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Best Rangers coach since Keenan?

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Who was our best coach since '94?

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You won’t find many that despised AV as much as I did after the 14-15 season, but the answer to this is pretty obviously him.

He made me miss Torts by his last season here and that’s saying something because Torts needed to get the f*** out at the end of his tenure.
 
Yeah see this is where the AV meme started.

I still don't believe we should have won the cup in 2015, when we didn't win the cup the prior year in 2014 when the team was younger and better.

Also, we weren't playing Tampa for the cup in 2015 iirc, so there's that whole butterfly effect of needing to win that round and then the next round which the team failed to do the year prior.

Face it. The New Era® RangersTown™ were not FIRE RENNEY!'s "accountability, or being Tort's Kinda Guys, or AV's System.

The New Era® team was dragged by Henrik Lundqvist.

On a related note, @allofyou, missing how much Lundqvist carried the team and focusing on minutia is one of the reasons the board is so often incorrect in it's collective braintrust.

I mean maybe the year we lost in the first round was the "real year" not 2014

Or maybe the year we missed the playoffs by a game from Oli Jokinnen was "the year" not 2014

No, the reality was, I felt starting in 2011 was the 3 year window for the Rangers, and if you factor in the half lockout, it worked out exactly like that. No it wasn't one call here, or the forth line, it was what it was.[/QUOTE]
The team was statistically better in 2015. They won the presidents trophy. I’m not saying they would’ve won game 7 vs Tampa or won the cup vs Chicago but that was a damn good season that had a good chance of resulting in a championship.
 
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KreiderBomb said:
Torts had Nash and Gaborik in or around their prime and ended up chasing Gaborik out of town because he is a crazy man.
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Are we really going to compare the talent that AV had as opposed to AV? I don't think it is particularly close.

Look at the 2008-2009 team. There is no Nash. There is no Gaborik. Zherdev, Gomez & Drury were the leading scorers. Wade friggin' Redden was averaging 22 minutes of ice time. Getting that team to the second round of the playoffs was extracting blood from a stone.
 
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True Blue said:
Are we really going to compare the talent that AV had as opposed to AV? I don't think it is particularly close.

Look at the 2008-2009 team. There is no Nash. There is no Gaborik. Zherdev, Gomez & Drury were the leading scorers. Wade friggin' Redden was averaging 22 minutes of ice time. Getting that team to the second round of the playoffs was extracting blood from a stone.
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Agreed about the talent but that team lost in the first round after being up 3-1. They didn't make it to the second round until 2012.
 
True Blue said:
Are we really going to compare the talent that AV had as opposed to AV? I don't think it is particularly close.

Look at the 2008-2009 team. There is no Nash. There is no Gaborik. Zherdev, Gomez & Drury were the leading scorers. Wade friggin' Redden was averaging 22 minutes of ice time. Getting that team to the second round of the playoffs was extracting blood from a stone.
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Redden AND Rozsival were an actual thing. The two of them kept Hank from runaway annual Vezinas for a bit there...
 
Teams overall have different level of development just like players. I would say all 3 of the coaches coming out of the dark ages were equally important to the growth of the Rangers. Renney was a developmental coach. Renney has served in multiple developmental roles including CEO with Hockey Canada through out his career. He knows how to turn gifted kids into pros. He started killing the country club atmosphere. I think young teams do well with developmental coaches, but ultimately you cant win with them. Look at Winnipeg. If they want to win, They need to get a next stage coach and move on from Paul Maurice even though he has brought them to the perennial contender stage.
Torts was an evolution. He has the Cup winning pedigree. Before becoming the Rangers head coach he had a reputation for being an offense first coach who could fix a flawed power play. Sadly, that didn't work here. There wasn't enough talent. Remember "safe is death"? That went out the window about 6 weeks into the season and caveman hockey was born. He saw he had a great goalie and preached an ethos of accountability, teamwork and self-sacrifice that were necessary for the team to grow. He wore out his welcome, but I think he was a good coach for a blue collar team.
AV has a monster resume as an NHL coach. The only thing he is missing is a Cup. He took the base built by Torts and Renney and added more stretch passes and less of an emphasis on shot blocking. His weaknesses are obviously the collapsing d with a lead and not being able to change game plans when the other team does. He can seem arrogant too. He also probably lets the players police themselves too much. He will go down as an elite regular season coach who couldn't get over the final hurdle.
 
Zamboner said:
Torts was a terrible coach. Time gives people amnesia, I guess.
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Nothing to do with time for me. I liked the identity that he instilled, I liked that he seemed to be able to do more with less and I loved that under him the players played for each other and sacrificed for each other.
 
I can't think of a single Rangers coach in my lifetime that I have any lasting admiration for whatsoever.

Hopefully Quinn breaks that trend.
 
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Torts had 1 good year here where we lost in the ECF to a NJ team that we should have beaten. AV had many deep runs in the playoffs where we beat teams that were clear favorites against us. Plus AV was obviously more liked. Not saying that matters much but if you can win while being liked, it's better than winning while being disliked. Means you'll have a job longer which is why AV's tenure was lengthier than Torts was. AV has to get the nod over Torts, no question. The finals appearance seals it but even without that, he accomplished more here in NY with less to work with. Plus his system made the Rangers more fun to watch and didn't destroy Ranger players bodies (blocking shots endlessly) the way Torts system did.
 
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