New York Rangers: Five things Alain Vingeault must change this season
While it’s more common to analyze the players, it’s time to take a moment to analyze the coaching of Alain Vigneault. Here’s the top five things he needs to fix for the New York Rangers this upcoming season.
It’s no secret. The coaching style of Alain Vigneault has been heavily criticized over the past two seasons, namely last year. There was the embarrassingly early exit to the Penguins in 2016 and last season, there was a golden opportunity for an Eastern Conference Final that the New York Rangers blew.
While there are many reasons why teams don’t succeed, it is normal to firstly look at the players. Did they live up to their potential? Did they simply have a bad night?
However, it’s not the job of the players alone to get the job done. The coaches are equally to blame for bad nights and equally to be praised for good nights.
One could argue that the players must execute what the coach tells them to, and if they don’t, then they suffer the consequences. But sometimes, it’s the coach himself that is to blame for the lack of production and not the follow-through of the players.
Here are five things Vigneault needs to fix heading into the new season.
Time Management Skills
Vigneault has mentioned on more than one occasion that he happened to lose track of time. While it’s acceptable to say this once or even twice, this is not acceptable on a regular basis.
Time is one of the most important parts of the game, considering how fast it is. Line changes, goals, saves, fights, penalties –everything happens in the blink of an eye. That’s why it’s vital to keep on top of the time.
And while it is impossible to judge an entire season based on one game, there’s one that comes to mind: of course, that one would be Game Two against the Ottawa Senators.
That game was one of two occasions where Vigneault stated that he lost track of the time between line changes. That was why Marc Staal and Nick Holden were out in the last two minutes of play instead of a combination of Ryan McDonagh, Brady Skjei, or Brendan Smith.
In a strong and fast league, keeping track of time is essential. Vigneault must learn from the mistakes of the past if he wishes to make his team better.
Focusing More on the Defense
The amount of time we spent writing about the offensive strategy of the New York Rangers last seasons was unreal, but they were written for a good purpose. It was an offense-oriented team, so it made sense to talk about the mindset they were in.
However, as mentioned in a more recent article, the Rangers have seemingly shifted more towards the defensive side of things. That decision was made by Jeff Gorton, though, not by Alain Vigneault.
It is now up to Vigneault to realize the moves that Gorton made and work with them. They were drastic and bold moves, too. By trading away core center Derek Stepan, they freed up cap space. In doing so, they were able to acquire defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.
They also signed Brendan Smith to a longer contract. The focus has definitely moved from offense to defense. Hopefully, Vigneault can manage with all the changes, but it starts with him realizing that he needs to put the defense first.
With Henrik Lundqvist in net and the newly improved defense, the overall defense of the team could be excellent. The fate of Gorton’s decision now rests in Vigneault’s hands.
Playing the Right Players in Key Moments
As previously mentioned, it is impossible (and extremely wrong) to judge a coach’s season based on a singular game. However, people only learn from their mistakes when they get into the mindset they were in when they made that mistake and realize what they did wrong. So let’s take a look at Vigneault’s mindset for a moment.
The clock ticks down on a Game Two of a Conference Semi-Final series, a game where the away team could potentially tie the series at one a piece. His team’s up by two goals, and in the blink of an eye, that lead turns to a one-goal advantage. There’s still over a minute to go, and before you know it, Staal and Holden are out on the ice, letting that one goal lead slip away.
What could Vigneault’s mindset possibly have been at that time? Could he have been thinking of anything other than winning the game? Maybe he was trying to teach a lesson of sorts by benching certain players and playing others?
Whatever it was, he was wrong for not playing the right players at that key moment. And it wasn’t the only time. There were many times during the season that the Rangers would have a lead they’d let slip right out of their grasp in the third period.
What happened to that 2014 Rangers’ team that would never blow a third-period lead?
One could argue that the faces of the roster changed. But it goes beyond that. This is about a coach who needs to realize that it’s about how players are playing in the present game. It’s not about who he normally can rely on, but who is having the best night because that changes from time to time.
Using Timeouts More Effectively
Knowing when to use a timeout is a tricky thing. There’s quite a few times during the season that it’s difficult to know when to use the sole timeout teams are given.
While typically, they are not used in the first or second period of games, if a line tires out in a pivotal moment, a coach might elect to use it. Vigneault has never had the problem of using them too soon. In fact, the problem is quite the opposite.
He barely ever uses them at all. He waits until the last second to pull the goaltender and then refuses to use the timeout. It costs the Rangers a chance to win games they might have been able to at least tie.
In the final two-three minutes of play, if the Rangers are trailing by even one goal or at maximum three, it should be a rule that Vigneault should make use of his timeout. Otherwise, it serves no purpose and is there for no reason.
It’s meant to help teams re-group and re-gain their focus. Even if it doesn’t help the team always win, they still might be able to tie and gain desperately needed regular season points in this competitive league.
Giving the Younger Players More Ice Time
It has been speculated that Vigneault has an inclination for choosing the veterans over the younger players. This theory doesn’t go unsupported. However, there are reasons he makes his decisions. So for the second time, let’s take another look at Vigneault’s mindset.
The players that Vigneault has become most comfortable with are the ones that have been around the longest. That includes players such as Staal, Dan Girardi, and Stepan.
As you may have noticed, two of those three players aren’t on the team anymore. So where does Vigneault go from here? He doesn’t have certain key players to put his trust in.
That means that he’s going to have to give the younger players more ice time. This is mainly because he doesn’t have other options to choose from.
Next: How Alain Vigneault could jeopardize the season
While this is definitely something he should learn to do, regardless of the age of his team, this is more of something he will be forced into doing that will benefit the team as whole come the start of the adventure that will be the Rangers’ 2017-2018 season.