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What we learned at the New York Rangers Saturday press conference

Hours after announcing that New York Rangers Head Coach Peter Laviolette and Associate Head Coach Phil Housley, President and General Manager Chris Drury spoke to the media in a Saturday press conference to discuss the decision and answer questions. Here's what we learned.
ByJennifer Streeter|
2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft - Rounds 2-7
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Most recently, Calvin de Haan chose to open up about his frustrations regarding the fact that the veteran has been a healthy scratch for the past 18 games. During the presser, Drury also discussed players who spoke out about ice time disagreements and scratches.

"Again, we're going to look at every single aspect of this. Certainly, I'm always critical of myself and trying to figure out ways to be better. And it starts with me and I will continue to do that. As far as players, and we've had a few this year talk about ice time or scratches, we certainly want players here who want to play and we don't want players who are happy being scratched. I know for a fact Lavi is really big on communication and communicated to his players throughout his two years here. Where they stood and why they were out or why they were in or what their role was or wasn't. Communication is a priority. Being a former player myself, I always liked to know where I stood and we always try to do that with players every single day."

Obviously, everyone's attention is now turned to who will be the next head coach for the New York Rangers. Drury commented on this, but did not reveal much. He also discussed whether Laviolette will be in the Hall of Fame one day.

"I'm not going at this with any preset dispositions. If it's a first-time coach and it's the best fit, great. As far as what the team needs, again, we're just trying to find the best fit we can to do what we need to do... We're looking at a lot of different scenarios and a lot of different candidates."

"I don't have a Hall of Fame vote, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be a Hall of Fame coach someday."

Though, Drury himself is not out of the line of fire in terms of job security. He said his focus is on next year.

"I'm not going to get into personal, private conversations I have with [executive officer of Madison Square Garden Sports and Madison Square Garden Entertainment, and executive chairman of MSG Networks] Mr. [James] D[olan]."

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