Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Ruff not surprised old boss Regier was fired

lindyruff

James O’Brien

Even after being fired by the Buffalo Sabres in February, Lindy Ruff couldn’t help but keep tabs on the squad. Now the bench boss in Dallas, the man who coached 1,165 regular season contests with Buffalo has watched the occasional Sabres’ game this season.

He noted the crowd’s reaction and wasn’t surprised when Darcy Regier, Ruff’s longtime friend and the man who fired him, was shown the door yesterday along with coach Ron Rolston.

Through everything that’s happened this year, Ruff has remained supportive of Regier. He’s quick to defend the former general manager, even when it comes to Regier’s decision to replace him.

“It wasn’t easy for Darcy, but ultimately, it was the right move. I’ve said that. I wasn’t getting the job done. We had some games sitting there that I felt we should have won and we didn’t. For that I paid the price,” Ruff told the Edmonton Journal.

He also credited Regier with sticking with him through plenty of tough times during his nearly 16-year tenure as the team’s head coach.

With Regier now gone too, an era is done in Buffalo. There were certainly some highlights during the time of Regier and Ruff, but it’s hard to look at what the Sabres have gone through over the last several years as anything but a rough patch. Perhaps there are better days ahead for Buffalo.

It would certainly be hard to envision things getting worse than they have been so far this season.

Related:

Buffalo shakeup: Regier, Rolston fired; LaFontaine, Nolan hired

Looking back at Nolan’s first tour in Buffalo

Miller sees opportunity for Sabres to ‘reset’ as organization

Who will LaFontaine hire as Buffalo’s next GM?

LaFontaine expects ‘nothing but their best efforts’ from Sabres

Timeline: Regier era in Buffalo

Follow @RyanDadoun