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List of Buffalo Sabres head coaches

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The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). There have been 20 head coaches of the Buffalo Sabres since the team's debut in the 1970–71 NHL season.

At 16+ seasons (1997–2013, 2024–present), Lindy Ruff has the longest tenure of any coach in Sabres history.

Punch Imlach, Scotty Bowman, Marcel Pronovost, Roger Neilson and Phil Housley have all made it to the Hockey Hall of Fame,[1][2] while Bowman, Lindy Ruff, Dan Bylsma and Ted Nolan have all won the Jack Adams Award, an honor given annually to the National Hockey League coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success" (Bylsma and Bowman won their awards with other teams).[3] The first head coach, Hall of Famer Punch Imlach, has the lowest winning percentage of any Sabres coach, with a .370 winning percentage during his 120-game tenure.[4] Ron Rolston is a close second with a .372 win percentage in his two partial seasons with the team (compared equally, Rolston would have a worse record since many of Rolston's wins came in shootouts, which did not exist in Imlach's era).

The Sabres have made two appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals, losing four games to two against the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975, under Smith, and again four to two against the Dallas Stars in 1999, under Ruff. Ruff has led the Sabres into the playoffs seven times.[5]

Seven of the team's head coaches played for the Sabres during their careers: Floyd Smith, Bill Inglis, Jim Schoenfeld, Craig Ramsay, Rick Dudley, Lindy Ruff and Phil Housley. In addition, two others, Ted Nolan and Dan Bylsma, played for the Rochester Americans at a time when the Americans were the Sabres' top minor-league affiliate.

The current head coach is Lindy Ruff, who was hired for his second tenure on April 22, 2024.[6]

Key

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  Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame

# Number of coaches[7]
GC Games Coached
W Wins
L Loses
T Ties
Win% Winning percentage
* Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame

Coaches

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Coaches with multiple stints as head coach only count once in the official count of head coaches.

 
Joe Crozier coached the Sabres from 1972 to 1974.
 
Scotty Bowman was the sixth coach for the Sabres and coached the team from 1979 to 1980, and later from 1982 to 1985.
 
Ted Nolan coached the team from 1995 to 1997, and again from 2013 to 2015.
 
Dan Bylsma coached the team from 2015 to 2017.
# Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards Reference
GC W L T/OTL Win% GC W L T
1 Punch Imlach 1970–1972 120 32 63 25 .370 — — — — [4]
2 Floyd Smith 1972 1 0 1 0 .000 — — — — [8]
3 Joe Crozier 1972–1974 192 77 80 35 .492 6 2 4 0 [9]
— Floyd Smith 1974–1977 240 143 61 36 .671 32 16 16 0 [8]
4 Marcel Pronovost 1977–1978 104 52 29 23 .611 8 3 5 0 [10]
5 Billy Inglis 1978–1979 56 28 18 10 .589 3 1 2 0 [11][12]
6 Scotty Bowman 1979–1980 80 47 17 16 .688 13 8 5 0 [13]
7 Roger Neilson 1980–1981 80 39 20 21 .619 8 4 4 0 [14]
8 Jimmy Roberts 1981–1982 45 21 16 8 .556 — — — — [15]
— Scotty Bowman 1982–1985 240 124 82 34 .588 22 9 13 0 [13]
9 Jim Schoenfeld 1985–1986 43 19 19 5 .500 — — — — [16]
— Scotty Bowman 1986–1986 49 21 25 3 .459 — — — — [13]
10 Craig Ramsay 1986–1987 68 25 37 6 .412 — — — — [17]
11 Ted Sator 1987–1989 160 75 67 18 .525 11 3 8 0 [18]
12 Rick Dudley 1989–1991 188 85 82 31 .535 12 4 8 0 [19]
13 John Muckler 1991–1995 268 125 109 34 .530 27 11 16 0 [20]
14 Ted Nolan 1995–1997 164 73 72 19 .503 12 5 7 0 Jack Adams Award [21]
15 Lindy Ruff 1997–2013 1,165 571 432 162 .560 101 57 44 0 Jack Adams Award [22]
16 Ron Rolston 2013–2013 51 19 26 6 .373 — — — — [23]
— Ted Nolan 2013–2015 144 40 87 17 .337 — — — — [21]
17 Dan Bylsma 2015–2017 164 68 73 23 .485 — — — — [24]
18 Phil Housley 2017–2019 164 58 84 22 .421 — — — — [25]
19 Ralph Krueger 2019–2021 97 36 49 12 .433 — — — — [26]
20 Don Granato 2021–2024 274 122 125 27 .495 — — — — [27]
— Lindy Ruff 2024–present — — — — — — — — — [22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "List of honored Builders". Hockey Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  2. ^ "List of honored Officials". Hockey Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  3. ^ "Jack Adams Award". NHL. Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  4. ^ a b "Punch Imlach". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  5. ^ "Statistics". Sabres.nhl.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  6. ^ LaBarber, Jourdon (April 22, 2024). "Sabres hire Ruff as head coach". NHL.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
  7. ^ A running total of the number of coaches of the Sabres. Thus any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
  8. ^ a b "Floyd Smith". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  9. ^ "Joe Crozier". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  10. ^ "Marcel Pronovost". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  11. ^ Billy Inglis took over as an interim coach for the rest of the 1978-1979 season
  12. ^ "Billy Inglis". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  13. ^ a b c "Scotty Bowman". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2017-06-27. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  14. ^ "Roger Neilson". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  15. ^ "Jimmy Roberts". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2024-05-14. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  16. ^ "Jim Schoenfeld". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  17. ^ "Craig Ramsay". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2024-05-14. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  18. ^ "Ted Sator". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  19. ^ "Rick Dudley". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  20. ^ "John Muckler". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  21. ^ a b "Ted Nolan". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  22. ^ a b "Lindy Ruff". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-04. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  23. ^ "Ron Rolston". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2013-04-29. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  24. ^ "Dan Bylsma NHL & WHA Hockey Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  25. ^ "Phil Housley NHL & WHA Hockey Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2024. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  26. ^ "Ralph Krueger". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 2021-04-11. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  27. ^ "Don Granato NHL & WHA Hockey Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2024. Retrieved April 16, 2024.

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