New York Rangers: David Quinn is the last man standing

When the New York Rangers hired David Quinn as coach in April, 2018 he was one of a trio of college coaches tapped by NHL teams.  He is the only one left with a job.

Over a two year period, there were three coaches hired directly from NCAA teams to become head coaches of NHL teams.  Quinn was the last of the trio hired and he is the only one still employed.

NHL teams have always been leery of hiring coaches right out of the college ranks.  The first was  Cornell coach Ned Harkness who was a failure with the Detroit Red Wings in 1970.  The most successful to make the jump was Badger Bob Johnson who was hired by the Calgary Flames from the University of Wisconsin in 1982.   While Johnson had some success with Calgary, he guided the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 1991. Johnson tragically died of brain cancer after suffering an aneurysm the summer after that Cup victory.

Many consider Herb Brooks part of the fraternity, but he left the University of Minnesota to caoch the “Miracle on Ice” team in the Olympics and then coached professionally in Switzerland before joining the Rangers in 1981.

In 2015, Dave Hakstol left the University of North Dakota to coach the Philadelphia Flyers. He made it to his fourth year before being fired last season.  It was Hakstol’s work that encourage the Dallas Stars to hire Jim Montgomery and the Rangers to sign Quinn.

Montgomery Fired

Dallas coach Montgomery had been reportedly the Rangers top choice to succeed Alain Vigneault, but he chose to go with Dallas instead.   Montgomery had led the University of Denver to a national championship and was highly regarded in Dallas for his innovative methods and his ability to communicate with his players.

The Stars made the playoffs last season and lost in the second round in a double overtime game seven to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues.  In a bizarre turn of events this week, Dallas General Manager Jim Nill announced that Montgomery was being let go.

Here is the statement from Jim Nill:

"“The Dallas Stars expect all of our employees to act with integrity and exhibit professional behavior while working for and representing our organization. This decision was made due to unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League.”"

Well, that certainly explains a lot.  There has been no further elaboration on what exactly happened and Montgomery has not made any statements.

Last NCAA coach left

So that leave Rangers coach David Quinn as the only coach left who has made the leap from the NCAA ranks directly to the NHL.   With the failure of Hakstol and the issues surrounding Montgomery,  all NHL eyes will be on Quinn and how he does as the Rangers coach.

Quinn came to New York from Boston University with a tremendous reputation for teaching and working with young players.   That skillset seemed perfect for a rebuilding team like the Blueshirts and in his first 112 games as a pro coach, the reviews have been good.  He has been able to coax career years out of Anthony DeAngelo, Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich.  He has hit some bumps in the road in his handling of Lias Andersson and Kaapo Kakko and lately has been vocal about his issues with the “European style” of playing.

Despite that, he does have the Rangers contending for a playoff spot (thanks a great deal to Artemi Panarin).  If Quinn can find success in the NHL, he can continue to lead the way for other NCAA coaches to make the jump to the pros.  If he doesn’t we could see another long drought like the 24 years between the hiring of  Bob Johnson and Dave Hakstol.