List of Buffalo Sabres head coaches

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

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 18 head coaches of the Buffalo Sabres since the team's debut in the 1970–71 NHL season.

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.

As of June 2017, the head coach position is currently held by Phil Housley.

Key

  Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame

# Number of coaches[6]
GC Games Coached
W Wins
L Loses
T Ties
Win% Winning percentage
* Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame

Coaches

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 6th coach for the Sabres and coached the team from 1979 to 1980, and later from 1982 to 1985.
Ted Nolan coached the team from 1995–97 and 2013–15.
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
1Punch Imlach1970–1972120326325.370– – ––[4]
2Floyd Smith19721010.000– – ––[7]
3Joe Crozier1972–1974192778035.4926240MJHL Second All-Star Team (1948)
MJHL First All-Star Team (1949)
QHL Second All-Star Team (1954)
QHL First All-Star Team (1957)
Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame		[8]
—Floyd Smith1974–19772401436136.6713216160[7]
4Marcel Pronovost1977–1978104522923.6118350First All-Star Team Defense (1960, 1961)
Second All-Star Team Defense (1958, 1959)		[9]
5Billy Inglis1978–197956281810.5893120[10][11]
6Scotty Bowman1979–198080471716.68813850Jack Adams Award[12]
7Roger Neilson1980–198180392021.6198440Roger Neilson Memorial Award[13]
8Jimmy Roberts1981–19824521168.556– – ––[13]
—Scotty Bowman1982–19852401248234.588229130Jack Adams Award[12]
9Jim Schoenfeld1985–19864319195.500– – ––[14]
—Scotty Bowman1986–19864921253.459– – ––[12]
10Craig Ramsay1986–19876825376.412– – ––[14]
11Ted Sator1987–1989160756718.52511380[15]
12Rick Dudley1989–1991188858231.53512480[16]
13John Muckler1991–199526812510934.5302711160[17]
14Ted Nolan1995–1997164737219.50312570Jack Adams Award[18]
15Lindy Ruff1997–20131165571432162.56010157440Jack Adams Award[19]
16Ron RolstonFeb. 2013 – Nov. 20135119266.373––––[20]
—Ted Nolan2013–2015144408717.337––––[18]
17Dan Bylsma2015-2017164687323.485––––[21]
18Phil Housley2017-present82254512.378––––

See also

References

  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. 1 2 "Punch Imlach". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  5. ↑ "Statistics". Sabres.nhl.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. 1 2 "Floyd Smith". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  8. ↑ "Joe Crozier". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  9. ↑ "Marcel Pronovost". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  10. ↑ Billy Inglis took over as an interim coach for the rest of the 1978-1979 season
  11. ↑ "Billy Inglis". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  12. 1 2 3 "Scotty Bowman". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  13. 1 2 "Roger Neilson". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  14. 1 2 "Jim Schoenfeld". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  15. ↑ "Ted Sator". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  16. ↑ "Rick Dudley". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  17. ↑ "John Muckler". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  18. 1 2 "Ted Nolan". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  19. ↑ "Lindy Ruff". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  20. ↑ "Ron Rolston". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  21. ↑ https://www.hockey-reference.com/coaches/bylsmda01c.html

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