Blue Line Station
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If I were coach of the New York Rangers next season …

By Scott Esposito

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 25: Head coach David Quinn of the New York Rangers speaks to his players during the second period against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden on March 25, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 25: Head coach David Quinn of the New York Rangers speaks to his players during the second period against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden on March 25, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Step aside, David Quinn. I’d like to be the head coach of the New York Rangers next season.

My first order of business? Head off the naysayers who will compare my zero years of professional and collegiate coaching experience to Quinn’s coaching resume. So he was head coach of the New York Rangers for the past two seasons after spending the previous eight behind the benches of the AHL Lake Erie Monsters and Boston University.

So what?

I have a Master’s in elementary education and been teaching for the past fifteen years. That hasn’t stopped people from telling me how to do my job despite their only qualification being that they once attended school. Recently, one of my dad’s friends, after hearing my story of an 8-year-old student swearing and throwing a chair at me, offered: “You shoulda given that kid a boot in the ass.”

Gee, why didn’t I think of that?

As for my coaching background, I did coach youth hockey for a few years at the Squirt and PeeWee levels. Youth hockey coaches aren’t paid for their time and service, yet they receive at least as much abuse from fans as any pro or college coach; except the fans at youth hockey games are mostly parents living vicariously through their sons or daughters, firm in their belief that their kid’s coach is hindering their child from becoming the next Brian Leetch or Amanda Kessel.

Amanda Kessel (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Amanda Kessel (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

So, turnabout is only fair. Thus, if I were the Rangers’ head coach in 2020-21, I would make sure of several things.

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