This was a man desperately pleading his case, having spent at least the past few days accumulating all the history, stats, anecdotes and any other shreds of evidence necessary to defend himself against the rising pitchforks.
Then Rangers coach Alain Vigneault stood and delivered his autobiographical soliloquy, a postgame press conference Saturday afternoon following a 5-0 loss to the Flyers in the regular-season finale that was an inspired declaration of his worth to the organization.
Vigneault was making sure that if this was his last stand, everyone was going to know that he thought he did a great job. And if he was going to be fired, it was going to be a big mistake — just as it was when he was fired from his two previous NHL head-coaching jobs in Montreal and Vancouver.
And this is how he responded when asked if he expects to be back with the Rangers next season:
“Yes, yes, without a doubt,” Vigneault said. “I think my staff is the right staff for this job. I think, and this is just my opinion, but I think one of the strongest assets of this organization is its coaching staff and their experience. We’ve been able to do it with veteran players, we’ve been able to do it with younger players. Our development record — and our record, wins and losses — you know what, it’s pretty good, with young and older players.”
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