach Nov. 29 (Geoff Ward).
Lindy Ruff will be worked with as coach of the New Jersey Devils, NHL Network reported Wednesday.
Ruff will replace Alain Nasreddine, who was 19-16-8 with New Jersey prior to the NHL season was stopped briefly March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. When John Hynes was fired on Dec. 3, nasreddine was named coach.
Tom Fitzgerald will stay New Jersey general manager. He was promoted when Ray Shero was fired Jan. 12.
The Devils are not one of the 24 teams that will contend in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. New Jersey (28-29-12,.493 points percentage) completed 14th in the 16-team Eastern Conference.
Fitzgerald stated formerly that Nasreddine was being thought about to remain coach, and other candidates apparently were Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette and John Stevens.
Ruff coached 19 seasons in the NHL, 15 for the Buffalo Sabres and four with the Dallas Stars, prior to he was employed as an assistant by the New York Rangers on July 10, 2017. The 60-year-old is sixth in NHL history with 736 wins and seventh in games coached (1,493).
The Rangers are participating in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
The Sabres advanced to the 1999 Stanley Cup Final, a six-game loss to destiny, in Ruffs 2nd season. He won the Jack Adams Award voted as NHL coach of the year in 2005-06 and was runner-up to Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks in 2006-07 after Buffalo had its finest NHL season (53-22-7, 113 points). As an assistant to Doug MacLean, Ruff assisted the Florida Panthers reach the 1996 Cup Final, when they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche.
Ruff scored 300 points (105 goals, 195 helps) in 691 regular-season video games, and 24 points (11 goals, 13 helps) in 52 Stanley Cup Playoff video games for the Sabres and Rangers. He was Sabres captain for 3 seasons up until he was traded to the Rangers on March 7, 1989.
After Fitzgerald took over from Shero, the Devils traded pending unlimited complimentary agent defensemen Andy Greene (New York Islanders) and Sami Vatanen (Carolina Hurricanes), pending UFA forward Wayne Simmonds (Buffalo Sabres), forward Blake Coleman (Tampa Bay Lightning), and pending UFA goalie Louis Domingue (Vancouver Canucks) and got four draft choices and five players, including forward potential customers Nolan Foote and Janne Kuokkanen.
The Devils have the No. 7 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, and might likewise get the first-round picks of the Coyotes and Canucks.
There were seven other training changes in the NHL throughout the routine season. Laviolette was fired by the Nashville Predators on Jan. 6 and replaced by Hynes; Bruce Boudreau was fired by the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 14 and replaced by Dean Evason; Gallant was replaced with the Vegas Golden Knights by Peter DeBoer, who had been fired by the San Jose Sharks on Dec. 11 (Bob Boughner); Jim Montgomery by the Dallas Stars on Dec. 10 (Rick Bowness); and Mike Babcock by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 20 (Sheldon Keefe). Bill Peters resigned as Calgary Flames coach Nov. 29 (Geoff Ward).
Tweet from @KevinWeekes: ** Breaking News ** As per what I m informed; @NJDevils to name Lindy Ruff as their brand-new Head Coach. Also anticipated to get rid of the interim tag from GM Tom Fitzgerald.@NHL @NHLNetwork
