Who Do You Want to be the Next Head Coach of the NY Rangers?

[hackeyman]

Is Laviolette not clearly the best coach available ?

 

[bobbop]

I’m intrigued by Babcock. He’s had plenty of time to be humbled.

I lived in CA in 2003 when he took a very ordinary Mighty Ducks team to the seventh game of the finals. Everyone knows what he did with the Red Wings and the Canadian Olympic team. The guy can coach.

I‘m certainly interested in hearing more.

 

[SA16]

I’m intrigued by Babcock. He’s had plenty of time to be humbled.

I lived in CA in 2003 when he took a very ordinary Mighty Ducks team to the seventh game of the finals. Everyone knows what he did with the Red Wings and the Canadian Olympic team. The guy can coach.

I‘m certainly interested in hearing more.

Suppose he taught JS Giguere how to stop 94.5% of the shots he faced?

 

[pld459666]

They’re just going to the net. That’s all. The MSL disallowed goal. Go to the net. That’s how you score in the playoffs.

The other way to score is to have an amazing shot. All of our guys suck at shooting.

Go to the net or GTFO.

Been saying this forever.

Get to the net.

 

[GENESISPuck94]

Knoblauch - he's been successful at every level so far, knows the organization, and is a fresh face who gets a lot out of players.

It sends the right message throughout the organization that we are going to look from within our personnel to start playing better rather than constantly looking for outside help to come in and save us.

Continuity from our AHL team can't be a bad thing either.

The only reason why you wouldn't use him is because he hasn't coached at this level before. But that's not really a valid reason. Every indication has shown that he's ready for this.

I also think he'll give the kids more playing time.

Agree. But he did coach a few NHL games when Quinn was out sick. And the team looked improved for those few games.

 

[GENESISPuck94]

I love this example of how the 2014 team played.



Everything is so smooth and simple. They have a foot speed advantage that's very apparent but what's just as apparent is how fast they move the puck. Even players that are not playmakers make smart passes. If the chance isn't there, they go into the corners and go to work. They always seem to make the right decision on which one of those to do. If the goalie is slightly off his set, the puck goes right to the cage. Shots are downhill. The current team is obsessed with the royal road but even if they get the pass through, they either take forever to shoot which defeats the purpose, or take they a useless one-timer that misses the net 90% of the time. The 2014 team had that perfect middle ground of catching and releasing with urgency. You see it on Staal's goal and on a number of other chances. They're so aggressive in the neutral zone. It leads to a few chances against but the Flyers are doing nothing in between those chances because they're not being let into the zone at will. On Richie's goal, Miller beefs a clear chance and shanks it behind the net. If the current team does that, it's one and done almost every time. Here, Hagelin is already following up before the shot gets there just in case. It's not just fast skating. It's speed with decision-making and moving when you don't have the puck.

All of this seems doable! We could certainly use an upgrade as far as PMD's but this team had Staal and Girardi playing almost 50 minutes out of 60. It's still doable!

And maybe the roster just doesn't have horses. Fine. If they play like this and come up a bit short because that's the team we have in a cap league, I don't care. I just want to enjoy it again.

This 2014 team had some of the same personnel decision issues this current Rangers team has.

Dubinsky, Anisimov, Callahan all out for Nash (bust in the playoffs) and St. Louis (shiny TDL toy). Richards brought in to be a top 6 center, not a top 6 center.

Panarin (playoff bust), Kane (shiny TDL toy), Trocheck not a real top 6 center. Laf, Kakko, Chytil overlooked for mediocre vets like Copp, Vatrano, Tarasenko, etc.

Dolan is the commonality.

I agree though and said it before, the team can be making quicker decisions with the puck, they can move the puck quicker, they can shoot quicker. But there has to be someone talking them to do so and they have to be willing to do it.

Panarin doesn't look like he will ever be willing to do anything other than what Panarin wants to do. At least Nash was willing to work even when he wasn't producing. There's no redeeming quality to Panarin unless his way happens to work any given night.

 

[RangerBoy]

Mike Sullivan, the two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins, began his coaching career with the Providence Bruins in 2002.

He had recently retired from playing and quickly made the transition to the coaching ranks. It was evident from Day 1 he had the passion, knowledge, and conviction to become a successful coach in pro hockey.

Jay Leach is cut from the same cloth.

Listening to him discuss hockey, the players, systems and philosophies, and it's eerily similar to Sullivan.

At the time when Leach was trying to figure out his future, then-Bruins assistant coach Geoff Ward left the organization and became the head coach of Mannheim of the German Elite League. He invited Leach to join the coaching staff.

“It was scary,” Leach said. “I had never been overseas, but Geoff was just the best guy and if there’s a coach out there that you want to talk hockey with, there’s no one better than Geoff Ward. He’s been at every level. He’s done it all and has this spectrum of experience that you can talk to him about on a daily basis.”

Immediately, Ward trusted Leach to handle the team’s defense and penalty kill. The first-year coach worked hard, studied and became a student of his new craft.

“I was really impressed with him right away when I first met with him,” Ward said. “He’s a personable guy. He’s got good ideas. He’s a student of the game and you can see that very quickly. He was an honest pro and he earned his living. He sort of had an idea what he wanted to do after hockey because he put his time in, as far as studying the game.

“He’s going to be a really good head coach. He’s prepared to put in the work, which is one of the biggest things, obviously. He does a really good job of studying the opposition and understanding his own team and what he needs to do to get the most out of them. He has what all coaches need these days, and that’s being a good communicator. You need to understand how to motivate each individual player and he can certainly do that.”

Boston Sports Journal

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The Rangers want Sullivan but he is not available. Hire his clone.

The lines of communication with Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy were always open too. Leach made sure his players were ready if the Bruins came calling, which was the case numerous times during the season.

“He was great with me,” Leach said of his working relationship with Cassidy. “We wouldn’t speak a ton just because there’s so much going on for him, but when there would be opportunities for call-ups, or if he was looking for a certain player and how they’re playing, we would get to talk on that front. Then, I was able to ask him questions on different scenarios, or past experiences that he had when coaching at our level and he was able to offer some advice.

McDonald: For Providence Bruins coach Jay Leach, a first year of learning and success

Jay Leach is known for his preparation and work ethic. Like many great hockey coaches, Leach studies the game, which is one reason the first-year coach of the Providence Bruins guided a mixed roster of older and younger players into the Calder Cup playoffs this past season with a 45-26-3-2...

theathletic.com

In 2021, the Rangers were waiting to see if the Bruins fired Cassidy or if Brind'Amour would leave Carolina. None of that happened.

Why not just hire the guy who has worked with Sullivan in the AHL or has worked with Cassidy in Boston?

The six degrees of Jay Leach.

 

[McRanger92]

The 2007-08 Rangers at even strength:

3rd in goal differential
3rd in shot differential
4th in corsi
7th in xG
6th in save percentage

That team was an absolute locomotive and I'm still mad that they lost to the mid ass Penguins and their stupid powerplay and because of stupid Hollweg.

That was a very good Ranger team. I will never forget Game 1 in Pittsburgh. Blew a 3 goal lead early only to go down 4-3 and tie it again late in the 3rd. Then of course scumbag Malkin scored with a minute left to snatch it away. One of my first vivid memories of playoff heartbreak. I was sitting in a suite for the only game they won in the series and met Jeff Beukeboom though, so I guess it wasn't all bad memories.

 

[SRHRangers]

Yes... This is absolutely true... and I am one of those people.

Torts absolutely should have been fired when he was. And it wasn't because he was a bad coach. Coaches like him have an expiration date, and that's perfectly fine.

Torts absolutely would be an amazing coach for this group of players.


Where is the "Let Trouba QB PP2" button?


Sadly this is completely false.
It absolute mattered, and they absolutely Rongo'd it.

Jets fans did the same thing to Rex Ryan.

We would kill for that now

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

Whenever I see the name Jay Leach, I think of Jay Wells and Brian Leetch

 

[McRanger92]

Suppose he taught JS Giguere how to stop 94.5% of the shots he faced?

Every coach is only as good as the goaltending he gets.

 

[CLW]

I said teams with structure.

Obviously.

I said back in the December the team was wasting time by not firing the coach(es) who had no structure.

 

[will1066]

Whenever I see the name Jay Leach, I think of Jay Wells and Brian Leetch

So does Sam

 

[GAGLine]

Every coach is only as good as the goaltending he gets.

If that were true, Gallant would still be the coach. Hell, none of Renney, Torts, AV or Quinn would have been fired, as we've had solid to great goaltending for the better part of the last 18 years.

 

[McRanger92]

If that were true, Gallant would still be the coach. Hell, none of Renney, Torts, AV or Quinn would have been fired, as we've had solid to great goaltending for the better part of the last 18 years.

It's all a case by case basis. Gallant was only successful in the regular season because of Igor. It's not like he masterminded many coaching moves that improved the team. He probably actively hindered them in some regard. Shows how ineffective a coach he was for this group (who are also not innocent in his firing obviously)

 

[Kravtsov420]

I just want a good communicator who can command respect, with great X’s and O’s Knowledge.

Hire chuck knoblauch

 

[Ruggs225]

I just want a good communicator who can command respect, with great X’s and O’s Knowledge.

Hire chuck knoblauch

The baseball player? Bold move cotton!

But yeah he probably would be better than gallant at x’s and o’s

 

[bobbop]

Does he lose the room if they're winning?

Goaltending is normally the coach killer. Goaltending and Powerplay was the issue.

He’s never been a candidate for Miss Congeniality

I just want a good communicator who can command respect, with great X’s and O’s Knowledge.

Hire chuck knoblauch

Ha.

Chick Knoblach. One of the biggest jerks in baseball history.

 

[EdJovanovski]

I nominate @bobbop
assitants @bernmeister @siravgaardhockeyprofessor @Kocur26 & myself

 

[Kravtsov420]

I nominate @bobbop
assitants @bernmeister @siravgaardhockeyprofessor @Kocur26 & myself

we might as well just hire Roy

 

[GAGLine]

The baseball player? Bold move cotton!

But yeah he probably would be better than gallant at x’s and o’s

The Rangers already have trouble completing passes. I can't see Chuck Knoblauch helping with that.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

There's more to doing a rebuild than just drafting players, that's the start and end of our problems here

 

[Peltz]

They’re just going to the net. That’s all. The MSL disallowed goal. Go to the net. That’s how you score in the playoffs.

The other way to score is to have an amazing shot. All of our guys suck at shooting.

Go to the net or GTFO.

It really does seem like the 2023 Rangers are trying to do advanced calculus out there to generate offense rather than just crash the net and get some rebounds.

You can see it on the power play too. Zib shouldn't need to execute the perfect one timer to score. Kreider shouldn't need to achieve the perfect deflection to bank puck in at an impossible angle either. Panarin shouldn't need to thread a perfect pass through a defender's legs to make things happen.

It's cool when they do these tic-tac-toe sorts of plays, but that should be the exception, not the norm to score. When other teams expect these things every play, they're just not very effective.

Sustainable offense is generated by having layered waves of players driving toward the net, shooting low at the pads to get rebounds, and occasionally picking a top corner to keep goalies honest.

It's also generated by winning puck battles and having possession for extended periods of time to wear down the opposing D. There's just zero substitution for winning board battles and transitioning up the ice as a unit. And the Rangers honestly lacked that since "The Letter" went out, with the exception of the kid line... sometimes. Fox being an exception here too.

 

[Peltz]

Is Laviolette not clearly the best coach available ?

He relies exclusively on vets. I don't think he's a fit here.

I’m intrigued by Babcock. He’s had plenty of time to be humbled.

I lived in CA in 2003 when he took a very ordinary Mighty Ducks team to the seventh game of the finals. Everyone knows what he did with the Red Wings and the Canadian Olympic team. The guy can coach.

I‘m certainly interested in hearing more.

2003 was *checks notes* 20 years ago now. Maybe, just maybe, we can get someone who players don't think is a locker room parasite. I really like the idea of not recycling another discarded coach and giving an opportunity to someone new.

I don't think Babcock has coached in like 5 years. The game has changed a lot since then too. I'm sick of dinosaurs.

 

[LOFIN]

Is Laviolette not clearly the best coach available ?

For once, I'd hope this organization doesn't go after someone who's the best one available, but someone who is the best fit.

I don't like what I hear from Laviolette regarding relying on your vets. Need to push kids into roles.