The New York Rangers named longtime NHL coach Lindy Ruff as an assistant, the team announced Monday.
Ruff has served as an NHL head coach in parts of 19 seasons, with his 736 wins trailing only Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Al Arbour and Ken Hitchcock.
The 57-year-old Ruff has coached in 1,493 career NHL regular-season games to rank fourth among head coaches, behind Bowman, Arbour and Quenneville.
Ruff was behind the bench with the Buffalo Sabres for parts of 15 seasons from 1997-98 to 2012-13. He guided the Sabres to the Stanley Cup Final in 1998-99 and won the Jack Adams Award in 2005-06 for being the NHL head coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success."
Ruff also coached the Dallas Stars for four seasons from 2013-14 to 2016-17. He was dismissed as coach in April after the Stars failed to qualify for the playoffs last season following a 34-37-11 mark.
Ruff is returning to an assistant's role for the first time since being behind the bench with Doug MacLean and the Florida Panthers from 1992-93 to 1996-97.
