By Matthew Fairburn (The Athletic)
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lindy Ruff’s priority is fixing the Buffalo Sabres’ culture.
That message has been ringing through the halls at KeyBank Center since the trade deadline last season. It was a major theme in the offseason and again when Ruff spoke to reporters when players reported to training camp on Wednesday.
That’s why the Sabres swapped out their strength and conditioning staff, a move Ruff said he realized was necessary during last season. He’s promising a demanding training camp and has made that expectation clear with the players.
Ruff is also planning an end-of-camp retreat to try to help the team come together. It’s something he did while he was in New Jersey and didn’t have the same chance last season because the team went to Germany and Prague for the start of the season.
“Really just team culture,” Ruff said. “I don’t even call it bonding. I’ll just call it culture. How we want to treat each other, how we want to play. How, as a group, we’re going to come together as a family and get this done.”
This is getting to the playoffs, something this franchise hasn’t done since 2010-11 when Ruff was still in his first stint as the team’s coach. Ruff acknowledged that he didn’t have a good enough handle on some of the players heading into last season. He was too optimistic about certain players and feels he has a much better grasp of what he’s dealing with now.
Ruff also said culture was “everything” when the Sabres were trying to improve the roster in the offseason. In trading JJ Peterka for Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan, the Sabres got two strong locker room pieces who are difficult to play against. Ruff also mentioned Justin Danforth and Mason Geertsen as two signings that fall into that same bucket. Ruff is clear that he wants the team to be better defensively, and he wants a hardworking team that is a pain to play against.
Whether he can achieve those goals remains to be seen. But as general manager Kevyn Adams and Ruff each met with reporters on Wednesday, it was clear they both know the results will say more than any words they offer up in mid-September.
“Talk is cheap,” Ruff said. “We’re going to have to just win games.”
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