New York Rangers: Alain Vigneault’s Poor Coaching Assessments Must End

Vigneault’s Coaching Assessments Detriment to Rangers

Finally after it was clear for weeks, the New York Rangers have placed Danielle Paille on waivers. This of course may not solve the 4th line and penalty kill problem, but a call up from the Hartford Wolf Pack could certainly help the area.

Ryan Bourque or Marek Hrivik seemed like the obvious call ups now and it’s something that should have happened a while ago. Despite them choosing Hrivik, it wouldn’t have been surprising judging Alain Vigneault’s and Rangers management’s questionable recent decision making.

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Vigneault is a patient coach, but he plays favorites and he has a never ending leash it comes to his veteran players Dan Girardi and Marc Staal. This of course is understandable, but it’s rather frustrating to watch when better options are scratched and/or are sitting Hartford. Staal and Girardi are signed long term with a high cap hit, and that forces him to make the best use out of those two players some where in the lineup. So again it’s some what understandable for this situation.

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However when it comes down to no brainier decisions with the 4th line with players that shouldn’t even be on the roster to begin with, it makes the decision making inexcusable. I mean it took 12 games with cf% of 35.5 for Vigneault and the rest of his coaching staff to realize Paille was a problem. It took 29 games for them to realize that Jarret Stoll was a problem with his cf% of 38.61. Tanner Glass after surprisingly being positive in possession for a nick of time this season has come back to life with a cf% of 43.43.

Of course Dominic Moore has been thrown into the fire of the 4th line debacle, but that’s to be expected when he has two anchors on his wings for the majority of the season. Moore was setup for failure all year and clearly needs help, Tanner Glass isn’t one of the answers if the Rangers are serious about improving the 4th line. Moore isn’t even a problem to begin with, his possession numbers are drastically better when he’s not on the ice with Stoll, Paille and Glass.

The 4th line isn’t a small thing either, as it was a big part of the cup run the Rangers had in the 2013-2014 playoffs. Vigneault, who is known as a 4 line coach, a 4th line that does not kill your team in possession is needed to have success under his system.

The problem isn’t the way Vigneault coaches his players or something that is lacking systematically, at least for now. However the personal he goes with on a nightly basis is a major issue going forward. Until Vigneault or management sends a message by sending Glass back down to Hartford, scratches, or has Staal or Girardi involved then there is no reason to show faith in having cup run this year.

Having 3 players in your lineup that constantly bring down your team from reaching it’s full potential will end up being costly. But at the very least an effective 4th line is needed for the Rangers to have success this year. It’s just beyond ridiculous for how long it takes Vigneault to react to an obvious problem, this is something that is needed to change going forward, but it probably wont.