The New York Rangers added Lindy Ruff to their coaching staff on Monday, naming him an assistant to head coach Alain Vigneault.

The 57-year-old has held head coaching jobs in the NHL for the past 19 seasons, mostly recently spending the last four campaigns as the bench boss for the Dallas Stars. 

Ruff posted a 34-37-11 record in 2016-17 as the Stars finished second last in the Central Division and out of the playoffs. Ruff and the Stars parted ways in April.

The native of Warburg, Alberta spent 14-plus seasons as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres from 1997 to 2013. Ruff took the Sabres to the 1999 Stanley Cup Final. He is one of only four coaches to be behind the bench for 1,000 games with the same team.

Ruff, 57, is fifth all-time in coaching victories with 736, trailing only Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Al Arbour and Ken Hitchcock.

This is Ruff's first gig as an assistant coach since he was behind the bench with Doug MacLean and the Florida Panthers from 1993 to 1997.