It may not be the record-tying 10 NHL teams that found new head coaches in 2022-23, but a quarter of the league’s 32 teams will start the season with a new face behind the bench.
People can hate on pre-season hockey all they want. Yes, players get injured, the season grows longer and there’s needless fighting and violence. But, an undeniable value of this trial run of games is the opportunity for new coaches to shape and impart their philosophy on their rosters.
Here’s what each new coach has said so far, and what it says about how they’re moulding their players ahead of the season:
Lindy Ruff – Buffalo Sabres
“We really want to work on the details of our game. The way we play defensively, how tough we can be through the neutral zone and it’s more about the consistent style of play … is what I’m looking for.”
Ruff is a familiar face in Buffalo, having coached the team for 15 seasons through some of its most successful years through the 1990s and 2000s. It would be fitting if his reunion with the Sabres, who have gone through a coaching carousel of six different bench bosses since Ruff’s dismissal in 2013, could put an end to the club’s 13-year playoff drought.
As the last coach to get them to that promised land, Ruff is looking for consistency and accountability above all else from his young team.
Lindy Ruff practices include sprints & pushups pic.twitter.com/wIeZoSGhtS
— Sara Holland (@SaraaHolland) September 19, 2024
After an encouraging step forward in 2022-23, the Sabres took a massive step back last season. Ruff will be expected to be a steady hand who can help core players – Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – find stability as they hopefully mature out of the rebuilding phase.
Dean Evason – Columbus Blue Jackets
“Our system, the Columbus Blue Jackets system, is aggressive, it’s in your face, it’s putting pressure on you in all areas of the ice.”
The Blue Jackets’ culture was cited as the reason for Pascal Vincent’s dismissal, leaving Evason, who was fired by the Minnesota Wild last season, to pick up the pieces.
But then, Johnny Gaudreau shockingly passed away. According to Evason, the tragedy has helped to galvanize the organization.
With Gaudreau’s stall still set up in their locker room, Evason expects his players’ motivation to be high.
Columbus finished with the second-worst goals-against average last year (3.63), so defense and toughness will be the focus. Evason’s style with the Wild often favoured physicality and strong forechecking.
Sheldon Keefe – New Jersey Devils
“You don’t play hard, you’re gonna have defensive breakdowns, it’s as simple as that.”
Keefe wasn’t very happy after the Devils’ first two pre-season games, with effort level being the bottom line.
Of all the new hires this year, Sheldon Keefe may have the most seamless transition in terms of the group of players he’ll have to work with. Known for letting Toronto’s stars play run-and-gun offence, Keefe has inherited another very potent offensive nucleus with New Jersey.
But that’s not going to cut it for Keefe, who knows it takes much more than racking up regular-season points to go far in the spring.
Keefe only ever squeezed a single playoff series win out of the Leafs during his tenure, so he’s looking to be tough on his new team right from the start. The Devils have yet to show consistent regular-season results, and Keefe is arguably the most successful regular-season coach of the past five seasons, coaching Toronto to a 221-107-44 record.
Travis Green – Ottawa Senators
“He was great, to say the least. Very good.”
Green didn’t say much about Linus UIlmark’s pre-season debut with the Senators, in which the netminder posted a .966 save percentage. In Ottawa, that’s a rarity.
Yeah, @icebeardude looked pretty good out there 😏
Click to watch Travis Green's postgame media 📺
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) September 27, 2024
Ever since Craig Anderson left the Sens in 2020, goaltending woes were constantly the topic of discussion that former head coach D.J. Smith never quite had answers for.
So the less Green has to say about Ullmark’s performance, the better.
In front of Ullmark is where Green has his work cut out. As head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, Green made a name for himself as a hard-nosed bench boss who could wring extra effort out of his players.
Now tasked with a fledgling Senators team that has face-planted to start each of the past seven seasons, Green will be expected to keep the ship afloat through the first month of the season, which has been a near-impossible task in recent years.
Craig Berube – Toronto Maple Leafs
“No. It’s pre-season.”
That was Berube’s response to a misunderstood question about whether there was panic setting in after Toronto’s 0-2 record to start the preseason.
This reporter asked Craig Berube if the Leafs should PANIC for starting 0-2 in the pre-season…..
Oh boy here we go again pic.twitter.com/VUJW5uoiLt
— Gavin (@gavinkeel) September 25, 2024
Aside from making waves on social media, Berube’s words are probably the best possible answer for a team whose season only really seems to start in April. For the better part of the last decade, we’ve seen Toronto breeze through the regular season. That’s not why Berube is in town.
While it may have been a ridiculous line of questioning, it brought into focus why Brad Treliving brought in a Stanley Cup-winning coach.
Ryan Warsofsky – San Jose Sharks
“More competitive fire, the care factor, the day-to-day consistency of what we need to play in this league and get the respect back from our opponents is crucial right now.”
The Sharks have been the laughingstock of the NHL for several seasons now, but that was the easy part. The road to becoming a respected team is expected to begin this season, now that Warsofsky is on the scene.
More competitive fire is exactly what we want 🔥
Hear from Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky ⬇️
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) September 21, 2024
Warsofsky is the NHL’s youngest coach and will fittingly be tasked with guiding the Sharks’ youthful crop through their growing pains. His biggest task will be sealing the Sharks’ leaky defence, which posted a league-worst -150 goal differential last season.
All eyes will be on Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, but it sounds like Warsofsky isn’t giving out any free passes. This team will be expected to play responsible hockey, first and foremost.
Dan Bylsma – Seattle Kraken
“It takes 21 days to form a habit. We only have 20 to do it.”
Bylsma hasn’t held an NHL head coaching job since his disastrous Sabres tenure from 2015 to 2017, but he’ll always be able to hang his hat on the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup win in 2009. He also proved himself more recently with Seattle’s AHL affiliate, losing in the Calder Cup final.
Compared to former coach Dave Hakstol, Bylsma believes there’s some new learning that needs to take place, but it’s a short turnaround.
#SeaKraken Coach Dan Bylsma has stressed competition at camp, with losing groups in for some extra conditioning work. The penalty for losing today? Jumping jacks. pic.twitter.com/pSjLj9Rk0X
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) September 26, 2024
Bylsma is heralded as a “player-friendly” coach who values relationships with his players, which in Pittsburgh led to a longer leash with his stars to let them play more freely.
Seattle finished 29th in league scoring last season, so a boost for Matty Beniers, Jared McCann and new arrival Chandler Stephenson would be appreciated.
Scott Arniel — Winnipeg Jets
“There’s two things I’m trying to do: I’m trying to get our veteran guys up and running … and then the other part that’s a little bit easier is I get to watch those competition spots.”
Arniel knows what he has with this team. He’s been an associate with the Jets for the past two seasons and also knows that this core of players has only broken past the first round once.
With that in mind, he knows they’ll need similar if not better performances from his veterans, and perhaps even more importantly, growth from his young guns vying for those “competition spots.”
Brad Lambert, Rasmus Kupari, Ville Heinola and Nikita Chibrikov will be given every opportunity to push the Jets further into Stanley Cup contention.
Arniel, whose last head coaching stint with the Blue Jackets yielded a disappointing 45-60-18 record in 123 games, has more to work with this time around.
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News Summary:
- One Quote From Each NHL Coach With A New Team And How It Shows Their Philosophy
- Check all news and articles from the latest NHL updates.