Former Rangers coach John Muckler, RIP

Former New York Rangers coach John Muckler passed away at age 86

The hockey world is mourning the passing of John Muckler, former coach of the New York Rangers and a Stanley Cup winner in Edmonton.  He was coach of the Oilers when they won their last Stanley Cup in 1990 and was hired by the Rangers as the team tried to replicate Edmonton’s success as they had in the past when they won the Stanley Cup in 1994.

When it didn’t work it led to a complete restructuring of the Rangers management and moves that have brought the team to what it is today.

Muckler took over as head coach 57 games into the 1997-98 season, replacing the fired Colin Campbell.  The hiring reunited him with former Oilers Wayne Gretzky, Jeff Beukeboom and Adam Graves.  It didn’t work as the team missed the playoffs all three years Muckler was behind the bench.

78 games into the 1999-2000 season, Muckler was let go, replaced  by assistant coach John Tortorella for the last four games.  General Manager Neil Smith also got the axe as the team was a complete disaster.  They had just lost two games to the Detroit Red Wings by a combined score of 14-2 as the star-laden Blueshirts team had absolutely no chemistry.

Muckler had contentious relationships with many of his players including Theo Fleury and it was clear that by the time of his firing, he had lost the team.   While Muckler was coach the team had the disastrous Pavel Brendl/Jamie Lundmark draft and had signed multiple free agents like Fleury, Stephane Quintal, Mike Keane, Brian Skrudland, Valeri Kamensky and John MacLean  and traded for Alexandre Daigle and Kevin Hatcher.     None of those moves paid off for the Blueshirts.

Muckler is remembered for how he dismissed first round draft pick Manny Malhotra as nothing more than a career third line center, an assessment that caused a rift with Neil Smith.  While Malhotra never was a star, he played 991 NHL games as an excellent defensive center and one of the best faceoff men in the game.

Muckler’s disastrous tenure as Ranger coach and the issues he had with Neil Smith led to the Rangers hiring Glen Sather as President and General Manager, kicking off another era of New York Rangers hockey and officially ending the links to the 1994 Stanley Cup winning team.

Muckler was a career minor leaguer who played his last four seasons with the New York Rovers and the Long Island Ducks of the Eastern Hockey League. He coached the Minnesota North Stars, Oilers, Rangers and Buffalo Sabres a total of 648 regular season and 67 playoff games.

While he had a long career in hockey, his time in New York will not be remembered fondly by Rangers fans as much for the tumultuous events as for the lack of success.