Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR) - The Buffalo Sabres open training camp at Harborcenter on Thursday, and head coach Lindy Ruff mentioned, again, before his team takes the ice that winning the Stanley Cup for the fans of Buffalo is what fuels his fire.
Ruff is entering his 18th season as the team's head coach. Ruff is well aware that you just don't pick up where you left off, which for the Sabres is being Atlantic Division champions. He understands the work that's ahead for his group.
“No. 1 is just to be highly competitive, which starts with how hard you work inside a game, the way we played away from the puck, our defensive play which imrpoved, but there's still room for improvement.
“To remain where we're at, we know, is a difficult task," said Ruff with reporters as the team reported for training camp on Wednesday. "A lot of teams got better, a lot of teams are back healthy now. Nobody will take us for granted, but knowing we've got an incredible amount of work to do ahead of us.”
The Sabres lost two very good players and excellent leaders in winger Alex Tuch and defenseman Bo Byram, and they really didn't do anything to make themselves better, or even get to where they were last season.
Despite that, Ruff and his staff have a plan in place to make up for the loss of Tuch and Byram.
“Every team looses good players. It's just a product of our league right now," the Sabres head coach said. "But I look at it that we've got some guys that are just starting the key areas of their career. A [Zach] Benson, a [Josh] Doan, an [Noah] Ostlund, [Jack] Quinn. I feel you give an extra two minutes to all those players, those minutes are really welcomed by the players. And you hope with those extra minutes, you find the production you lost.”
Before being traded to Buffalo, Doan scored seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points in 51 games for the Utah Hockey Club (now Mammoth). He came to the Sabres as part of the return for JJ Peterka, and in 82 games, he had 25 goals and 27 assists for 52 points.
Doan played so well, he earned a long-term contract extension during the season, and now looks to be in line to take Tuch's place from a leadership standpoint.
“You look at what he did, where he started the year; you look at the effort on a lot of the goals that he was in on, some of the goals he scored, the inside goals. He comes to the rink every day and tries to get better, and that's a great sign of a leader," Ruff said of the 24-year-old. "He pushes the people around him, so he's got a lot of great habits. And I do think it comes from a father (Shane Doan) that was one heck of a player and a heck of a character guy.”
The Winnipeg Jets suspended goalie Connor Hellebuyck on Wednesday for not reporting to training camp.
The were rumors that the Sabres almost traded for him before June's NHL Draft, but Ruff is just worried about what's here, which is Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis. This group was third in the NHL in save percentage last season.
“I've been really honest with our goalies on how I feel, the type of year they had. They had a great year for us, and they've got an understanding that they know what they've done for the team. And they know what they have to do for us going forward,” Ruff said.
Ruff had his goalies alternate last season and it worked extremely well. He plans on starting the season that way again.
The Sabres struggled, at times, last season on the power play. They did go pretty well in the second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, going at a 36% clip, but Ruff expects overall improvement.
“The best ones in the league are a group of guys that have been together for a period of time," Ruff said. "With injuries, the shuffling of players wasn't the best for our group. Our plan is to try to lock in the five guys.
“We've gone through the traits of real good power plays, and we've gone through the traits of what those bottom power plays do that we want to stay away from."
Ruff adds he's added Eric Staal to work with the power play group, as well as helping the team with faceoffs. Staal joined the team before last season to work as a special assistant to former general manager Kevyn Adams.
"He won't be here daily, but he's going to be here for a good part of every month,” Ruff noted.
The Sabres' first preseason game is Monday night in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.
