Lindy Ruff

Plenty of bodies to fill out that blue and gold scrimmage roster on Saturday.

But it's all going to kick off today with Jarmo Kikulainen, Lindy Ruff, speaking to the media at noon.

Pucks fly tomorrow.

Lots to talk about when it gets into line construction.

And yeah, There's always a line between competition and developing chemistry, but they've also seen a lot of these combinations already.

These aren't brand new, right? So I think they're going to have an idea like when we see, you know, that'll be Thursday when they first jump into line rushes.

We'll get an idea of what Lindy Ruff's vision is for this forward group.

You know, you mentioned Kulik, like, can he be 20 goal guy? Like, no brainer.

Yeah, it was the year John Cooper shouldn't have gotten it.

Lindy Ruff should have won it.

Yes, Lindy Ruff should have won it.

No, Lindy Ruff should have won it.

That Buffalo Sabres team was just awesome.

Regardless, though, I like that point, Petey.

yeah i agree i'm for me i'm like i could see also buffalo maybe um

buffalo buffalo who knows

I don't want to say it's a log jam, but it is crowded.

And they have a handful of guys for that bottom line, bottom six, as they almost always do, where you could conceivably see Ruff and Kekalainen say, you know, we're going to send Yuri Kulik down because he needs games and he just needs to get into a competitive, more controlled atmosphere where we have a little bit more of a say over how much he's going to play on a given night.

And then we are also going to send Consta Helenius down because we want to make sure he's playing in a top six role every night.

And we can't guarantee that because Sam Carrick or Justin Danforth or Payson Kozak, whoever it might be.

That's like your top defenseman playing with Starbuck and Johnson and those guys.

And maybe crevier gets in, but, um, There's not going to be a huge opportunity for anybody that starts on the periphery to work their way in to being part of the 23.

Especially because Lindy Ruff trusts Zach Metza.

I think if you gave Lindy truth serum, he probably would have put Metza in that Montreal series sooner.

Maybe I'll see if I can find that custom-made.

Give me the umlaut over the O. Um, Lindy Ruff loves him.

Every time Lindy gets asked about him or talks about him, gushes about how much he can rely upon him for a young player, and the proof's in the pudding.

Lindy doesn't just say, "Oh, I can put him in all situations.

There was an assist in the overtime loss to Boston the other day.

Um, he has been fast.

Skating is there, and he's been jumping up in the rush, which Lindy Ruff and the Sabres like their defensemen to do, but maybe some carelessness in his own end, and there's a consistency level that is still missing.

And the fact that that is happening when you are, again, surrounded by a lot of guys that are just not gonna make the NHL, this is not, this is not the h- the high-level prospect tournament that we've seen in the past.

Yeah

... where Lindy Ruff was like, "We have to send down Noah Aslund" basically based off, like, roster.

So I think he missed some time just because he couldn't be on the team 'cause they had too many bodies-

Yeah, he went down to-

Um, I don't think anybody would argue with that.

He went toe-to-toe with Lindy Ruff, one of the best coaches in the [laughs] NHL.

I don't think anybody would argue with that.

Uh, both, uh, nominee- nominated for a Jack Adams Award last year.

Cooper won it, Lindy Ruff finished second.

Lindy Ruff has won a Jack Adams Award, and he beat them both in the playoffs-

Yeah

...

Like, the attributes are there.

Now, I know we've joked about it, and something we haven't brought up as a reminder, Lindy Ruff loves Noah Ostlund.

He's probably in

the negotiations.

a this my ah this

sucks man

ah every time they cut to him i'm sorry like i feel like lindy ruff's like the antithesis he just i can never tell of lindy ruff like what he's thinking

Martin

to Hellebuck.

We're trying to get Lindy Ruff on the podcast.

He said he'd come on, but now we're getting into a tough, I think it's called the season.

Yeah.