BUFFALO – Coach Lindy Ruff walked into the media room, his whistle still hanging around his neck after running the Sabres’ first practice since general manager Kevyn Adams’ dismissal, and stood at the podium looking somber.
Ruff, 65, and Adams, 51, go way back and enjoyed a close working relationship.
Late in Ruff’s first tenure here, he hired Adams as a skills coach before promoting him to an assistant on his staff. Last year, Adams brought back Ruff, a franchise icon, to help the Sabres earn that elusive playoff berth in what likely will be his final coaching gig.
Over the last season and a half, Ruff said they discussed and analyzed their team every day – “We spent a lot of time together,” he said – looking for ways to improve.
So when Sabres owner Terry Pegula told Ruff on Monday he had made the difficult decision to fire Adams, he said he “felt sad.”
“Felt like I let my GM down, that I didn’t get the job done,” Ruff said Wednesday in KeyBank Center.
When he returned, Ruff knew that job would be a heavy lift. The Sabres, after all, own an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought. Still, it has likely been more difficult than he imagined.
The Sabres, despite carrying a season-long three-game win streak into tonight’s home contest against the Philadelphia Flyers, entered Wednesday’s schedule in last place in the Eastern Conference, six points out the final wild card spot.
Veteran GM Jarmo Kekalainen, Adams’ replacement, said in his introductory news conference Tuesday that everyone, including Ruff and his staff, will be evaluated.
Most GMs, of course, hire their own coach. Ruff, the NHL’s oldest coach, has an expiring contract.
His future is uncertain.
When he met with Kekalainen, Ruff said he was told to “keep doing what you’re doing.”
Ruff said when he spoke to Pegula, who watched Wednesday’s practice from the bench, a rarity, they did not discuss his future.
Naturally, Ruff, whose 914 career wins rank fourth in NHL history, said he’s “focused on finishing the job.”
While the Sabres have a difficult task ahead, rattling off a few more victories could propel them into the thick of the postseason chase. They’re aiming for their first four-game win streak since late last season. They’ve won nine of their last 15 games to reach .500 (14-14-4).
Josh Norris, their second-line center, recently returned from an upper-body injury that sidelined him 24 games. Ruff said defenseman Michael Kesselring, the Sabres’ biggest offseason addition, should play tonight after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury.
While the Sabres still have some notable absences – forwards Jiri Kulich and Jason Zucker are sidelined – they’re getting healthier.
“We’ve got ourselves in position here where we can really push ahead,” Ruff said. “… We’re starting to see the team that we envisioned it to be.”
But that team might change in the coming days, weeks and months. During his 11-year run as GM in Columbus, Kekalainen often operated aggressively, helping the Blue Jackets, a franchise starved for success when he arrived, make the playoffs five times.
During the seven months Kekalainen spent as a senior advisor to Adams before his promotion, Ruff said he got to know the Finn, who spent time in the coaches’ office each day.
“He was just another voice of reason, another guy that Kevyn and I discussed a lot of things with when it came to the player front,” he said. “You had this set of eyes from the outside that didn’t have any history with a lot of the players.”
Some of those players understand their performance contributed to the GM change.
“It’s always tough when you go through a change like that,” said Sabres winger Alex Tuch, who can become an unrestricted free agent following the season. “I think it’s something that we don’t take lightly is that it’s on us. We’re a big reason why a man lost his job. We weren’t getting the results that needed to happen, and we feel terrible about that.
“We need to be better in this locker room. Kevyn was an awesome person. I owe him a lot. He brought me into this organization. (I’ll) always be grateful to him and every opportunity he’s given me.”
Tuch, whose representatives are discussing a new contract with the Sabres, said Adams’ dismissal doesn’t change anything.
“I think Jarmo was in somewhat of the negotiations before, so he’s familiar with what was going on,” he said. “Just going to let my agent handle it, and I stay out of it.”
On Tuesday, Kekalainen talked about the Sabres’ need to develop a competitive and relentless identity. The Sabres possess plenty of talent. They just need to consistently play a more tenacious style.
“I’m excited for him raising the standards,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “That’s what you have to do. Yeah, we’ve lost games we should’ve won, and we’ve beaten the best teams in the league, and we know we can be a really good team.”
Dahlin said Adams constructed a strong roster.
“But at the end of the day, it’s all about winning,” he said. “… It’s up to us to do. I mean, you look at this lineup we have, he’s done a pretty good job. It’s business, but me and him had a good relationship.”
Kekalainen is the Sabres’ third GM since they drafted Dahlin in 2018, a number that illustrates their futility.
“It’s tough, for sure,” Dahlin said. “But I think Jarmo’s going to be the one that turns it around.”