The San Jose Sharks have fired David Quinn after a season that saw San Jose finish with the second-fewest points in the salary cap era.

Quinn's firing after two seasons Wednesday came less than a week after the Sharks (19-54-9) lost three straight games and five of their last six and ended the regular season with the worst record in the NHL.

"After going through our end of the season process of internal meetings and evaluating where our team is at and where we want our group to go, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at the head coach position," Sharks general manager Mike Grier said in a statement.

"David is a good coach and an even better person. I would personally like to thank him for his hard work over these past two seasons. He and his staff did an admirable job under some difficult circumstances, and I sincerely appreciate how they handled the situation."

Quinn oversaw the New York Rangers for three seasons but was fired after the 2020-21 season, having missed the playoffs after the team had reached the postseason in his second campaign.

The Sharks hired Quinn before the 2022-23 season to oversee a team in transition. The Sharks had missed the playoffs only twice between the 2003-04 and 2018-19 seasons but had missed the postseason in three straight years before Quinn's arrival.

Two weeks before Quinn was hired, the Sharks traded venerable defenseman Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes. During Quinn's first season, the team also traded away star forward Timo Meier at that year's deadline and would ultimately trade away star defenseman Erik Karlsson, who won the Norris Trophy, to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the offseason.

The Sharks finished the 2022-23 season at 22-44-16, the fourth-fewest points in the NHL, and received the No. 4 pick in the NHL draft, which saw them select United States national team development forward Will Smith, now at Boston College, as part of their rebuild.

Quinn's second season was expected to be even more challenging.

The Sharks opened 0-10-1 and were 3-15-2 through their first 20 games. From Dec. 15 through Jan. 9, they lost 15 straight games. In late February, they had a nine-game losing streak that was broken with a March 9 win over the Ottawa Senators before another streak of nine consecutive defeats.

Those numbers also played a role in the Sharks finishing with a minus-150 goal differential, which is also the lowest differential in the salary cap era.

Finding a new coach will come in an offseason that could also see the Sharks take a major step in their rebuild by winning the draft lottery for the first time in franchise history. Winning this year's lottery would allow the Sharks a chance to take the consensus No. 1 pick in Boston University freshman center Macklin Celebrini, who won the Hobey Baker Award as the top men's collegiate player in the nation.

Celebrini was born in North Vancouver, and his family moved to the Bay Area after his father, Rick, accepted a job with the Golden State Warriors. Celebrini played a year with the San Jose Jr. Sharks years before he went to BU, where he scored 32 goals and 64 points during his freshman year.

The San Jose Sharks have fired David Quinn after a season that saw San Jose finish with the second-fewest points in the salary cap era.

Quinn's firing after two seasons Wednesday came less than a week after the Sharks (19-54-9) lost three straight games and five of their last six and ended the regular season with the worst record in the NHL.

"After going through our end of the season process of internal meetings and evaluating where our team is at and where we want our group to go, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at the head coach position," Sharks general manager Mike Grier said in a statement.

"David is a good coach and an even better person. I would personally like to thank him for his hard work over these past two seasons. He and his staff did an admirable job under some difficult circumstances, and I sincerely appreciate how they handled the situation."

Quinn oversaw the New York Rangers for three seasons but was fired after the 2020-21 season, having missed the playoffs after the team had reached the postseason in his second campaign.

The Sharks hired Quinn before the 2022-23 season to oversee a team in transition. The Sharks had missed the playoffs only twice between the 2003-04 and 2018-19 seasons but had missed the postseason in three straight years before Quinn's arrival.

Two weeks before Quinn was hired, the Sharks traded venerable defenseman Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes. During Quinn's first season, the team also traded away star forward Timo Meier at that year's deadline and would ultimately trade away star defenseman Erik Karlsson, who won the Norris Trophy, to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the offseason.

The Sharks finished the 2022-23 season at 22-44-16, the fourth-fewest points in the NHL, and received the No. 4 pick in the NHL draft, which saw them select United States national team development forward Will Smith, now at Boston College, as part of their rebuild.

Quinn's second season was expected to be even more challenging.

The Sharks opened 0-10-1 and were 3-15-2 through their first 20 games. From Dec. 15 through Jan. 9, they lost 15 straight games. In late February, they had a nine-game losing streak that was broken with a March 9 win over the Ottawa Senators before another streak of nine consecutive defeats.

Those numbers also played a role in the Sharks finishing with a minus-150 goal differential, which is also the lowest differential in the salary cap era.

Finding a new coach will come in an offseason that could also see the Sharks take a major step in their rebuild by winning the draft lottery for the first time in franchise history. Winning this year's lottery would allow the Sharks a chance to take the consensus No. 1 pick in Boston University freshman center Macklin Celebrini, who won the Hobey Baker Award as the top men's collegiate player in the nation.

Celebrini was born in North Vancouver, and his family moved to the Bay Area after his father, Rick, accepted a job with the Golden State Warriors. Celebrini played a year with the San Jose Jr. Sharks years before he went to BU, where he scored 32 goals and 64 points during his freshman year.

Ruff, 64, was fired by the New Jersey Devils after 61 games this season. He replaces Don Granato, whom the Sabres fired after three seasons.

Ruff coached the Sabres for 15 seasons, from 1997 to 2013. He ranks fifth all time and second among active coaches with 864 career regular-season wins for the Sabres, the Dallas Stars and the Devils. His 935 combined wins in the regular season and playoffs are tied for fourth in league history.

"As I went through the hiring process, it quickly became clear Lindy was the person for the job. He has experience, a proven track record, familiarity with young players and so much more," Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said.

Adams worked as an assistant coach under Ruff in 2011-12 and during the 2012-13 season, when Ruff was replaced by Ron Rolston.

The Sabres have gone through six different coaches since Ruff was fired.

"I want to be clear though that this hire was not made with nostalgia in mind. Lindy is the right person for the job now, and any history with our organization and community is simply an added bonus. I believe wholeheartedly that Lindy can help our team reach their goals and am excited to get to work with him," Adams said.

Ruff led the Sabres to the playoffs eight times during his tenure in Buffalo, including the Eastern Conference final in his first two seasons and the Stanley Cup Final in 1999.

He is the winningest coach in Sabres history, having set franchise records in regular-season games coached (1,165), regular-season wins (571), playoff games coached (101) and playoff wins (57) during his first stint with the organization.

"I think I've probably watched Lindy coach about as many games as I've actually played [in the NHL] -- and more than I've played for the Sabres," Buffalo forward Alex Tuch, who was a Sabres fan as a youth in Syracuse, New York, told reporters last week.

"He was my favorite coach. That was the team that I watched, that I sat on the couch with my dad. ... Lindy's a great coach, a really smart guy. I've always been a huge fan of his."

Ruff won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's coach of the year in 2005-06. He was a finalist for the award three other times.

Ruff was credited with helping a young team in New Jersey take a leap to the postseason in 2022-23 with a 49-point improvement year over year. But the Devils regressed by 48 points this season, leading to his dismissal.

"This is a team ready to take the next step," Ruff said about the Sabres. "I am both humbled and honored to be trusted to help this team win now. It is not a job that I take lightly. It is my goal to ensure that players believe in each other, play for each other and love being a Buffalo Sabre. There is no doubt that we all need to embrace the challenge ahead of us. The work starts today, and I could not be more excited."

Ruff will be formally introduced in a news conference on Tuesday.