Pretty reasonable

My mildly hot take is if we assume coaching held them back, then this lineup under ruff should remain competitive for longer than 10 mins/early november so that by the time rumours and player movement start up in Dec/Jan, the Sabres will come off some no trade lists and thats when we will see the bigger move.

Are buffalo fans happy with Ruff coming back? Wouldn't Berube been a better choice?

Now that Granato isn’t the coach Greenway doesn’t need to play with skill players.

Greenway-Faksa-Girgensons
Skinner-Krebs-Kulich.

Another reasonable take.

I actually am looking forward to the season. Can't wait to see how they screw it up this time

I'm happy

I agree Berube would have been better, but Im happy with it. The team is in the crapper reputation wise. they needed some luck to turn things around, and it just so happens that Ruff, who is a solid coach in general, has ties to the area. Thats the kind of break they needed. He's not perfect, but it's an upgrade.

Also, I think Berube is waiting to see what happens with other playoff teams coaches. And if youre the Sabres, you dont want to wait too long. You'd almost certainly lose the musical chairs game once other more lucrative jobs open up.

Agreed but you can't ask krebs to carry both kulich and skinner defensively. Faksa has a much longer track record of being able to handle that. Its possible that under Ruff, Krebs eventually over takes Faksa, but Imo this is how hed start it.

I know this much, if they make the playoffs, it's going to be in the most hilariously entertaining bass ackwards fashion, and I'm excited to see how it happens lol

You never know how this pans out, but I am happy.

Trade is very reasonable

I can't imagine an NHL coach that wouldn't want to take this team over. They are young and full of talent, just need someone to teach them to play as a unit and defend.

none of them want this job lol. Its not the same time horizon as GM. young talent for a coach means high volatility and unpredictability. Most vet coaches want something more stable. Additionally, the sabres have a meddlesome owner who is penny pinching.

Yeah, I get that, but at some point I would think ownership would want to make the playoffs and get the added revenue that comes with that. IMO, it isn't a lack of talent keeping them outside the playoffs, its the lack of structure and sound defensive hockey along with needing more grit. I think Berube would have fixed those things pretty quickly and got them going in the right direction.

Yes. Ruff is a solid coach. He does not have the shenanigans of a toxic front office during his first stint.

There's a good chance they asked Berube and he said no, they didnt start this process overnight. Ownership gets a huge chunk of money through revenue sharing. Its actually more cost effective to ice a team well below the cap ceiling and get that money than it is for him to spend 20 mil more with no guarantee of a playoff spot.