Dec 6, 2024: Adams indicates it was Ruff's decision to go with current coaching staff

[Archie Lee]

In the Robertson thread, things got a little off topic (probably me) and I referenced Ruff having the option to bring in his own coaches and that he chose not to.  This has come up a few times that fans reference Ruff not being able to choose his own staff.   In the Palm Trees and Taxes press conference from Dec 6, 2024, just after the 19:30 mark, Fairburn asks about the coaching staff.  That is when Adams answered with "...Lindy was very, very adamant he wanted to get to know the current people..." and with "If Lindy didn't feel comfortable with the [coaches] in the room, then they wouldn't be in the room".

I don't doubt that Adams endorsed Wilford, Ellis, Bales, and Appert. Also, I suppose Adams could be outright lying, and it was always the case that it was take it or leave it on the coaching staff. But it strains credulity in my opinion, that they wouldn't allow Ruff any flexibility in choosing his staff. I'm pretty down on Ruff, but it is hard for me to square that if 64 year old Lindy Ruff, with the 3rd most games coached in NHL history, a man never shy to share an opinion, wanted to bring in one or two of his own coaches, that he would not have demanded it. Further, it would be incredibly weak of Ruff to not only accept having a staff forced on him, but to also accept the GM lying about it.

Anyway, I'm just posting this as a record for those who care about the coaching staff question. Again, it's at around 19:30 that it starts.

Also, a warning: I don't recommend watching the entire thing again. It is incredible that we just saw Pete DeBoer, who over the last 3 years has won more regular season games than any coach in the league and the 3rd most playoff games, get fired for criticizing his goalie in a press conference, and yet Adams (0/5 for the playoffs) is still Sabre GM when 6 months ago he stood in front of the world and made clear that he is not capable of doing his job.

 

[Mr Peabody]

Maybe Lindy reached out and couldn’t get any takers?  Or, was part of his job to evaluate the coaches in our system?  Or…..were they dictated to him as he really had no other options?

[Pimlach]

Thanks @Archie Lee, upon further review Adams does indeed indicate that Lindy wanted to "get to know" the staff and he could have made changes.  

Given that no changes have been made so far we can assume Lindy is on board with this group.  

I should have taken your advice and not re-watched the rest of it.     

 

[DarthEbriate]

If into the security press conference recordings you go, only pain will you find. 

[Mr. Allen]

I’m not going to get into details, but “allegedly” Ruff would go into the office of a colleague of his and vent about how he hated being “stuck” with his assistants.  

[Archie Lee]

1 minute ago, Mr. Allen said:

I’m not going to get into details, but “allegedly” Ruff would go into the office of a colleague of his and vent about how he hated being “stuck” with his assistants.  

I have no idea of what really happened, but lets assume for a moment that there was no option for change and it was a take it or leave it scenario for Ruff. This notion is typically presented in defense of Ruff: "What's Lindy supposed to do, he didn't even get to choose his own coaches".  If true, I see it as an indictment of Ruff, and not a defense.  It's pathetic.

[Demoted]

I dont care about any of it, get rid of KA!

[PerreaultForever]

I hate to say it but this narrative makes it even worse than if they didn't let him pick his own assistants. This tells me his day was truly done and he was no longer connected the way he used to be. A has been and people didn't want to come to the Sabres or work with him and he knew it. 

[Archie Lee]

4 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I hate to say it but this narrative makes it even worse than if they didn't let him pick his own assistants. This tells me his day was truly done and he was no longer connected the way he used to be. A has been and people didn't want to come to the Sabres or work with him and he knew it. 

Now I’m getting into speculation territory. I think Ruff is at the stage/age where it appealed to him to go into a situation that was set-up. No interviews, no decisions about letting a coach go, no having to call coaches and break the news that he is “going in another direction”. It’s a variation of what you are saying. 

[PerreaultForever]

1 minute ago, Archie Lee said:

Now I’m getting into speculation territory. I think Ruff is at the stage/age where it appealed to him to go into a situation that was set-up. No interviews, no decisions about letting a coach go, no having to call coaches and break the news that he is “going in another direction”. It’s a variation of what you are saying. 

Well ya, so putting that in the worst way, a tired old man with a chance to pad his retirement account working from home. So he took the job. 

[DarthEbriate]

The important thing to remember, from one of the Sabres promo season videos or interviews, I think…. Is that Ruff initially declined the job. But he got convinced by Pegula. Adams was all set to promote Appert, also sans interviews, apparently. If the owner, allegedly your buddy off the ice, says he’s got a 2-year gig for you so you can evaluate the team, it’s pretty easy for you to take the assistant coaches under contract and evaluate them as well. Because you got hired and told what to do directly by the owner. Ruff is 100% complicit in last year’s opening roster, staff, and the resultant garbage. He could have put his foot down upon hiring and brought in a real staff. He did not. 

[PASabreFan]

Y'all thought KA was lying when this was brought up before.

[7+6=13]

TP and KA wanted Ruff to fire the assistants but he refused and turned down the job.  KA said ok, we'll keep them, so Ruff reconsidered and took the job.  Ruff, after the season was over, then wanted to fire the assistants.  TP said no but KA wanted to.  

Jarmo wants to keep one of them but won't say which one.  Jarmo told Staal which one but he pinky sweared not to tell anyone.  Now TP is giving Staal the silent treatment.  

6 top level assistants outside of the organization called Ruff and want to come here. Guelli set up a teams call at a time Ruff could only call in.  He had his microphone rigged through IT, so the assistants thought he was ignoring them and all took other jobs.

[JP51]

On 6/7/2025 at 2:49 PM, Archie Lee said:

I have no idea of what really happened, but lets assume for a moment that there was no option for change and it was a take it or leave it scenario for Ruff. This notion is typically presented in defense of Ruff: "What's Lindy supposed to do, he didn't even get to choose his own coaches".  If true, I see it as an indictment of Ruff, and not a defense.  It's pathetic.

I think if Adams said hey you can pick your staff... but Mr Pegula likes these guys and really wants you to take a look at them...  fine... but if there was someone he wanted badly to add and couldnt last year that should have been a red flag...  HOWEVER after "looking at them" for a full year with this disastrous season I see one of two possibilties... Lindy wants to make changes and cant... or Lindy actually believes that this level of performance by his assistants was acceptable... either one is damning of Lindy... the last and final option not Lindy's fault was they said... go ahead Lindy, hire who you want... and literally no one wanted to come here.... that is a distinct possibility and even more damning of our situation.... bottom line ... not good no matter how you look at it. 

[Mango]

I always thought that whole run around about "getting to know" and then "feeling comfortable" was Adams being smug ash hole with a punchable face.

Getting to know doesn't mean hire and feeling comfortable doesn't mean not fire.

To me it's the same tone as "extensive search" and "Terry gives me everything we need". 

[Night Train]

I thought Dec. 6th was their season ending luncheon. 

[Big Guava]

Well butter my butt and call it a biscuit!

I thought Adams told Ruff he had to keep them.

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, Big Guava said:

Well butter my butt and call it a biscuit!

I thought Adams told Ruff he had to keep them.

I still do not trust what Adams said in the video to be the complete story. 

Adams "talked" to an NHL Assistant Coach recently, but nothing really happened and no offer was made, so he ended up in Chicago.  

 

 

[Archie Lee]

9 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I still do not trust what Adams said in the video to be the complete story. 

Adams "talked" to an NHL Assistant Coach recently, but nothing really happened and no offer was made, so he ended up in Chicago.  

 

 

The larger issue, to me, is how complicit is Ruff?  At this point I think the answer is: entirely. Either Ruff accepted the take it or leave it offer, or he has the power to make change and for some reason has chosen not to. Either way, Ruff is not the adult in the room who is going to set the organization straight. 
 

 

[bob_sauve28]

Oh whatever, this is such an obvious bait and switch job, like the Warren Commission. Heck, if you listen to press conference at the point just after the one minute 30 second mark and before the eleven minute eighteen second mark you can almost hear Ruff say "I'm only a patsy." Sure, he's to blame for fourteen years of failure

The NHL, big corporation, G. Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt, the whole Watergate crowd, and Hillary Clinton, of course. It’s all just a coincidence that this info leaks just when Musk and Trump have their big fight. Talk about a smoke screen! They are all in on it. You think a franchise can really go fourteen years without making playoffs, in this league??  They want the Sabres to lose! Just follow the money. Galisano did his job, passed it off to the natural gas guy, Haskey pretending to rail again Russian players, tariffs on Buffalo’s close neighbor Canada and how many illegal immigrants play for Buffalo? Ya, like none! Now they want us to believe Lindy wanted this coaching staff? It’s so obvious, just so obvious. He’s being set up as the patsy!

They shoved all this analytics at us to confuse us. Hey look at these neat charts no one can understand, and oh ya, Lindy Ruff is the real reason the Sabres are inept!   Well, ya, for them it is. Ever notice how none of the charts look like grassy knolls? No? Well I did!

We have never been told how many Sabres were on Jeffry Epstein’s list. You know why? They don’t want us to know! And why did the beautiful memorial auditorium have to go? Had to bury Saddam’s WMD somewhere!

But sure, blame Lindy. You are all a bunch of sheep!

 

[Weave]

4 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Oh whatever, this is such an obvious bait and switch job, like the Warren Commission. Heck, if you listen to press conference at the point just after the one minute 30 second mark and before the eleven minute eighteen second mark you can almost hear Ruff say "I'm only a patsy." Sure, he's to blame for fourteen years of failure

The NHL, big corporation, G. Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt, the whole Watergate crowd, and Hillary Clinton, of course. It’s all just a coincidence that this info leaks just when Musk and Trump have their big fight. Talk about a smoke screen! They are all in on it. You think a franchise can really go fourteen years without making playoffs, in this league??  They want the Sabres to lose! Just follow the money. Galisano did his job, passed it off to the natural gas guy, Haskey pretending to rail again Russian players, tariffs on Buffalo’s close neighbor Canada and how many illegal immigrants play for Buffalo? Ya, like none! Now they want us to believe Lindy wanted this coaching staff? It’s so obvious, just so obvious. He’s being set up as the patsy!

They shoved all this analytics at us to confuse us. Hey look at these neat charts no one can understand, and oh ya, Lindy Ruff is the real reason the Sabres are inept!   Well, ya, for them it is. Ever notice how none of the charts look like grassy knolls? No? Well I did!

We have never been told how many Sabres were on Jeffry Epstein’s list. You know why? They don’t want us to know! And why did the beautiful memorial auditorium have to go? Had to bury Saddam’s WMD somewhere!

But sure, blame Lindy. You are all a bunch of sheep!

 

I would like to subscribe to your podcast.  I’ll even pay twice.

[Pimlach]

29 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Oh whatever, this is such an obvious bait and switch job, like the Warren Commission. Heck, if you listen to press conference at the point just after the one minute 30 second mark and before the eleven minute eighteen second mark you can almost hear Ruff say "I'm only a patsy." Sure, he's to blame for fourteen years of failure

The NHL, big corporation, G. Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt, the whole Watergate crowd, and Hillary Clinton, of course. It’s all just a coincidence that this info leaks just when Musk and Trump have their big fight. Talk about a smoke screen! They are all in on it. You think a franchise can really go fourteen years without making playoffs, in this league??  They want the Sabres to lose! Just follow the money. Galisano did his job, passed it off to the natural gas guy, Haskey pretending to rail again Russian players, tariffs on Buffalo’s close neighbor Canada and how many illegal immigrants play for Buffalo? Ya, like none! Now they want us to believe Lindy wanted this coaching staff? It’s so obvious, just so obvious. He’s being set up as the patsy!

They shoved all this analytics at us to confuse us. Hey look at these neat charts no one can understand, and oh ya, Lindy Ruff is the real reason the Sabres are inept!   Well, ya, for them it is. Ever notice how none of the charts look like grassy knolls? No? Well I did!

We have never been told how many Sabres were on Jeffry Epstein’s list. You know why? They don’t want us to know! And why did the beautiful memorial auditorium have to go? Had to bury Saddam’s WMD somewhere!

But sure, blame Lindy. You are all a bunch of sheep!

 

[Mango]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

I still do not trust what Adams said in the video to be the complete story. 

Adams "talked" to an NHL Assistant Coach recently, but nothing really happened and no offer was made, so he ended up in Chicago.  

 

 

This!

I don't hear that any differently than "Terry give me everything we need to be successful". Adams always leaves wiggle room. He is a total weasel. Ask him for a yes or no answer on if he can spend 100% of the salary cap or if Terry will pay for 4 new NHL veteran scouts and you get "Terry is willing to provide everything it takes to be successful".

Sort of crazy to me that @Archie Lee watches Adams squirm over this question the way he does and comes away fully thinking Adams said that this was Lindy's staff that he wanted and he assembled after getting to know them. 

He explicitly says that Lindy asked about it, and that after getting to know them they talked about it some more, and after a back and forth "this is the staff that we arrived at". Not that this is the staff he wanted. But the one we arrived at. And as a follow up question, if this is the staff that Lindy wanted, WTF was the back and forth about after "getting to know them".

In theory if this is Lindy's staff, here is the conversation. Not sure anybody would consider this a "back and forth"

Kevyn: "Do you love this coaching staff?"
Lindy: "Yeah"
Kevyn: "Cool, next item on the agenda"



 

[Archie Lee]

1 minute ago, Mango said:

This!

I don't hear that any differently than "Terry give me everything we need to be successful". Adams always leaves wiggle room. He is a total weasel. Ask him for a yes or no answer on if he can spend 100% of the salary cap or if Terry will pay for 4 new NHL veteran scouts and you get "Terry is willing to provide everything it takes to be successful".

Sort of crazy to me that @Archie Lee watches Adams squirm over this question the way he does and comes away fully thinking Adams said that this was Lindy's staff that he wanted and he assembled after getting to know them. 

He explicitly says that Lindy asked about it, and that after getting to know them they talked about it some more, and after a back and forth "this is the staff that we arrived at". Not that this is the staff he wanted. But the one we arrived at. And as a follow up question, if this is the staff that Lindy wanted, WTF was the back and forth about after "getting to know them".

In theory if this is Lindy's staff, here is the conversation. Not sure anybody would consider this a "back and forth"

Kevyn: "Do you love this coaching staff?"
Lindy: "Yeah"
Kevyn: "Cool, next item on the agenda"



 

Ok, so what does that say about Lindy Ruff?  I’m not defending Adams. Frankly, Adams should have fired the entire staff, did a full actual search for a head coach and let that head coach pick his staff the way it is done around the league (my understanding is that the GM typically has some say). If the Sabres functioned like a normal team, then after 22-23 Adams would have gone to Granato and said, “time to get serious Donny, we are making a couple of changes to the coaching staff”. There are still fans who think Ruff is getting the shaft. He’s a 65 year old independently wealthy man who has coached more NHL games than all but 2 people. Do us a solid Lindy and grow a pair and step down and tell the world that the conditions are not conducive to winning. The point isn’t that Adams isn’t a weasel, he’s a big one. The point is, Ruff is a weasel too. 

[Mango]

12 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

Ok, so what does that say about Lindy Ruff?  I’m not defending Adams. Frankly, Adams should have fired the entire staff, did a full actual search for a head coach and let that head coach pick his staff the way it is done around the league (my understanding is that the GM typically has some say). If the Sabres functioned like a normal team, then after 22-23 Adams would have gone to Granato and said, “time to get serious Donny, we are making a couple of changes to the coaching staff”. There are still fans who think Ruff is getting the shaft. He’s a 65 year old independently wealthy man who has coached more NHL games than all but 2 people. Do us a solid Lindy and grow a pair and step down and tell the world that the conditions are not conducive to winning. The point isn’t that Adams isn’t a weasel, he’s a big one. The point is, Ruff is a weasel too. 

What does this mean? It doesn't really follow a single thought. 

What does that say about Lindy? Well by Adams own admission Lindy asked about replacing the staff at the front end, and then after getting to know the staff had a "back and forth" with Adams about replacing them. There is no back and forth between two people are on the same page off the rip. So unless you think Adams wanted to replace the staff and Lindy was trying to keep them, to me it sounds like Lindy tried to replace the coaching staff. 

I am not sure what the realistic expectation of Lindy Ruff is. He has spent nearly 30 years in this town as a coach or player for the Buffalo Sabres. I am sure it would be really really hard for him to throw his fingers up at the org and walk away over hunkering down and trying to right the ship. 

The expectation, which you seem to imply, is that Lindy should go out in a blaze of glory. That seems like the absolute worst way to end a career in your home town and would basically be unprecedented in any of the big 4 leagues in the US. 

I cannot possibly wrap my head around the fact that any human who watches that presser and has followed the Sabres isn't targeting all their anger and frustration at some combination of Pegula and Adams. They could hire the ghost of Scotty Bowman to be the HC this team with Trotz, Deboer, and Maurice on staff and they would still miss the playoffs. That is how wildly inept this franchise is.