Assessing Gerard Gallant after 34 games

First, let me say his.  Gerard Gallant was the the perfect choice to coach the New York Rangers.  After three years of David Quinn, the team has a coach who has their back and just let’s them play.  He doesn’t get too high or too low no matter what the result.  He knows what he is looking for and put it perfectly after the win over Edmonton saying  “It’s about 20 guys playing and 20 guys showed up and played hard. ”  He’s gotten as much out of this team as he possibly could.  Or has he?

Now, 34 games into the season we can look objectively at the job that he has done and while he gets an “A” for results, there are some things we have learned about his personality and coaching style.

Gerard Gallant has one mission.  He has to win as many games as possible and get to the playoffs and that creates some problems for his boss, Chris Drury. While Gallant has succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, there has been some collateral damage. To be sure, Gallant always acknowledges that any roster moves he makes are in collaboation with Drury, but considering his success, Gallant has to be getting the last word. Of course, deployment of players in games is totally  up to the coach. Here are the issues.

Ice time

If there is one thing we’ve learned about the coach, is that he believes in the “eye test.”  Success on the ice means more ice time and he is most comfortable giving ice time to players he is has seen perform.  It’s a criteria that makes sense, especially when the team is winning.

Gallant has ridden his top players, giving them heavy minutes and the best opportunities at the expense of the team’s young prospects.  While playing Panarin, Kreider and Zibanejad a lot, it means games like New Year’s Eve in Tampa when Alexis Lafrenière saw six minutes of 5v5 ice time.

Just like David Quinn, Gallant gives the top power play unit most of the minutes with the man advantage.  It’s hard to argue with a PP that is in the top ten in the NHL, but could there at least be some experimentation with the makeup of the top unit?

The quintet of Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, Strome and Fox have played 76:33 minutes on the power play this season in games that all five were in the lineup.  That means that the five-man unit was intact for 63% of the  Rangers’ total  power play time in those games.

Gallant takes an old school approach to coaching and relies on veterans he knows.  The “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy works as long as you are winning and they are winning, but there’s not doubt that it has held back the development of some young Rangers.  There are examples.

Alexis Lafrenière got a brief audition on the left side of Zibanejad and Kreider at the start of the season and was soon relegated to the third line.  Playing with Filip Chytil and Julien Gauthier, the Rangers vaunted “kid line” has done little this season and frustration with Lafrenière was at an all-time high.

Then, Artemi Panarin goes on the COVID list, Lafrenière moves up to replace him and he has turned into the player we all thought he was when he was drafted, albeit in a very short sample size. It may be just two games, but it is obvious that he is thriving playing with Ryan Strome and Barclay Goodrow, two quality forwards who are head and shoulders better than Chytil and Gauthier.

Libor Hajek sat for 26 games, not getting a sniff of NHL action.  He was so rusty, he had to go to Hartford for a conditioning assignment.  The Rangers were then hit with a spate of injuries and he has played regularly ever since.

Gallant admitted that he knew next to nothing about Hajek when he took over and wasn’t going to use him until he had to.  When he had to due to injury, he realized that he had a serviceable blueliner, probably more mobile and talented than Jarred Tinordi, who had gotten into five games by late November.

Zac Jones didn’t make it to the Rangers until the Taxi Squad was re-instituted and got his first start when the Rangers were down to six healthy blueliners.  He has obviously impressed Gallant, starting two straight games while the coach has cited his “confidence” with the puck.

Old favorites

Gallant has also shown that he favors players that he knows from the past.

He coached Dryden Hunt in Florida and it’s clear he is one of his favorites.  As a result, he has played in every single game this season.  He’s gotten a lot of time with Strome and Panarin, a role that he has not excelled at.  Dryden is much better in the bottom six where he can play his physical, grinding game.  With Sammy Blais out, Gallant’s options were limited, but the experiment has run its course.  He finally swapped out Hunt with Goodrow with much better results.

He coached Greg McKegg in Florida as well and he’s obviously more comfortable playing McKegg than trying to see what Morgan Barron can do.  Barron played in two games in October, seeing nine minutes TOI in one game and just under eight in the second.  He didn’t do badly and won four of five faceoffs, but has not see any action since.  Meanwhile, McKegg has played in 14 games, averaging over 11 minutes per game with one assist and a 48.3% faceoff rating.

It’s worth noting that Barron led the Wolf Pack in scoring last season with 10 goals and 21 points in 21 games while McKegg was stapled to the Bruins taxi squad and played in only five games the entire season.

Observers may note that he has give Julien Gauthier and Filip Chytil ample playing time this season, with little to show for it.   Gauthier also played only three times in the Rangers’ first 12 games and only became a regular when Blais was injured. As for Chytil, center is the team’s thinnest position and he is the best option for the third line. Still, of the four lines, this pair often finds themselves playing the least amount of ice time.  Gauthier didn’t hit the ten minute mark in nine of his last 16 games. In the last two games, even playing on the second unit power, Chytil has barely played 10 minutes per game.

It’s likely why the whole Vitali Kravtsov situation was doomed as soon as the Russian got injured in the preseason.  With only a couple games to go on, he was destined to start the season in Hartford in favor of Hunt especially taking waiver issues into account.  Ultimately, it blew up the relationship with one  of their top prospects.

Taxi Squad hopes

The re-introduction of the Taxi Squad has to be a good thing for some players who hope to see ice time.  Prospects like Barron, Tarmo Reunanen and Tim Gettinger get to travel and practice with the team. Exposure to the coach matters.   It certainly has worked for Zac Jones.

One thing is certain, Gerard Gallant goes with what he is comfortable with and so far it’s been working brilliantly.  With the trade deadline on March 21 and the Rangers a contender, you can be sure that Chris Drury will be looking to improve the team.  It’s important for the Rangers to know what they have in their young “not ready for prime time players”  like Morgan Barron, Libor Hajek, Zac Jones, Tarmo Reunanen and Nils Lundkvist.  Those answers only come with playing time on the big stage.

Gallant often speaks about how little he knew about the Rangers’ roster when he took over.  He’s still learning about his team and it’s clear he really doesn’t know the players that he has not seen in actual games.  We can wait until injuries or COVID forces the team to use them, but if that doesn’t happen, the Rangers won’t know what they have when tough trade decisions have to be made, especially with Gallant’s belief in the “eye test.”

Roster experimentation could lead to more rookie mistakes and poor results.  But a learning experience in January could benefit the team in April.   How willing are we as fans to see what we’ve got if it means risking positive results?  More important, how willing is Gerard Gallant to risk experimentation with his young players?  Stay tuned.