New Jersey Devils: Could Lindy Ruff Impact The Defenseman?

Lindy Ruff can help New Jersey Devils defenseman become better players.

The New Jersey Devils are a few days removed from hiring Lindy Ruff as their head coach. All of the reactions, positive or negative, are starting to turn into analysis on how he can help this team continue to develop. You don’t have to love the hire, but you can appreciate the fact that Ruff seems genuinely interested in being the coach of this team and helping its players. That is getting himself off to a good start in the eyes of Devils fans as it should.

Lindy Ruff has had a positive impact on offensive defensemen in recent years. Most recently, he helped guys like Adam Fox and Tony DeAngelo grow into stars on the blue line.  DeAngelo’s 53 points would have led the Devils and Adam Fox’s 42 points were only three less than Kyle Palmieri‘s team-leading 45.

Before that, he helped John Klingberg become one of the best offensive defensemen in the National Hockey League. He is one of the best players on the Dallas Stars as a result and certainly a force on the blue line. In 221 games played for Dallas, Klingberg had 34 goals and 113 assists for 147 points. It was a treat to watch him grow his game offensively and be great with players like Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.

That should make Devils fans wonder how this might affect the defenseman on the current team. There are some offensive guys on the squad like P.K. Subban, Damon Severson, and Will Butcher. They all have had ups and downs as Devils blueliners but the ups make you wonder if they can get there more regularly. With a guy like Ruff, maybe they can.

Damon Severson and Will Butcher, more than the rest of them, are two players you have to wonder the most about. They seem like they both are capable of doing more but just haven’t been put in the right situation to do so. Ruff might be able to help both of them reach their offensive ceiling and if he can’t, it isn’t the coaches.

There is also a crop of young defensemen coming in to help out with as well. The Devils have a lot of faith in Ty Smith and Kevin Bahl. Smith might be able to provide some offense while being a steady two-way guy but Bahl is more of a defensive defenseman. Bahl might not have it in him to stack up points, but you never know once he gets to the NHL and starts playing.

The only negative here is the defensive side of the puck. The Rangers were lousy defensively with Ruff as the coach of that unit and the Stars gave up a billion goals with him as a head coach. This is all in spite of scoring a ton of goals as a team. The Devils have to hope that he can unlock a lot of offense in this group and get the defensive statistics improved immensely. If anything, this is another fun storyline to pay attention to.