Ruff gives Team Canada's Benn an A+

Dallas Stars bench boss Lindy Ruff enjoyed his time as an associate coach for Team Canada and liked what the Olympics did for his players, as well.

On Jamie Benn: “I thought what you saw was a guy that was cast in a little different role than he is here. He flourished in that role,” said Ruff. “He was given different opportunities that were greater. He played well on the special teams side that he normally doesn’t play on. He was on our lead pair in penalty killing. I thought he played extremely well when he played with [Ryan] Getzlaf and [Corey] Perry. I thought his tournament was, in my mind, an A+.”

On Valeri Nichushkin: “It’s a once in a lifetime – and maybe some guys will make it more than once in a lifetime –but the opportunity to be a part of something like that only comes along now and then for those players,” Ruff said. “For Val, at 18, to be part of that, it was a great event. It was a great experience. You can take a lot out of it from a lot of different situations. The winning and losing, if you end up with a silver or a bronze or even just the experience, you’ve got to embrace the whole atmosphere of that tournament and being around the people you are around.”

Source: Mark Stepneski, Inside Edge