It was somewhat of a surprise that Ruff survived the complete overhaul of the New York Rangers coaching staff at the end of the 2017-18 season. Ruff spent the last two seasons overseeing the Rangers’ defense first under Vigneault and continued under Quinn with mediocre results.
While Ruff boasts many wins over his tenure in the NHL, it is also true that his teams have historically been defensively dismal. Many have argued that the Rangers kept Ruff on to help transition David Quinn into the world of coaching on a professional level. As a concept, this sounds great, but this decision came with the price of continued defensive turmoil.