As announced on Thursday, Assistant Coach Michael Peca is leaving the New York Rangers for the Chicago Blackhawks.
The news came after former Red Wings head coach, Jeff Blashill, was named the 42nd Head Coach in Chicago's franchise history. Peca was announced as an assistant coach for the Rangers on June 20, 2023 when he joined with now-former head coach Peter Laviolette. But with Peca gone, who should new Head Coach Mike Sullivan consider bringing in as a replacement?
Here's a list of Blue Line Station's top four.
4. Greg Cronin
Greg Cronin was making headlines as recent as April 19, 2025. Unfortunately for him, it was not for good news. Cronin was fired from his head coaching job of the Anaheim Ducks after two losing seasons.
Cronin went 62-87-15 in Anaheim in his short tenure as head coach. Additionally, the Ducks’ 80 points this most recent season were a 21-point improvement over last year, but weren’t enough to contend for a playoff spot — and not enough to save Cronin’s job.
That being said, he is a former head coach and is only 61-years-old. According to ESPN.com, the average age of a NHL coach is around 54. But, one noteworthy exception on the older side of the range is Joel Quenneville who turns 67 this September.
Therefore Cronin still has a few years left to be a coach at the NHL level, and why not try and redeem himself after his firing by becoming an assistant for an Original-Six franchise team?
3. Kevin Dean
In the midst of the Blashill and Peca coaching news, it was also announced that Blackhawks assistant coach Kevin Dean will not return to Chicago next year,
Dean was named an assistant for the Blackhawks in the summer of 2022. Before jumping into coaching as an AHL assistant with the Devils back in 2006, Dean logged over 300 games as a defenseman in the NHL with the Devils, Blackhawks, Thrashers, and Stars from 1995 to 2001.
He is also beloved across the young defensemen on the Chicago roster, according to beat reporter Ben Pope.
I wouldn't consider it outside the realm of possibility for Sullivan to reach out to Dean about arranging an interview given the fact that Peca is going to Dean's former team.
2. Glen Gulutzan
Glen Gulutzan has been with the Edmonton Oilers for a long time — since May of 2018. Since then, his power play strategies have been highly successful. The Oilers have consistently had a top-notch power play under his guidance.
In the 2024-25 NHL season, Edmonton's PP percentage was 23.7%, placing them 11th in the league compared to the Rangers' power play finishing 28th out of 32.
Gulutzan himself is a former player, playing junior hockey across the Western Hockey League before eventually concluding his playing career with the Fresno Falcons. During his final five years as a center, he was named the team's player-assistant in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 and won the Bruce Taylor Cup for the WCHL Playoff Championship in 2002.
Gulutzan is also known for his ability to adapt his power play to ongoing game-situations, which is perfect fit for the Rangers given the rumblings of the potential major roster shake up of Chris Kreider.
1. Jessica Campbell
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: bring Jessica Campbell to the New York Rangers coaching staff. The sooner the better.
Campbell is already an icon in her own right in the NHL and deservedly belongs at No. 1 on this list. She made sports history as becoming the first woman to work full-time behind an NHL bench as an assistant coach. A former ice hockey player herself, Campbell had a career at the Ivy League's Cornell University — putting up 100 points across four seasons and captaining her squad in her final year. She also won a Clarkson Cup in 2016 in the now defunct CWHL, and played for Canada's national team, which included a silver-medal finish at the 2015 World Championships
Unlike the other candidates on this list, the female play-caller already has a history with the Blueshirts. In 2022, Campbell joined the Rangers' 2022 Development Camp as a coach, becoming the first woman in the history of the Original Six franchises to serve in such a role.
Flashing back to closer to the present, July 3, 2024 marked a major career milestone for Campbell. She was named an assistant coach of the Seattle Kraken under head coach Dan Bylsma making Campbell the first woman to work full-time behind an NHL bench as a coach. The move came two years after the Kraken's AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, hired Campbell as an assistant coach.
Under her direction, Coachella Valley’s power play was ranked 14th (20.3 percent) in the AHL in 2022-23 and 14th again the following year (18.4 percent).
Peca was also in charge of power play. Under his charge, the Blueshirts' man-advantage unit went from having a legendary efficiency to being a complete disaster in just a year's time. To be more specific, it finished 28th out of the 32 teams in the NHL.
Meaning — Jessica Campbell has a better track record leading the power play recently than Peca. And while her next role should be a head coaching position she is still majorly qualified to take over Peca's position. So, why shouldn't she take his place?