What it means for the Rangers
Gerard Gallant was the kind of player that the Rangers need. He was physical, surpassing 200 minutes in penalties four times in his career, but he was also a gifted goal scorer who averaged 36 goals in a four year span with the Red Wings.
How will he do with the youngest roster in the NHL? He has coached extremely young players to great success in the QMJHL and he took the youngest Canadian team at the World Championships to a gold medal earlier this month. He took a very young Florida Panthers team and molded them into a first place team.
Is he suited to getting the Rangers on a fast track to success? If anything on his resume, it’s been Gallant’s ability to get immediate results that makes him perfect for the new job. He got a sub .500 team in Florida and improved them by 25 points in his first year and into the playoffs in his second. He worked a miracle in Vegas, taking two dozen players who had never played together and making them into a first place team and a Stanley Cup Finalist.
No matter what happens, Gallant’s track record of being replaced in the third year of each of his coaching jobs will loom large during his tenure. Can he last longer in New York? There’s no reason to believe that he can’t. Each of his firings was different. In Columbus he was new to NHL coaching and the team was not doing well. In Florida, Gallant acknowledged that he knew that the axe was coming for months. There was a new upper management team in place and as a holdover, Gallant knew he was on thin ice.
The Vegas firing was a complete blindside. True, the team was out of a playoff position, but the season was just over half over and they were just a handful of points out of a playoff spot when he was cut loose.
Gallant’s best quality is his reputation as a players’ coach. Players on his teams have stressed that he is almost a teammate as opposed to a coach and he nurtures close relations with all of his players. In December 2019 he told The Athletic (subscription required) “You’re not coaching against your players. You’re coaching with your players. We’re all together. I think if you ask my players what type of coach I am, I think they feel like I’m a teammate of theirs. I can’t comment on anyone else but that’s the way I work.”
In The Athletic’s 2019 player poll (anonymous), NHLers were asked which coach they would like to play for other than their current coach. Gallant tied with Jon Cooper of Tampa for first place with 23% of the votes. Barry Trotz was next, far behind with 11%.
It all adds up to Gerard Gallant being one of the best coaches in the NHL with some of the qualities that make him uniquely fit for taking on the Rangers’ challenge. By looking at his history as a player and coach, at this point, it looks like Chris Drury has made a solid choice in the first and most important hire in his new job.