Yeah, that's the one thing that's baffling to me. How is anyone possibly suggesting that getting rid of Gallant wasn't the right move? The guy barely talked to the players and was always mad that nobody would buy into his message. I mean...no shit?
There's a weird mix of guys that appear to want to work and be coached right now and then there's the vets doing their same ol' shtick thinking it'll be different this time.
As an aside, it's very weird to see the Knicks in juxtaposition to the Rangers right now. There hasn't been an NBA team that's made as many gigantic moves as the Knicks, including trading highly-drafted, young "core" pieces and then flipping a key bench piece like DiVo and a borderline star in Randle. It didn't phase them, and they're set up to be an extremely good team once they get their bench pieces healthy (big if there). Hockey is the only sport where everyone is so worried about perfecting all of the intangible things as opposed to focusing primarily on building a good team.
When gallant was fired, a piece came out that said Drury was approached by players who basically said "his practices suck, they lack intensity, they're boring, and they're not instructional"
If my players told me that the coach would be gone immediately.
Those aren't player doesn't like the coach because he doesnt give ice time, those are clear, indications that a coach isn't coaching.
From all reports Lavi is coaching. Players are getting better, he uses players as best he can.
Does he over rely on the vets at times? Sure.
He's also willing to throw kids into spots.
Kakko at center was an out of the box solution, that didnt seem to backfire.