The New York Rangers fired Alain Vigneault after four years as the team’s head coach. Although it ended terribly, it’s hard not to acknowledge the success.
The Rangers were a team on the cusp of putting together a truly special team. However, the coach at the time, John Tortorella, had burned the team out after five high intensity seasons. The group was comprised of budding young talent and established veterans in Rick Nash, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Henrik Lundqvist. The team had talent, but it had trouble translating it under Tortorella.
Following a second round exit against the Boston Bruins in the 2013 playoffs, the Rangers dismissed Tortorella. The team then hired Vigneault, who had just been fired by the Vancouver Canucks. With Vancouver, Vigneault had a Stanley Cup Final appearance and a pair of President’s Trophies. This was a match that made perfect sense, the Rangers needed a coach that could develop an offense to support Lundqvist.
Under Vingeault, the Rangers went from a young budding team to perennial contender. The team ultimately never did get over the hump and the blame fell to their head coach. Vigneault’s shortcomings as a coach were a lingering problem and that is arguably what held the group back the most. Yet, it is going too far to say that the team succeeded in spite of him.
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There was a clear shift in attitude in the team under Vigneault as compared to Tortorella. The Rangers played a western conference style of hockey that was oriented around skill and speed. This is what sustained the team long after the defense became a genuine problem.
Playoff Success
It may seem illogical to say, but this was the most successful stretch of Rangers hockey since the early 90s. Sure, the team did not win the Stanley Cup, the true measure of success, but they were always right there. Under Vigneault, the Rangers won the most postseason games of any team during his tenure aside from the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks.
With Vigneault behind the bench the Rangers won six playoff series. One of the features of the team during this period was a never say die attitude. During the 2014 playoffs when the Rangers were trailing three games to one against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team played above themselves. The team really did take things one game at a time and it made no deficit seem insurmountable.
The following season under even more difficult circumstances, the Rangers again came back from a 3-1 deficit. Chalk it up to the Washington Capitals being perennial chokers, but something has to be said for Vigneault getting the team to a game seven, let alone winning it. The cracks in Vigneault’s armor began to shine through the following series against the Tampa Bay lightning, but it’s hard to totally blame him.
Without Mats Zuccarello, the team leader in points and Ryan McDonagh playing on a broken ankle, he mustered up a plan to at least keep it close. The Lightning were arguably a better team, especially being that the Rangers were without their best forward and a shell of their best defenseman.
The context
In comparison to the other eras in Rangers history, this was amongst the most successful.
Under Tortorella, the team was still too raw to really compete. Had they survived the Devils in 2011, they would’ve run into a buzzsaw Kings team with a nuclear hot Jonathan Quick in net. These five seasons were the start of something special, without his time in New York the Rangers may not have succeed as much as they did under Vigneault.
Prior to Tortorella’s arrival, the Rangers were a team that was too old with not enough talent to seriously compete. Under Tom Renney, the team had the ability to be competitive, but not go deep in the postseason. These were the Jaromir Jagr years, where if the Czech forward didn’t make a play, no one else would.
Prior to Renney’s arrival is the black hole of Rangers hockey. From 1998 to the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, the Rangers did not qualify for the postseason once and didn’t finish above fourth place in the division. These were an outright embarrassment for a franchise that had all of the resources in the world. During this time the solution to every problem the team had was to throw money at aging stars.
The last time the Rangers were as consistently good as they were under Vigneault was the early 90s. From 1994-1997 the team at least made it to the second round of the playoffs and of course won the Stanley Cup in 1994.