Rangers Get Permission From Predators to Talk to John Hynes
By Conor Power
It’s been revealed by the New York Post that the New York Rangers have been granted permission to speak to John Hynes about their head coaching vacancy. Hynes was recently replaced in Nashville as the head coach of the Predators by former Florida Panthers interim boss and New Jersey Devils assistant Andrew Brunette, so with Hynes out of work, the Predators are willing to let him seek work in New York.
During his four years as the bench boss in Music City, Hynes had a record of 134-95-18 which isn’t bad. For a Predators team that was completely dependent on their star goaltender to succeed, that is not a bad record. You can argue that Hynes may have been part of the reason the Predators were so dependent on Saros, but the lack of top-end talent on that roster has been a major factor in their struggles as a franchise.
Before he arrives in Tennessee, Hynes had spent five years as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils where he had a record of 150-159-45 for a rebuilding Devils team, even dragging them to the playoffs in the year where Taylor Hall was the league MVP. While his game-by-game record isn’t the strongest during his time in New Jersey, there’s no denying that he did have some good moments with a team that was just bad.
As of right now, we still do not know where the Rangers’ next head coach is going to come from. If it is going to be one of the continuous carousel or if the Blueshirts try something new with a young coach from within, or something abroad like they were looking to do with Spencer Carbery before he was appointed as the bench boss in Washington. Time will yield all the answers, but it is getting tough to see why the Rangers moved away from Gallant at this point.