The New York Rangers made an announcement last week to signal the signing of former Dallas Stars head coach Lindy Ruff as assistant coach for the defense this coming season.
“The first thing I’d have to do is talk to Alain (Vigneault),” Ruff said after the signing on nyrangers.com. “How it would work, how he would feel, etc. Obviously I think that any coach in this business can still learn. We can learn from each other and I am treating it that way. It can be a great learning experience, and on the other side of it, I think I have 
a lot to offer after coaching from 20 years and through the experiences I’ve had.
“We (me and Alain) met up in Ottawa and discussed the opportunity at length. It’s something I thought long and hard about and thought why not? I love the game, I’m a former Ranger, why wouldn’t I do it? There are no head coaching positions available at the time. My goal is to get back behind the bench as a head coach, but for this year I am going to relish the opportunity to work with a couple other great coaches. It means a lot. I wasn’t there long, but as a player you cherish every minute you play in the league. I’m a small town boy coming from Western Canada and to go and play probably on the greatest stage in our league, for me it was special. It holds a place in my heart and it’s great to be back.”
Dallas was anything but a juggernaut on defense having finished the campaign 29th in goals against, 21st in plus/minus and 30th in penalty kill.
By contrast, the Rangers were 13th in goals against, fifth in plus/minus and 19th in penalty kill.
“I just think it’s going to be the different experiences that you deal with during the year that you bring to the table,” Ruff said on nyrangers.com. “I had 16 years in the east and then went four years out in the west, now I’m back in the east again and I’ve seen some different systems. I think that there are things that have worked playing in the west, obviously we were one of the top offensive teams out there. I think we did certain things to make us a good offensive team and I think those ideas coupled with what we want to do as a team here, I’ve got stuff to offer in those areas.”
What Ruff will have is a better goalie tandem this season in Henrik Lundqvist and Ondrej Pavelec in the Rangers net.
He will also have Kevin Shattenkirk on the blueline.
Ruff played for the Rangers from the 1988 season to the 91 season.
Vigneault will be watched this season by pundits and fans as he now has a former head coach on his staff who may be seen as an eager replacement,
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