Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff signed a two-year contract extension after leading the team to its first Stanley Cup Playoff appearance in 15 years during the ongoing 2025-26 season. With that, the 66-year-old will continue in his role with the Sabres through the 2027-28 NHL season.

After beginning his second tenure as head coach of the Sabres two years ago, Ruff secured their first division title since the 2009-10 season with a 50-23-9 record for 109 points earlier this year. Buffalo won 50 games, the third-highest total in franchise history, to earn the Atlantic Division title for the first time ever.

It also helped them end the longest playoff drought in NHL history after missing the postseason since the 2010-11 season. They were last in the Eastern Conference until December 5 last year with an 11-13-4 record before a massive turnaround in fortunes under Ruff.

The Sabres followed that up by defeating the Boston Bruins in six games in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, their first playoff series victory since 2007. But Ruff wasn’t able to take them past the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of the second round, losing 3-2 in overtime.

Ruff’s comments after losing to the Canadiens read, as per ClutchPoints: “It hurts; I told the team it hurts. That pain will go away. But I won’t let this one game define the season we had. I told them how proud I was of them.”

Notably, ever since Ruff first became the Sabres’ head coach in 1997, they have made the playoffs only with him at the helm, on nine occasions. His first coaching tenure ended after a first-round playoff series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010-11.

Lindy Ruff feels “really excited” to stay with the Buffalo Sabres for two more seasons

In his first comments after extending his contract to stay with the Buffalo Sabres through the 2027-28 season, Lindy Ruff sounded happy and looked ahead to pursuing the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title. He said, as per the NHL website, “Really excited with the opportunity to carry on here and help lead this team to a championship. ... I'm humbled again by the opportunity.”

Ruff also spoke about his wife Gaye’s blessing in his decision to continue with the Sabres, calling her an “assistant coach” in a lovely touch before the seriousness of his role takes over once more. He remarked, “I will add that probably the biggest decision, or one of my biggest decisions, was talking with my assistant coach, which is my wife, because there are a lot of nights you go home and question whether you should still be coaching.”

“She’s the one I would go home and talk to, and part of the decision to carry on is that my assistant coach was good with this too. And unbelievable support through all these years and probably wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for her at the same time,” he added.

Gaye married Ruff in 1985 during his playing days, long before he made a splash as an NHL coach. As Ruff stated in his comments, Gaye has been a constant source of support in his personal and professional life for more than 40 years.

Will Lindy Ruff be able to secure the Buffalo Sabres’ first Stanley Cup title in franchise history? Tell us in the comments.

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Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Sahil Prashar