The New York Rangers have had quite the coaching carousel over the past few seasons. After a five-year run by Alain Vigneault, the Blueshirts churned through David Quinn (three seasons) and Gerard Gallant (two seasons) before landing on Peter Laviolette this past offseason.
Like Gallant, Laviolette led the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final in his first year behind the bench, losing to a Florida-based team in six games. Under Gallant, a 2-0 series lead evaporated against the Tampa Bay Lightning, while under Laviolette, the Rangers squandered a 2-1 series advantage to the Florida Panthers.
When Gallant was relieved of his duties, there was a dissent in the locker room following a surprising first-round exit against their arch-rival, the New Jersey Devils, in 2023. For the second straight postseason, the Rangers led 2-0 in a best-of-seven series and lost, and it was clear that a change was needed.
Following their elimination, general manager Chris Drury relieved Gallant of his duties. The search for a new head coach was long and tedious. The first man interviewed was Laviolette, and despite Drury hosting other candidates, the Blueshirts’ GM elected to hire the veteran bench boss.
Rangers Choose Laviolette Over Knoblauch
During the process, there was much discourse around the possibility that the Rangers could take a long look at Kris Knoblauch, the then-Hartford Wolf Pack head coach. He was behind the bench of the Rangers’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate for four seasons (2019-2023). An up-and-coming young coach, he would have been a fresh face in what seems to be a league-wide recycling of NHL coaches.
Ultimately, Laviolette was the hire, and there is no doubt that his philosophy and structure paved the way for a successful season. The Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy as the best team in the NHL during the regular season. They were the first Presidents’ Trophy winners to reach the Eastern Conference Final since the 2014-15 Rangers did the same.
Yet, the season ending without a Stanley Cup still feels like a disappointment despite all the success and franchise records this club has set. The roster, goaltending, and coaching staff assembled this season, and their success over 82 games made this a Cup-or-bust scenario for the Rangers. With various contracts needing to be renewed over the next two seasons, the window for this group is closing, and the 2023-24 campaign was seemingly the year for them to do it.
That was not the case.
But, to make their elimination sting even more, the man they passed up on, Knoblauch, was offered a mid-season job to take the reins from Jay Woodcroft as the Edmonton Oilers head coach. The same Knoblauch who was in the Rangers system and seemed poised to leap to the NHL level was passed up by his parent club and given an opportunity elsewhere.
He helped turn the Oilers’ season around and now has his team in the Stanley Cup Final against the Panthers, just four wins away from a Stanley Cup. Granted, he is coaching two of the top five players in the world, but it stings nonetheless to see a potential candidate for the Rangers’ pre-season vacancy given an opportunity and running further with it than his former affiliate.
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Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, and Evan Bouchard have all scored at will this postseason, helping to push Edmonton to the brink of their first Stanley Cup since 1990. In contrast, the Rangers’ big guns were inconsistent and stymied for much of the Eastern Conference Final.
With that, Knoblauch’s departure and now success post-Rangers raises some questions of ‘Did the Rangers make the right hire?’ no matter how fair or correct they may be. Laviolette was great in his first season on Broadway, regardless of whether you question some decisions made in the season’s waning moments. Questions always arise after elimination, whereas it would have been all sunshine and roses should the Blueshirts have won the Cup.
Knoblauch Brings Mike Sullivan Flashbacks
If we rewind to the end of the 2012-13 season, the Rangers elected to part ways with then-head coach John Tortorella and his staff. On that staff was assistant coach Mike Sullivan, who followed Tortorella to Vancouver before bouncing around and eventually ending up as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Sullivan went on to lead the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups and is the only American-born head coach to win multiple Cups. He was a longshot at the time, but an option that the Rangers had at their fingertips and let slip through the cracks. Hindsight is 20/20, and the Rangers hiring of Alain Vigneault proved to be fruitful, going to the Stanley Cup Final and Eastern Conference Final in his first two seasons.
Yet, they couldn’t get over the hump, while their former assistant did with a new club. Fast forward to June 2024, and a similar situation is brewing. Knoblauch left mid-season for Edmonton, where he is now four wins away from replicating a Sullivan-esque path. While the Rangers’ drought will live on for at least one more season, Knoblauch has an opportunity to help the Oilers end their own.
And while the Rangers’ elimination at the hands of the Panthers is still fresh and raw for most, the thought of Knoblauch winning the Stanley Cup in the same season where his candidacy for the vacant Blueshirts’ job was discussed, makes it sting even more.
Let me clarify—I wish Knoblauch nothing but success. He served his role as the Wolf Pack’s head coach well and deserved an opportunity at the NHL level. Yet, his success with his new team, especially if he sustains it and adds a Cup or two—like Sullivan—to his resume, will always beg the question of whether the Rangers made the right decision by letting him go.
The story remains unfinished, but after a disappointing end to a promising season in New York, Knoblauch’s run in Edmonton is a tough pill to swallow.
