Player Discussion Gerard Gallant

[HatTrick Swayze]

Despite my rants last night Gallant is obviously a good coach. I do think this series exposed his weaknesses and that Cooper really took him to task, and I am usually the last person to say something like that. But Cooper is probably the best coach in the league, so if my point is only that Gallant is not on that level that’s not a big surprise and not the end of the world.

 

[duhmetreE]

Also: Please can we have Torts back? Or someone in his mold?

People laugh but what do you think change Coopers approach?

Getting swept by Torts.

If you are not capable of playing that style, you will lose to a team that can.

 

[will1066]

Look, Cooper the ex-lawyer might be a great coach, a real Renaissance Man, but you can make the argument that the Rangers made him have to change his team to be a boring, trapping, counterattacking team to win. And most NHL fans hate the trap. Yes, they were also great on their forecheck. But the change to trapping style was what won it for them.

 

[Greschner4]

Once things started to turn, GG panicked and the first thing a stubborn veteran coach who was a plugger does when he panics is that he starts panicking about the kids he's playing. Thus, the reduction in minutes in Game 5, thus the scratch of KK in Game 6, thus Brooksie's "One thing we know, though, is that Gallant never quite bought into the hype surrounding the Kid Line." Rather than just trust the things that got them there and that staved off elimination before, he changed everything around and it was a disaster.

 

[WojtekWolski86]

Well, we can agree that firing him after bringing the team into the playoffs, never mind the ECF, would be a pretty ridiculous knee-jerk reaction. As much as I love Igor and will quickly point to him as a reason (perhaps THE reason) that the team has made it as far as they did, they still had to wade their way through some rough waters against the Penguins where the offense mattered.

It's not even about Kakko. If he was scratched for a disciplinary reason or an injury, then I agree with that.

Whether it's true or not, I just disagree with letting the player call the shots. Sure--be a coach that's friendly to the locker room, but if you can't tell a guy he needs to sit with an injury because it could cost the team, that's just not doing your job.

Again, not saying we would have won had Strome been scratched, but he certainly didn't help.

About as knee jerk as firing the President and GM for not standing by the PA message that called out the league and got you fined. Then claiming the firing had to do with not making the playoffs in the middle of a rebuild.

You forgot about our irrational owner.

 

[CasusBelli]

People laugh but what do you think change Coopers approach?

Getting swept by Torts.

If you are not capable of playing that style, you will lose to a team that can.

Defense wins championships. Attractive play, sadly, doesn’t (at least not in the cap era).

 

[Brief Candle]

Defense wins championships. Attractive play, sadly, doesn’t (at least not in the cap era).

It's not just defense, it's grit that wins. Unless your skill players can get dirty too, there's no chance of winning. I hate to say it, but a guy like Tom Wilson is the image I have in my head.

 

[hackeyman]

look again, last season Vegas was the top team in NHL and it was DeBoer coaching them, not Gallant.

This post is a joke. Gallant's roster was not near as good as what Vegas had last season and according to you New York failing to get past the third round was a failure but Vegas didn't even make the playoffs.

 

[WojtekWolski86]

I understand the horses he had weren't available against Pitt. However, once Cooper brought the Kuch Stamkos Palat line together that was absolutely killing us why did he never create a checking line to counter that, especially in game 5 with last change?

He never tried Motte Copp Goodrow.

 

[hackeyman]

look again, last season Vegas was the top team in NHL and it was DeBoer coaching them, not Gallant.

This post is a joke. Gallant's roster was not near as good as what Vegas had last season and according to you New York failing to get past the third round was a failure but Vegas didn't even make the playoffs.

 

[and 99 others]

but Vegas didn't even make the playoffs.

Vegas' roster under gallant was better than their completely injury decimated lineup during the regular season this year, and it's not even close.

 

[and 99 others]

Cycling through DABDA.

Reached "acceptance": Gallant realized this is likely Strome's last few games as a Ranger. Fox, Lindgren, Panarin, and most of the core guys love Strome. Benching Strome when he's saying he's ok to go is the quickest way to lose the locker room for next season.

Reverting back to "anger":

Still no reasonable justification for playing Dryden Hunt over Kakko.

 

[Doctyl]

Vegas' roster under gallant was better than their completely injury decimated lineup during the regular season this year, and it's not even close.

Have you looked at the first Vegas roster? That team had no right making the playoffs

 

[hackeyman]

I really like Gallant and what he has done. I disagree with some of his moves, but I have said that about every coach ever, and I think almost every fan base would tell you the same.

We lost to Tampa because they were a better team, not because of what Gallant did or did not do. They've won two consecutive Cups and played in three for a reason--they're the best team in the league, top to bottom. I think Gallant could have done some things differently to help us in certain instances, but I don't think he cost us the series, or that he could have done anything on his own that would have changed the eventual result.

I'm happy with him moving forward.

Thanks for bringing some sanity to this thread.

 

[and 99 others]

Have you looked at the first Vegas roster? That team had no right making the playoffs

The guys who broke out (Karlsson, Marchessault, Smith) and became legitimate top 6 guys in the league - broke out because they were talented enough to produce when given the opportunity/minutes and were entering the prime of their careers. It's the same as what's happening to a lesser extent with Copp and Vatrano.

 

[DuneGoon84]

Once things started to turn, GG panicked and the first thing a stubborn veteran coach who was a plugger does when he panics is that he starts panicking about the kids he's playing. Thus, the reduction in minutes in Game 5, thus the scratch of KK in Game 6, thus Brooksie's "One thing we know, though, is that Gallant never quite bought into the hype surrounding the Kid Line." Rather than just trust the things that got them there and that staved off elimination before, he changed everything around and it was a disaster.

Perfectly said, didnt read the Brooks article but if that is what he said then its bang on. GG panicked and took away minutes form the kid line, on top of all that he scratches KK for Rooney, Hunt and an injured vet in Strome. WTF is this dude thinking?I change my mind about this guy, he isnt the guy thats why he got canned twice. We wont win any championship with this guy at the helm. He was a plug himself like you said he will therefore favor other plugs over allowing kids to flourish.

 

[Kakko Schmakko]

This post is a joke. Gallant's roster was not near as good as what Vegas had last season and according to you New York failing to get past the third round was a failure but Vegas didn't even make the playoffs.

I don't care what happened in Vegas, we should not fire Gallant because Vegas didn't even make the playoffs? Logic makes no sense.

 

[Machinehead]

The more coaches we hire, the more I like Torts, believe it or not.

We always had the fundamentals down with him. His tenure is the last time more guys than not came here and improved. The best actual hockey this team has played since 2010, by far, is under Torts. That includes 13-14. AV hadn't really shaped the team yet and when he did, he had them playing jerkoffball. When Torts had Panarin in Columbus, Panarin was one of the best 200 foot players in the league.

And let's be real, Torts had no f***ing talent. If current Mika Zibanejad walked into the 11-12 locker room, it would be like Goku showed up at a novice martial arts tournament. Callahan would ask him for an autograph.

I don't know what Torts would do with Kakko and Lafreniere, but you better f***ing believe they would have learned how to skate by now like Brian Boyle had to.

Whether it's AV who coaches a different sport that he invented in his head, Quinn who just sucks, or Gallant who is too hands-off, no coach since has worked to develop structure or skills.

Torts had his flaws. He wasn't great for offense, couldn't coach a powerplay, couldn't even hire a guy to coach a powerplay, and he yells too much for too long, which erodes trust.

That being said, I would take a flawed, ok hockey coach over the shinny we've been playing at 5v5 since AV really took over.

Gallant won games here and that's certainly a pattern for him but we're still playing the fake hockey. No fundamentals. Totally disjointed. Other team has two-thirds of the shots. Three powerplay goals. Igor. Rinse. Repeat. I'm tired of fake hockey.

I talked about coaches getting a chance to settle in and that's a thing. This team still has a lot of Quinn in them for sure. I think it's fair to see what Gallant does in his second year.

That being said, that he defaulted to the same lines is not encouraging. He had the team for 102 games and affirmed that he thinks every shitty lineup decision Quinn made was a good idea. Or at the very least decided they weren't worth changing. Establishing a no-risk approach that wins just enough games to make noise but doesn't accomplish anything (Cup or development) and then sitting back to enjoy seems to be his MO.

 

[Kakko Schmakko]

The more coaches we hire, the more I like Torts, believe it or not.

We always had the fundamentals down with him. His tenure is the last time more guys than not came here and improved. The best actual hockey this team has played since 2010, by far, is under Torts. That includes 13-14. AV hadn't really shaped the team yet and when he did, he had them playing jerkoffball. When Torts had Panarin in Columbus, Panarin was one of the best 200 foot players in the league.

And let's be real, Torts had no f***ing talent. If current Mika Zibanejad walked into the 11-12 locker room, it would be like Goku showed up at a novice martial arts tournament. Callahan would ask him for an autograph.

I don't know what Torts would do with Kakko and Lafreniere, but you better f***ing believe they would have learned how to skate by now like Brian Boyle had to.

Whether it's AV who coaches a different sport that he invented in his head, Quinn who just sucks, or Gallant who is too hands-off, no coach since has worked to develop structure or skills.

Torts had his flaws. He wasn't great for offense, couldn't coach a powerplay, couldn't even hire a guy to coach a powerplay, and he yells too much for too long, which erodes trust.

That being said, I would take a flawed, ok hockey coach over the shinny we've been playing at 5v5 since AV really took over.

Gallant won games here and that's certainly a pattern for him but we're still playing the fake hockey. No fundamentals. Totally disjointed. Other team has two-thirds of the shots. Three powerplay goals. Igor. Rinse. Repeat. I'm tired of fake hockey.

I talked about coaches getting a chance to settle in and that's a thing. This team still has a lot of Quinn in them for sure. I think it's fair to see what Gallant does in his second year.

That being said, that he defaulted to the same lines is not encouraging. He had the team for 102 games and affirmed that he thinks every shitty lineup decision Quinn made was a good idea. Or at the very least decided they weren't worth changing. Establishing a no-risk approach that wins just enough games to make noise but doesn't accomplish anything (Cup or development) and then sitting back to enjoy seems to be his MO.

Torts? Why not Tom Renney?

 

[Kakko Schmakko]

We thought Quinn was bad with Gauthier where he played 30 games in a short season and scored 8 points. Well under Gallant who we thought would be great for Gauthier he only scored 7 points in 49 games in a full season (almost 50% decrease in production) and played in zero playoff games.

 

[Machinehead]

Torts? Why not Tom Renney?

Tom Renney is my favorite, actually, but that feels like the stone ages now.

They were close to a 55% possession team in '08 and the Penguins ranger'd us. I'm still mad about that.

 

[leetch99]

I was just reading on Facebook an announcement by the Mayor of Summerside PEI the home city of Turk Gallant that on Tuesday the 16th at noon/AST there will be a special announcement involving Turk .....I'm not sure what to make of that....myself I think maybe it might involve the Rangers coming here for a few days of training camp...as the PEI guys in management and such have done this before with the Flyers/Sens /Panthers over the years . It would be great for me if it is that . It likely will be covered by CJRW FM 102.1 .....a good friend of Turks owns the station . LOL.....the same one that broke the news on Keenan negotiating in 94 with the Blues during the playoffs ....

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I was just reading on Facebook an announcement by the Mayor of Summerside PEI the home city of Turk Gallant that on Tuesday the 16th at noon/AST there will be a special announcement involving Turk .....I'm not sure what to make of that....myself I think maybe it might involve the Rangers coming here for a few days of training camp...as the PEI guys in management and such have done this before with the Flyers/Sens /Panthers over the years . It would be great for me if it is that . It likely will be covered by CJRW FM 102.1 .....a good friend of Turks owns the station . LOL.....the same one that broke the news on Keenan negotiating in 94 with the Blues during the playoffs ....

Keep us updated...I'd come across(the bridge not the ferry lol) and check it out.

We thought Quinn was bad with Gauthier where he played 30 games in a short season and scored 8 points. Well under Gallant who we thought would be great for Gauthier he only scored 7 points in 49 games in a full season (almost 50% decrease in production) and played in zero playoff games.

The problem is that Gauthier isnt good.

 

[huerter]

The problem is that Gauthier isnt good.

The problem is points schmoints.

 

[leetch99]

I was just reading on Facebook an announcement by the Mayor of Summerside PEI the home city of Turk Gallant that on Tuesday the 16th at noon/AST there will be a special announcement involving Turk .....I'm not sure what to make of that....myself I think maybe it might involve the Rangers coming here for a few days of training camp...as the PEI guys in management and such have done this before with the Flyers/Sens /Panthers over the years . It would be great for me if it is that . It likely will be covered by CJRW FM 102.1 .....a good friend of Turks owns the station . LOL.....the same one that broke the news on Keenan negotiating in 94 with the Blues during the playoffs ....

Hmmm....I had a friend who lives 3 houses away from Turk's house tell me that they are naming a street after him....I'd sooner have a kick in the jewels right now . Oh well....he is a Leaf fan and he would say just about anything to get under my skin right now LOL...