BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula was the first person to speak at the podium Tuesday at KeyBank Center.
"We're here to talk about the future, but I do want to mention the past," Pegula said.
How could he not?
The Sabres weren't just introducing any coach. Tuesday in downtown Buffalo, the franchise welcomed back its all-time leader in wins, Lindy Ruff, for his second stint with the team.
Ruff compiled 571 wins with the Sabres from 1997-2013, a period which included the franchises' second trip to a Stanley Cup final in 1999 (the first was in 1975). After Buffalo, Ruff spent four years as a head coach in Dallas, and most recently coached for four seasons in New Jersey, going to the playoffs twice with the Stars and once with the Devils.
Pegula went on to add in his opening statement: "Most importantly, Lindy knows how to win and he knows how to take a team to another level."
And so while Ruff showed that ability over 16 years in Buffalo, the focus of Tuesday's press conference was how he can do that again in a second go-around with the team he has both played for and coached.
"I'm humbled by the opportunity I'm getting because I get a chance to do something that I wasn't able to do as a player," Ruff said Tuesday. "Then I became the coach of the team and didn't succeed what I was set out to do and now I'm getting one more opportunity and I really feel I'm blessed to have that opportunity."
While the re-introduction of Ruff in Buffalo is sure to bring back fond memories from fans who remember the deep playoff runs of the late 1990's and early to mid 2000s, general manager Kevyn Adams emphasized that nostalgia is not what brought Ruff back to Buffalo.
"I want to make one thing very clear: it is tremendous that Lindy has a long storied history in the Buffalo Sabres organization. It is terrific that he is connected to the city of Buffalo and the Western New York community, but that's really just an added bonus," Adams said. "He's the right person for this job and I truly believe that he is the person that's going to take us to the next level."
Taking the Sabres to the next level means making the playoffs for the first time since 2011, when Ruff was still in his first stint with the team.
After seasons of 91 and 84 points the last two years with a talented core, there's no more waiting around for taking the proverbial next step.
"The time is now," Ruff said.
"As he started to dig even more in to our team and the opportunity he saw, the potential he saw in this group, I mean, Lindy Ruff would no be sitting up here if he did not believe this team could win," Adams said. "That's why he's here. He's here to win. The past is the past, that's great. This is about now. This is about the players in that locker room now. This is about the fans that come in here and can believe in something great. "
Former players believe in the new coach's ability to turn things around. Ruff shared that a trio of former Sabres standouts reached out to him after hearing he was taking the job.
"Jason Pominville, Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek and they all said 'you're the guy that can get them there. Congrats,'" Ruff recalled. He also compared this current team to the ones that featured the three players that congratulated him.
"This team is so similar to where we were at back then, deep with talent, we just needed to play the game the right way."
Playing the right way and accountability were two themes during Sabres players' locker clean out last week. Alex Tuch grew up a fan of the Sabres and said it would be a dream come true when asked about the possibility of potentially playing for his favorite coach growing up.
"He might say after the first week, oof, I was wrong on that one," Ruff said about Tuch's comments, which garnered laughter from the gathered media in the room. "It's great, I mean, obviously, we all want to win. We have to earn the players respect and this is how we're going to play and this is the level of accountability we'll hold you to."
Tuch knows that with Ruff, it won't all be fun and games.
"Obviously not everyone is going to love him, and you know what at times, we're all going to hate him," Tuch said. That's what happens when you have a coach that asks a lot of you, but with that is going to come a lot of success so we're ready for him, and we're ready for the opportunity."
While Ruff certainly plans on following through the accountability Adams said last week this team is "craving", he also reflected on how his coaching style has changed since the last time he was behind the bench in downtown Buffalo.
"When I left I felt that where I was in my coaching career wasn't good enough," Ruff said. "When I left for Dallas, I needed to change some stuff. I felt like I didn't need to go in the dressing room after every game. I felt like I didn't need to go in and critique the players where there was a loss and kind of let the dust settle. I got to Dallas and really decided I want to change from this. I want to be a guy that can communicate really well with the players. I wanted to be able to get along. Be demanding but be fair."
Its what the players, organization and fans are looking for, and Ruff understands the opportunity that's in front of him to bring the Sabres back to a place where he last took them.
"Just coming off being let go in New Jersey, seeing a coach be let go here, I was questioning myself. 'Why would I do this?' Then I came to a point, 'why wouldn't I?'. Because I'm a risk taker, and I think if there's no risk there's no reward so I'm putting myself in that position."