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New York Rangers: Positive coaching moves in Hartford

By Steve Paulus

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 16: (L-R) Assistant Coach Kris Knoblauch, Head Coach Dave Hakstol and Assistant Coach Gord Murphy of the Philadelphia Flyers watch the play on the ice behind the team against the Dallas Stars on December 16, 2017 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 16: (L-R) Assistant Coach Kris Knoblauch, Head Coach Dave Hakstol and Assistant Coach Gord Murphy of the Philadelphia Flyers watch the play on the ice behind the team against the Dallas Stars on December 16, 2017 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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ST CATHARINES, ON – NOVEMBER 06: Head Coach Kris Knoblauch of the Erie Otters looks on from the bench during an OHL game between the Erie Otters and the Niagara IceDogs at the Meridian Centre on November 6, 2014 in St Catharines, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
ST CATHARINES, ON – NOVEMBER 06: Head Coach Kris Knoblauch of the Erie Otters looks on from the bench during an OHL game between the Erie Otters and the Niagara IceDogs at the Meridian Centre on November 6, 2014 in St Catharines, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers are taking steps to fix an important part of the organization, the coaching staff at their top Hartford affiliate.

In the last week the New York Rangers have filled two top coaching positions for the Hartford Wolf Pack.  They first named Kris Knoblauch as head coach and followed that up by naming Gord Murphy as associate head coach.  Both men have a lot of experience in the coaching ranks and will hopefully turn the Wolf Pack around.

The Rangers parent organization recognized that Hartford had severe problems fulfilling its role in the development of Ranger prospects. Their first step was appointing Chris Drury as general manager of the Wolf Pack in 2017.  He immediately fired longtime coach Ken Gernander, promoting assistant coach Keith McCambridge.  After two awful seasons, Drury let McCambridge and assistant coach Joe Mormina go.

The Rangers were looking for replacements until the appointments last week.

Kris Knoblauch

Knoblauch, 40,  has spent the last two years as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Flyers running the Philadelphia power play.  He joined the Flyers midway through Dave Hakstol’s term as head coach and survived the transition to Scott Gordon when Hakstol was fired.

Under Knoblauch the Philadelphia power play had a 20.7% success rate in 2017-18, slipping to 17.1% last season. With the hiring of Alain Vigneault, Knoblauch’s days were numbered.

It is Knoblauch’s work in Canadian Junior hockey that brought him notice.  He first had a successful tenure as head coach of the Kootenay Ice, winning the WHL championship in 2011.  He’s best known as the coach of the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League. He led them to three consecutive 50 win seasons, the first OHL team to accomplish that. He was honored as the OHL coach of the year.

He was helped by the fact that he had a pretty good hockey player named Connor McDavid on his team those three years.  Also on the Otters was Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat.  At any rate, Knoblauch played an important role in the development of those players and he  was named to the  coaching staff of the 2017 and 2018 Canadian World Junior Championships team.

Knoblauch wasted no time adding to his Hartford coaching staff.

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