I've tried taking a week to sit and stew on that absolute travesty of a series, and I'm still really at a loss for words for the fundamental failures of this organization from top-to-bottom.
I like Gallant, and I said that they should fire David Quinn and hire him the second he was let go by Vegas. Long story short, you can't blow two consecutive 2-0 playoffs series leads while getting decisively out-coached in the process. I know the guys love him, but he needs to be the sacrificial lamb here. I'm going to save a lot of what else I need to say about how getting players to buy in an execute has been a problem for the last 4 years because I've already seen people discuss that. That being said, I don't think simply changing the coaching staff will help this organization do what it needs to do moving forward. I think the largest issue is that Drury needs to figure out a way to modernize their approach for how to handle how the NHL is evolving, and I have a few ideas for where they can start.
Part of it starts with Drury having some self-accountability and realizing that his first few steps for rebuilding the organization after JD and Gorton were fired have been rather flawed. I don't just mean hiring a coaching staff, replacing some of the old scouts, etc. I mean rebuilding the fundamental processes that drive how the organization is ran. My idea to fix it? Hire Ryan Hardy to be the GM. Drury can be PoHO. If you follow the USHL like I do, you know that Hardy already has the track record for building the Chicago Steel into becoming an absolute powerhouse organization because of his top-down approach for how he focused on getting
everybody in the organization on the same exact plan. It's exactly why Dubas hired him to be their aGM. It's exactly how Chicago has managed to still be the premier USHL destination after he left. It's exactly how they've had two of their head coaches go on to becoming successful AHL coaches with Brock Sheahan being next in line. It's exactly how they keep recruiting top talent, including next year's first overall, Macklin Celebrini. They built an organizational process where everyone going there knows they're going to get better.
We were looking into Hardy before we hired Ryan Martin to be the aGM. Back up the Brink's truck, Dolan. If you don't believe me, here's a look into his mindset for how it works:
In late June, Kyle Dubas tapped Hardy as the Leafs' senior director of minor league operations. He'll act as GM of the Marlies and Growlers.
theathletic.com
And you know what? That's how they'll fix this bullshit about not having people on the same page, ineffectiveness with development, not getting players to buy in. It starts at the f***ing top. Firing Gallant and replacing him with someone like Sutter is putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. It'll just be more of the same shit just with a different look. Knoblauch's had success lately, but there will be a bit of recency bias evaluating him. His overall track record has been rather lackluster, but again, that's in part due to the organization's failures for giving him talent to work with. I don't think he's what we need moving forward.
None of this will be easy, but it's worth trying. Trying to do things the "Ranger Way" hasn't worked. Fix the process.