Ruff knew Arniel was ready

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This article was published 14/11/2023 (687 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When former teammate Lindy Ruff put out the call in the summer of 2002, Scott Arniel figured it was time to take the next step in his coaching career.

Arniel was an assistant coach with the Manitoba Moose when Ruff asked him if he was interested in joining the staff of the Buffalo Sabres.

Don Lever was leaving the Sabres to become an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues, and Ruff felt Arniel would be a perfect fit to work with him, fellow assistant Brian McCutcheon and goalie coach Jim Corsi.

Why was Arniel the right person for the job back then?

“Just a rock-solid guy. A good communicator,” said Ruff, now the head coach of a New Jersey Devils club that faces the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. “He’s spent a lot of time in the game. He understands both sides of the game. (He) was a penalty killer, a power-play guy and is just a good person. If you surround yourself with hard-working personnel and (have) a guy that can communicate with all types of players, usually that’s a recipe for success.”

That first taste of NHL bench experience was incredibly valuable for Arniel, who went on to spend parts of two seasons as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets and later had assistant and associate coach roles with the Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers and Washington Capitals before ending up with the Jets in the summer of 2022.

“We go back, first of all as teammates in Buffalo. Just a great person and a great teammate,” said Arniel, who spent three seasons together with the Sabres and later played with Ruff for one season as a member of the San Diego Gulls of the IHL. “I was just coaching here with the Moose and he called me about coming to Buffalo. To be there with him, and he’s had a lot of experience over the years, he’s worked in some great situations, some real good teams over the years, (had) Olympic success (with Team Canada).

“He’s got a lot of knowledge and he helped me kind of see the game a little bit differently and how I thought it at the time. Some real good experience moving along. And then we worked together again in New York (on Alain Vigneaut’s staff). It was great to be back with him again. I just love to see that he’s still going.”

These days, Ruff is guiding a Devils team that eliminated the New York Rangers in the opening round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, rallying from an 0-2 deficit before bowing out in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Devils are viewed by many observers as a team that has the talent to come out of the Eastern Conference in the spring.

Ruff and Arniel would spend three seasons working together on the Sabres coaching staff, the highlight coming in 2005-06 when Buffalo advanced to the Eastern Conference final before bowing out to the Hurricanes.

The following season, Arniel returned to his adopted home of Winnipeg to guide the Moose, his first head-coaching job at the professional level. His ability to adapt and grow — as a player and as a coach — is a big part of the reason he’s been in the NHL for the past 11 seasons.

“In this game, the game is always changing. Every year, the Stanley Cup champions kind of dictate how the game changes a little bit. We copy-cat each other,” said Arniel. “But at the end of the day, as a coach, just like the players, players are changing, the game has changed from five years ago to where it is today. As a coach, you’ve got to stay current. You’ve got to stay up to speed with what’s happening. You never get stuck in just one way of doing things. You have to be open-minded toward how the players look at things and how you approach things.”

Arniel’s approach is part of what has endeared him to Jets players and why he’s been able to have success taking over as interim head coach during Rick Bowness’ absence. He is on a leave from the team after his wife, Judy, suffered a seizure in late October.

“Arnie played the game a long time and he’s coached the game a long time. Experience is one of those things you can’t necessarily just teach,” said Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon. “There aren’t a lot of situations he hasn’t been in himself as a player or a coach and that translates when you’re explaining your systems, when you’re communicating to get guys revved up and ready for a hockey game. His voice, for the last two years that we’ve had him, is respected by all of the players — which has made the transition for him to be the (interim) head coach not too crazy.

“You can tell when someone means what they say and isn’t just saying things, but following through with it. For (Arniel), he speaks with confidence and he encourages that into each and everybody’s game. Whether he’s talking to a first-line guy or a fourth-line guy, he talks with conviction in the sense of wanting to help you. Everything is for the greater good.”

During a stop in Winnipeg late last month, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette — who had Arniel on his staff with the Capitals for two seasons — said the Jets are in good hands.

“(Arniel is) a really good leader,” said Laviolette. “It was really good to work with Scott. It just goes to show that no matter how long you’ve been in the game, you can constantly learn from people.

“You could just tell that (Arniel) had been a head coach in the NHL before, just by the way that he conducts himself, the way that he runs his meetings. He’s a really smart guy. I got to leave Washington knowing that I was a better coach because I got to spend time with him.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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