New York Rangers: Five potential replacements for Alain Vigneault
After an atrocious start to the season, the New York Rangers are in trouble. With the team in danger of falling out of the playoff race this early in the season, something has to be done. A coaching change is necessary.
While the players have not played well to start the season, the coaching has been awful. Alain Vigneault has consistently failed to ice the best possible lineup and deploy his players correctly. Pavel Buchnevich, one of the best forwards so far, has been stapled to the fourth line and Kevin Shattenkirk has been stuck on the third pair.
If the Rangers want to turn this around, Jeff Gorton must step up and fire Vigneault. There is some speculation that Lindy Ruff was brought in to take over if Vigneault was fired. He is not the answer. If Lindy Ruff were the head coach, it would be more of the same.
The Rangers need to hire a head coach outside of the organization. If they do, here are five possible candidates to replace Vigneault behind the bench.
Darryl Sutter
Darryl Sutter would be a probable replacement for Vigneault. He is a proven winner, coaching the Los Angeles Kings to Stanley Cup wins in 2012 and 2014. Ranger fans remember Sutter as the coach of the team that broke their hearts in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.
Sutter has been around for a while, 25 years to be exact. He got his start in the 1992-93 season with the Chicago Blackhawks and has since gone on to coach the Sharks, Flames, and Kings.
He has won 634 career games, good for 11th all time. 225 of those wins came while coaching the Kings, which makes him the all-time wins leader by a Kings coach.
Sutter has been shown to be in favor of a puck possession game. This would explain the Kings being regularly among the league leader in Corsi For percentage each year. Los Angeles never posted a CF percentage under 50 percent in Sutter’s tenure. Their highest CF percentage in the Sutter era was 54.9%, which is very impressive.
Sutter is somebody that the Rangers should absolutely consider, and would make a fine head coach in New York.
Sheldon Keefe
Sheldon Keefe would be a perfect coach for the New York Rangers. Keefe is currently the head coach of the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. He is on the younger side, at the age of 37, but this is something that the Rangers need. It would be smart for the Rangers to hire a young, up-and-coming coach.
Keefe also has a reputation for being very good at developing younger players and showing trust in them. This would be a stark contrast from Alain Vigneault, and it would also be a big help for the Rangers. With young players like Pavel Buchnevich, Brady Skjei, Anthony DeAngelo, Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil, and Igor Shestyorkin poised to lead this team in the coming years, it is imperative that the coach allows them to play big minutes.
Keefe is widely regarded as one of the brightest young coaching minds in hockey today. He will almost definitely be an NHL head coach sooner rather than later, and it would absolutely behoove the Rangers to keep him in mind.
Dan Bylsma
Dan Bylsma is another intriguing head coaching option. He was most recently the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres and was fired after reportedly being at odds with Sabres superstar Jack Eichel.
Before this, Bylsma was the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, leading them to a Stanley Cup Championship in 2009. He coached the Penguins for six seasons and was fired after the 2013-14 season, after blowing a 3-1 series lead in the second round to the Rangers.
Bylsma then took a year off from coaching before being hired by the Sabres for the 2015-16 season. After two years, he was let go. Bylsma has won 320 games as a head coach.
Bylsma would not be the best option for the Rangers, due to the fact that he has not shown to be the most trusting developer of young players. This is evidenced by his rift with Eichel and the fact that he was at odds with many of the players in Buffalo before he was let go.
Regardless, Byslma is an established NHL coach who has not been hired and would warrant a look by the Rangers front office.
Paul MacLean
Paul MacLean would be a great option as head coach of the Rangers. He most recently served as the assistant coach of the Anaheim Ducks, serving under Randy Carlyle. Before working for the Ducks, he served as the head coach of the Ottawa Senators for four seasons. Rangers fans will remember him from the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, where the Rangers ousted the Senators in a heated seven-game series.
MacLean was fired relatively early in the 2014-15 season, but his time in Ottawa was rather successful. He won 114 games in Canada’s capital, where he also won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2012-13.
MacLean was hired by the Anaheim Ducks as an assistant coach for the 2015-16 season. He was part of a Ducks team that won back to back Pacific Division championships and played in the Western Conference Final in 2017, coming within two wins of a Stanley Cup Final berth. He was not brought back after his contract expired this offseason.
MacLean has a reputation of being very trusting of young players, which is especially relevant to the Rangers’ needs. In his time as a coach, MacLean routinely liked to use his young players in key situations. With the Rangers having a plethora of young talent, this would be a coaching match made in Heaven.
Dave Tippett
Dave Tippett is widely known as the former long-time head coach of the Arizona Coyotes. He served behind the bench in Arizona for eight seasons, and he and former captain Shane Doan were the only constants in Arizona hockey during that time.
Because of the Coyotes’ infusion of young talent, general manager John Chayka decided to move in a different direction, firing Tippett in a surprising move and electing to let Doan leave in free agency, hiring Rick Tocchet to be the new coach and giving the “C” to stud defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Despite not having much to work with in Arizona, Tippett had an extremely respectable coaching career with the Coyotes. He won 282 games with the Coyotes, making him Arizona’s all-time winningest head coach. Tippett has won 553 games as a head coach with Dallas and Arizona in his career. He also won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2009-10.
Tippett is a successful head coach, and the Rangers would absolutely consider him if the head coach position became available.
Next: Should Alain Vigneault be fired?
Alain Vigneault is actively hindering this team with his lineup and deployment decisions. Therefore, if the Rangers want to right the ship and get back to their winning ways, Vigneault must go. These five potential head coaches would be great hires for the Rangers.