Rangers Report Cards: The Coaches and Chris Drury

The grand finale is here! Brace yourselves for the last chapter of our New York Rangers Report Card series, featuring coaching staff grades and the big boss, Chris Drury. 

Hey there, fellow Blue Line station readers! It’s time to wrap up our 2022-23 season Report Card series. Buckle up because we’ve got a juicy session ahead – we’re diving into the coaching staff and the big kahuna himself, Chris Drury, the team President and GM. Yes, we’ve kept the best for last – prepare for some grade-giving fun!

Now, let’s take a little trip down memory lane. Over the past week, we’ve been dishing out grades like a gourmet buffet – centers, left-wingers, right-wingers, left-defensemen, right-defensemen, and even those goalies who love to stand on their heads.
It’s been a grading marathon, but we’re doing it all for you amazing readers and passionate Rangers fans.

We hope you’ve savored every word we’ve put down just as much as we’ve relished crafting it. Oh, and before we get rolling, those letters in parentheses next to the grades? Yep, those are from our midseason report cards.

So, grab your pencils, your scorecards, and your best “serious evaluator” faces because we’re about to give the coaching staff and Mr. Drury himself the third degree. Or should I say, “Third period?” After all, we’re talking hockey here! Let’s get ready to bring down the curtain on this series with a bang!

Rangers Report Cards: Mike Kelly: C

Mike Kelly’s responsibility was the power play wizardry on Gerard Gallant’s coaching team. According to Money Puck, the Rangers were shooting for the stars with a 24.1% conversion rate on the power play, ranking 11th in the league.

However, in the playoffs, the Rangers’ power play success rate dropped to 17.9%, which landed them in a not-so-impressive 11th place out of 16 contestants.  Considering their offensive firepower, that’s like having a Ferrari stuck in traffic. Sure, there are other factors at play, like team chemistry, but come playoff time, the coach’s job is to work that magic, and well, it didn’t happen. Too often, the Blueshirts seemed a bit stuck in the mud.

Throughout the season, teams sent a player to the blue line to snatch away that oh-so-tempting cross-ice pass, a one-timer straight to Mika Zibanejad’s “office” on the left side. I mean, can you blame them?

Yet it’s like Kelly had a “Do Not Disturb” sign on that office door. And that meant minimal chances for Alexis Lafreniere, Kappo Kakko, and even K’Andre Miller. It’s like they were all stuck in an elevator to nowhere.

When on the power play against New Jersey, the Rangers must’ve thought the goal was on vacation because they failed to score on sixteen consecutive power plays. You’d think they were allergic to scoring. However, credit to the Devils, they turned on their defense mode and scored two short-handed goals. Not exactly the kind of party you want in the playoffs if you’re the Rangers, huh?

Allowing stuff like that to happen won’t earn you a front-row seat in the postseason. Coach Kelly has some work to do the next time he lands a job.

Rangers Report Cards: Jim Midgley: B-

Jim Midgley’s job was enforcing the Rangers offense at even strength. So, let’s dive into the numbers. The Rangers tied for 10th with 206 goals at 5V5 this season. Yet the underlying numbers don’t do them any favors. New York had a 2.64 Goals per 60, tenth in the league.

The Blueshirts had a 49.8% Corsi, which ranked 17th in the league. For those who don’t know, a Corsi number is determined by dividing the number of shot attempts at even strength by the number of attempts by the opponent. An “Elite” Corsi percentage is 55%+.  New York also had a -11 Expected Goal differential.

New York ranked 30th in high-danger chances with 130. That said, they had a +16.58 Goals Scored Above Expected, which was good for third in the league. The Blueshirts’ +37.8 Goals Differential Above Expected was second behind the record-setting Boston Bruins. However, their -0.15 expected goal differential per 60 minutes was 21st, and their X Goals per 60 ranked a dreadful 25th of 32 at 2.39.

Due to Gallant’s flawed system, the Rangers were a terrible rebounding team. They ranked 28th in rebounds shots for at even strength with 154, but fourth in rebounds shots above expected at +22.2.

Rangers Report Cards: Gord Murphy: B

Gord Murphy handled the Rangers’ defense. He had the unenviable task of wrangling the Rangers’ defense this season. It’s like he was handed a bunch of wild squirrels and asked to turn them into synchronized swimmers – a tough gig. However, let’s dive in and see what went down in blue-line battles.

Murphy’s defense squad had moments of glory but knew how to keep things interesting. The Rangers penalty kill was 13th in the regular season with an 81.2% success rate and third in the playoffs with an 83.3% success rate.

They clocked in at 12th place with 2.97 Goals-per 60, according to Money Puck – not too shabby, right? They were fourth in the league regarding blocked shots, swatting away 248 like they were playing a volleyball game. And when it came to allowing rebound shots, they stood their ground, ranking ninth with 224. However, their +54.37 Rebound shots Above Expected placed them 15th.

In the world of rebound goals against, New York tied for 13th place with 34 goals. That said, only about 15.74% of the goals they allowed came from rebounds, which planted them firmly in the sixth spot.
However, they allowed 265 high-danger shots, which was 16th, and made 809 giveaways, which put them in 27th place. Of those 809, 394 were in the defensive zone, ranked 21st. The Rangers also were middle of the pack in blocked shots, placing 15th with 1,205.

The Rangers were also horrendous at defending the crease at even strength and yielded 175 rebounds, ranked 21st. Yet due to great goaltending by Igor Shesterkin and Jaroslav Halak, which can be attributed to fantastic coaching by Benoit Allaire, New York’s goalie coach, the Rangers were 15th in rebound goals against with 25. They finished ninth with a .836 save percentage on rebound attempts at even strength.

Murphy, who had been riding alongside the Gerard Gallant train since 2021-22. He might’ve had a hand in steering clear of some young talents, like Zac Jones, on the blue line – like the “no new friends” policy, but for defense. And there’s that dump-and-chase strategy that got a bit of flak – ah, the love-hate relationship with tactics!

Murphy had moments of triumph but also had the defense dancing to its unpredictable beat. It’s like he was a conductor with a stubborn orchestra.

Rangers Report Cards: Gerard Gallant: B (B)

The “Fire Gallant” train started chugging along when the Rangers were eliminated. I refrained from hopping on because I didn’t think the coach deserved the boot. Sure, he wasn’t Mr. Perfect during his two-year stint, and yeah, he got outcoached by Lindy Ruff from the Devils in the playoffs.

However, he wasn’t the main villain here. The players and our beloved Rangers’ stars are blamed for choking when it counted.

I loved the hiring of Gallant in the Summer of 2021. He led Vegas to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural 2018 season. Yes, he had lost the room in 2019 and was fired by the Florida Panthers midway through the 2020 season, but his calm demeanor was exactly what the upstart Rangers needed.

Gallant carved his name into the record books as the first Blueshirts’ bench boss to nail back-to-back 100+ point seasons. He left with a 99-46-19 record, the highest winning percentage(.603) and points percentage(.661) in franchise history. He also led the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022. Not bad, huh?

That said, his strength was also his weakness. Too often this season, the Rangers turned up to the game half-asleep. And let’s not even talk about how many times they looked like they wandered into a tactical maze without a map. That’s not to say Gallant didn’t have a plan, but he didn’t know to properly adjust when teams forced the Blueshirts away from their East-West game.

I don’t particularly appreciate making excuses.
However, if the Rangers had shown some hustle in Game 3 or brought their A-game in Game 4, they could’ve owned the Hudson River Rivalry. Instead, those upstart Devils snatched it from right under their noses in a nerve-wracking seven-game showdown.

Rangers Report Cards: Peter Laviolette: B

The Washington Capitals entered this season with a playoff streak as reliable as your morning coffee – eight years in a row. They were on a roll and even had a couple of those seasons under Laviolette’s watch. But guess what? The script didn’t follow the usual plot this time around. Playoffs were the expectation in the Alex Ovechkin era, but it’s like the team RSVP’d “no” to that party with a 35-37-10 record this season.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room – injuries. Oh boy, did the Caps have their fair share of medical dramas? They practically had a revolving door to the infirmary with over 400-man games lost. It’s like the injury bug wanted to make D.C. its new home. Key players like John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, and Connor Brown were MIA for significant chunks of time. No wonder their performance felt a bit shaky.

Speaking of wobbles, the Caps ranked fourth on the “We’re Dealing with Injuries” scale, according to ManGamesLost.com. It’s like they were the poster children for the impact of injuries on a team’s fate. Laviolette summed it well to the Athletic: “This year is just a really hard read. It’s hard to evaluate the year because of the things we were dealing with. It was just one of those years. It really was.” I feel like that should be stitched on a pillow.

Now, here’s where the plot thickens. After the season wrapped, Laviolette, the man at the helm, apparently chatted with general manager Brian MacLellan and told him he was packing his bags.
His three-year, nearly $15 million contract was set to expire on June 30th, and both sides seemed content to part ways. Laviolette didn’t seem too broken up about it, stating that he focused on returning the team to the playoffs and achieving success there.

Laviolette realized it was time to move on during heart-to-heart talks with his wife, Kristen, as the Caps stumbled and missed the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade. Nothing like an excellent heart-to-heart to get you on the right path.

That said, Laviolette’s Washington teams put on a decent regular season show, going 115-78-27. However, when the spotlight shifted to the playoffs, they tripped over their shoelaces – bowing out twice in the first round. It’s like showing up at the Oscars and leaving after the opening act.

It was a letdown Laviolette didn’t shy away from admitting. And guess what? The Caps missed the playoffs this time, clocking in with the league’s second-worst record from January 1st to the end of the regular season. It’s like they needed a New Year’s resolution redo.

Laviolette is now in New York, and he’s optimistic that his fortunes will improve with the change of scenery, just as the Blueshirts are hopeful that the new coach will bring positive changes for them.