Gerard Gallant’s seat is reportedly warming up
By Marvin Azrak
The Rangers’ timid 11-10-5 start to the season reached a tipping point over the weekend, as they dropped back-back tilts to last-place teams on home ice by losing 3-2 in overtime to the Ottawa Senators and 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks, who snapped their eight-game losing streak.
While there is an abundance of reasons for the demise after last season’s run to the Eastern Conference finals, the brunt of the blame has been directed at Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant, and while he’s not the only culprit, his inconsistent line changes and stubborn adjustments on a reeling power play haven’t helped matters.
According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, who said the following before the weekend, owner James Dolan is paying close attention to the Rangers’ situation and, in particular, to the head coach. “I believe he would like for him to show more accountability,” she said.
After what we just saw over the last couple of days, that seat has only gotten warmer in addition to his postgame comments on Saturday night, where he commended the team for playing “Harder and faster” despite the on-ice performance reflecting the opposite.
“I thought we played faster, but we have to make adjustments,” Gallant said. “I saw more tonight than I did the other night (against Ottawa), put it that way. It’s a team thing. It can’t be 13,14 players– it has to be 20. We’ll get out of this sooner or later.”
This was disagreed upon by his players, including Chris Kreider, who said, “It’s hard to lose a game like that and say that we’re doing some things well, but we’re certainly doing things better than we have been… We’re going through a very tough stretch right now. So, it’s up to us to flip the narrative.” An emotional captain Jacob Trouba then ripped into his boys, pleading for a change to the team’s attitude. “It’s a result league. You need to win hockey games… You’ve got to play w/ some emotion, some energy. We need to make a change. It’s not just going to happen. You’ve got to make it happen & will it happen? We could use a little bit more of that.”
It’s safe to say there’s a bit of unrest in the Rangers locker room regarding the level of commitment and willingness to adapt to new times. It’s gotten to the point where even the editor-in-chief of this site published a helpful piece Sunday, embracing the possibility of the organization being sellers at this season’s trade deadline.
We’re now past the point of being patient and well into a new reality where these Rangers aren’t as good as they were made out to be in the preseason or proved to be last season.
Before you, keyboard warriors, start planning your Barry Trotz request, understand that nothing is imminent, as Kaplan noted and that Gallant has earned himself a chance to figure it out. Still, if things continue like this into the all-star break, nobody would be surprised if GM Chris Drury were to can the coach.
After all, it’s the only thing he would be able to do with the teams’ dire cap situation and the number of young players on this roster you’d like to stick around if you are forced to go that route. It wouldn’t be the first time Gallant was sent packing midseason, as he was fired just 22 games into the 2016-17 season as coach of the Florida Panthers and infamously climbed into a taxi after he was relieved of his duties that night.
His time away as a bench boss didn’t last long, for he was touted as the maiden Head Coach of the Vegas Golden Knights and led the team to the Stanley cup finals in their inaugural 2018 season but lost the locker room the next season and was given his walking papers after 49 games.
However, while he’s still here as head coach of the Rangers, Gallant can save himself and adjust his lines.
He can potentially go back to what was working in the first ten games of the season when Kaapo Kakko played with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider instead of with Alexis Lafreniere and Barclay Goodrow, as was the case on Saturday. While Jimmy Vesey has been a revelation this year, I still don’t see why he should see first-line minutes, as both offensive production and execution from the top unit have recently taken a hit ever since the change took place.
Power play-wise, while I love the Mika Zibanejad one-timer, it’s become too predictable, and teams have adjusted to what is now the 23rd-ranked power play in the NHL, falling from the top 10 a few weeks ago.
The bottom line, the Rangers can’t keep trying the same thing and expect the same result. Something needs to change quickly to save the season, and in Gerard Gallant’s case, his job.