COMMENTARY
Jerry Sullivan: Ruff’s not coaching to make friends
Lindy Ruff did not go to Yale. He never attended any college. But Ruff is one of the smartest and most intuitive coaches I’ve known, a man with a knack for pushing hockey players’ buttons and getting them to perform at a higher competitive level.
Ruff has been coaching the Sabres for 12 seasons. He is by far the longest-tenured coach in the NHL. He’s never been shy about speaking his mind. But the more secure he gets in his job, the more willing he is to single out players for soft or substandard performance.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a star. Slack off and Ruff will cut your minutes. He’ll bench you. He’ll call you out in public.
Somehow, it works. Early this season, Ruff benched Henrik Tallinder for two games. Tallinder returned and raised his game. Ruff criticized goalie Ryan Miller after a loss in Florida. Miller didn’t care for it, but his play improved afterward. Clarke MacArthur caught fire after Ruff sat him for a game.
Last week, after a bad loss to Washington, Ruff ripped two of his top forwards, Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht. He threatened their playing time. The next game, Roy scored two goals. Hecht, who has had a bad year, sat the first 10 minutes in the Toronto game, then looked like his old reliable self in the win at Boston on Saturday.
“There’s no secret to it,” Ruff said Monday. “If our best players play poorly, we don’t have a good chance to win. It doesn’t have to be done in any embarrassing fashion. But if we’re going to be a playoff team, we need our best players to be our best competitors.
“It has to be done fairly,” he said. “You’re not calling them out for a random reason. I know it puts heat on them. But at the same time, it adds a little bit of the accountability factor.”
Ruff said it begins in the locker room. He said his players have been pushing each other. Internal leadership is vital for any team. It was easier when Ruff had Chris Drury, a fierce competitor and worker who demanded accountability from everyone around him.
It’s no accident that Ruff has been calling out more players in the last year and a half. His team has been maddeningly inconsistent, alternating stretches of tough, inspired play with spells of soft, undisciplined hockey.
At some point, it’s not enough for the coach to rant behind closed doors. Athletes might tell you they don’t read the newspaper or listen to the talk shows, but they hate being criticized in public. It can light a fire when the world knows they’re being held accountable.
Maxim Afinogenov was furious when Ruff benched him in the playoffs two years ago. In his first game back, he scored the game-winner in overtime.
“Nobody likes being called out,” said Roy. “You try to play your best game every night, and things happen. You look in the mirror, and ask yourself, ‘Am I really working as hard as I can? Am I doing the things I need to do to help this team win?’ ”
Of course, there are coaches who wouldn’t dream of criticizing players in public. Football coaches come to mind. Dick Jauron will come into a press conference after watching his quarterback throw nine interceptions and tell you he needs to see the film.
Maybe that’s why the Bills love Jauron so much. You don’t hear any Sabres professing their love for Ruff, or gushing about how he “takes care” of them. Ruff doesn’t care, as long as they perform.
“I don’t really care one direction or the other,” Ruff said. “I’ve told them, ‘I’m not going to be your friend.’ I still consider myself a players’ coach, but you have to be tough. The point is, last year wasn’t good enough, and the way we were going [recently] wasn’t good enough.
“If that means we’ve got to get a little more ornery with each other, then we’re going to have to do it.”
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