The Buffalo Sabres kicked off the 2025-26 regular season like a nightmare, limping out of the gate with a brutal 5-8-4 record. That disastrous start cost GM Kevyn Adams his job, and honestly, head coach Lindy Ruff wasn’t far behind him. At 66 years old, one of the NHL’s oldest coaches, Ruff was feeling serious heat, reportedly just a loss or two away from getting canned by new GM Jarmo Kekalainen.
From Brink to Brilliance: The Comeback Nobody Predicted
Then, something clicked. After that brutal opening stretch, the Sabres went absolutely nuts, winning 13 of their next 14 games. From that moment on, Ruff apparently started pushing all the right buttons, getting the absolute most out of his players. The team’s transformation was insane: they finished the rest of the season with an incredible 45-15-5 record, making them the best squad in the highly competitive Atlantic Division.
This huge turnaround didn’t just save Ruff’s job, it landed him a nomination for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top bench boss in 2025-26. That’s his fifth nomination, man! The guy even won it way back in 2005-06, and just being in the running two decades later tells you everything about his staying power. The Sabres kept that momentum rolling into the playoffs, knocking out the Boston Bruins in the first round before battling it out in a tough seven-game series loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round. All in all, a ton of good stuff came out of Buffalo this past season.
The A- Grade and What It Really Means
So, when TheHockeyNews.com dropped their grades for Buffalo, Ruff pulled in an A-. Why not a perfect A or A+ for that insane comeback? Well, even though he figured it out, that rough 5-8-4 start still counts against him. Plus, the team’s power play was a bit of a head-scratcher, ranking 21st in the league with only 19.5 percent efficiency. Not exactly lights out, right?
Still, for a Buffalo legend like Ruff, pulling off that kind of recovery is huge. He totally deserved the two-year contract extension he got from Kekalainen, giving him some much-needed job security in a league that chews up and spits out coaches. But don’t get it twisted: that pressure isn’t going anywhere. There’s no guarantee the Sabres will be as strong next season, and if things go south, the coaching carousel spins fast. Buffalo can’t afford to take a step backward, so Ruff’s got to keep that fire burning.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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