FEATURE: Ruff Proving to be a Perfect Fit for Devils

Devils forward Mikhail Maltsev collected the puck near his own blue line. There was under 13 minutes to play in the third period with New Jersey trailing Washington, 2-0.
The Russian rookie looked up for an exit play from his zone. What he saw was Washington's Nicklas Backstrom in his personal space. With his pathway blocked, Maltsev pivoted his body and attempted a retreat pass to Andreas Johnsson. Except, the puck was never received by Johnsson.
Washington forward Tom Wilson stole the pass and dished the puck to linemate Conor Sheary, who cut to the net and roofed a shot off the far post and in to give the Capitals a 3-0 lead, all but dousing any hope of a New Jersey comeback.
The 23-year-old neophyte hung his head on the bench. That's when head coach Lindy Ruff put his arm on the youngster's shoulder and leaned into his ear.

"He was pretty down," Ruff said. "I just talked about the fact that it was late in the shift and he was really tired. I said to him don't be afraid to take an icing. That comes with experience. When you're that tired and you don't get it out of the zone and you have an opportunity to get out of the zone, at least if you ice it you have 10, 15 seconds to recover and fight again.
"That's one of the decisions inside the game that we'll grow with and understand that we have to execute differently."
Ruff has been working all season with a talented, but inexperienced, young team - New Jersey boasts the second-youngest roster in the NHL (26 average age). A coach is many things to a team: a strategist, a leader, a technocrat, and most importantly, a teacher.
And when it comes to teaching and developing his roster, Ruff sees his role in steering the Devils very clearly.
"My role is to help create the will to win," he said. "Whether that is using video, whether that is talking about certain areas of the game where our desperation has to be greater than theirs, that our will has to be greater. Sometimes you can back up those types of conversations with a great video clip of guys laying down blocking shots, backchecking, taking away great opportunities or working really hard to create opportunities."
The 61-year-old coach prefers to approach his young team with a strategy of positive reinforcement instead of negative intimidation. Encouragement is stressed instead of punishment.
"I think if you show the players and talk about the areas that if you do them well, you've got a really good chance to win, it's a lot better than showing the mistakes that lead to losses," he said.
Thus, Ruff has given his team some leeway to play, learn and make mistakes. And that trust has endeared himself to his youthful understudies.
"I think it's a good approach," rookie defenseman Ty Smith said. "I think most players would say that they like it I assume. It's a situation where he's going to give us some freedom, but then we need to work hard for him and play to the best of our abilities, and continue to improve for him if he's going to help us and treat us like that."
Smith's play this season is a manifestation of the coaching staff's methodology. The 21-year-old rookie has elevated himself to a top-pairing defenseman, despite having only played 33 games in his green career. He is averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game (19:28) and plays in all situations. Smith has also been effective at both ends of the ice, evidenced by his numbers. He leads the Devils with 17 assists, while being tied for the team-lead in scoring (19 points, Pavel Zacha).
And Smith attributes much of his success to those who are educating him.
"I'm definitely thankful for how (the coaches) handled things with me from the start," Smith said. "I'm looking forward to working with them going forward and seeing how much more we can grow and develop as a team.
"It helps when you have a coach like Lindy."

Ruff has been everything the Devils' brass had expected when they hired him to be the 19th coach in team history on July 9.
"We have such a young team," said hockey legend executive team advisor Martin Brodeur on the day Ruff's hiring was announced. "We wanted to get a kind of father figure."
That sentiment was echoed by general manager Tom Fitzgerald. Ruff checked all the boxes in what the team wanted in its bench boss.
"As the (head coaching search) process continued to move forward, Lindy continued to step to the forefront," Fitzgerald said last summer. "One, I was looking for NHL head coaching experience. Two, a presence, someone who's been there, done that, and could walk into a room and actually grab the attention of our young team with the experience that they've gained over a number of years as a head coach."
Ruff has more than enough experience, being an NHL head coach now for over 20 years (Buffalo, 1997-13; Dallas, 2013-17; New Jersey, 2020-21). And in those two decades he's won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's best coach, led the Sabres to the 1999 Stanley Cup Final and ranks third in wins among active coaches (749).
And, of course, the most important aspect Fitzgerald wanted in a coach, Ruff is a true mentor.
"Personality, the group needs a teacher," Fitzgerald continued. "Someone who's going to come in and teach, and messages are going to be extremely clear, no break at all in the messaging. Believable, which goes with presence."
Ruff has been consistent with that messaging. He will let his players play. He will let them make mistakes. However, that doesn't mean that he lets his players just do whatever they want without ramifications. Ruff expects mistakes to be made, but he draws the line at effort.
"I have an understanding that if the level of compete is really good, you're going to continue to play," Ruff said. "I've told them that everybody is going to make mistakes. I want to see what happens after that mistake, how hard you try to recover, what the next shift is like."
Maltsev stayed on the bench for a few shifts against the Capitals, but late in the third period he was back on the ice. Wiser and ready to atone for his previous mistep.
In the first period of the same game, center Jack Hughes, the first-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, began the game with three egregious shifts. The first shift resulted in a turnover and a shot off the post, the second and third shifts both resulted in goals against as New Jersey fell behind 2-0. Hughes, 19, remained on the bench for the remainder of the period, logging 1:27 minutes of ice time.
But he was back in the fold for the second period and bounced back to have a strong period.
"Jack's first three plays led to a breakaway, a goal against and another goal against," Ruff said after that game. "It was a tough first period for him. Other players have had tough first periods and haven't played a lot. I decided to not play him. The hoped there was to see what response I would get, and I got the response I was looking for. He played a lot better in the second period.
"It's a learning experience. You take that and you've got to move forward."
The entire season has been about learning, growing, maturing and developing. And judging by the team's effort on the ice night in and night out, Ruff has been the perfect man for the job. But he knows there is a lot of work to be done, and that includes something Ruff has been preaching for a few weeks now.
"All these guys have to learn from their mistakes," Ruff said, "but at the same time I keep referencing that we have to learn how not to lose."