'“Lindy Ruff, as a player he was a competitive individual that went out and worked hard, committed to his team night in, night out,” Carlyle said. “Obviously in his coaching aspect of it, he's done a tremendous job in Buffalo. Just look forward to at some point talking about it. We've got a mutual friend that has a strong relationship with him in Mike Foligno. I played with Mike in junior and played a little bit with him in summer hockey. There was always that Buffalo mentality. Being with the Pittsburgh Penguins at the time, it was one of those things we were competitive, but there was an understanding we respected one another.”'