When Lindy Ruff was hired by the Rangers to be Alain Vigneault’s assistant coach before the start of the 2017-2018 season, he was viewed as AV’s replacement. That was clearly premature guesswork, as Ruff never took over the head coaching gig. He did however, remain with the Rangers after AV was unceremoniously let go last offseason.
When Ruff was brought on, he was a guy who could provide a different voice in the locker room, but run the same system as AV. It’s well documented that Ruff, as a head coach in Buffalo and Dallas, preferred a 1-2-2 forecheck, the hybrid man/zone defensive zone system, and an aggressive penalty kill.