The New York Rangers and Gerard Gallant mutually agreed to part ways this past Saturday. After a first round exit at the hands of the New Jersey Devils in seven games, moving on from Gallant just seems like a bit of an overreaction at the hands of the Rangers.
Parting ways with Gerard Gallant is a mistake for the New York Rangers.
The New York Rangers finished the 2022-23 NHL season with a record of 47-22-13, good enough for third in the Metropolitan Division. They started off the postseason looking like that top dominant team they were supposed to be, as they beat games one and two of their first round matchup with the New Jersey Devils.
Things took a turn for the worse though as the Rangers then failed to win all three of their home games and eventually fell in a game seven 4-0. Overall, the Rangers had a pretty good season, but after buying in hard at the deadline, losing in round one is just not good enough for the team.
This is Rangers President and GM Chris Drury’s second coaching move since he was named general manager in May of 2021. Drury hired Gallant in June of 2021, and now not even two full years later he is taking the team in a new direction.
"After my evaluation of the season and discussions with Gerard, we mutually came to the conclusion that a change would be beneficial for both parties. I wish he and his family all the best in the future. Our search for a new head coach will begin right away.”
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 6, 2023
In his two seasons as coach of the Rangers, Gallant led the team to the Stanley Cup playoffs in both seasons. In 2021-22, the Rangers went all the way to the Eastern Conference Final before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. This season might not have been as successful in the postseason, but it is still a pretty good two year stretch for the team.
Here are Gallant’s stats as a coach in the NHL:
| Regular Season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Age | Tm | Lg | GP | W | L | T | OL | PTS | PTS% | Finish | G | W | L | T | W-L% | Notes |
| 2003-04 | 40 | CBJ | NHL | 45 | 16 | 24 | 4 | 1 | 37 | .411 | 4th | ||||||
| 2005-06 | 42 | CBJ | NHL | 82 | 35 | 43 | 4 | 74 | .451 | 3rd | |||||||
| 2006-07 | 43 | CBJ | NHL | 15 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 11 | .367 | 4th | |||||||
| 2014-15 | 51 | FLA | NHL | 82 | 38 | 29 | 15 | 91 | .555 | 6th | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2015-16 | 52 | FLA | NHL | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 103 | .628 | 1st | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | |||
| 2016-17 | 53 | FLA | NHL | 22 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 23 | .523 | 6th | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2017-18 | 54 | VEG | NHL | 82 | 51 | 24 | 7 | 109 | .665 | 1st | 20 | 13 | 7 | .650 | Western Conference Champions | ||
| 2018-19 | 55 | VEG | NHL | 82 | 43 | 32 | 7 | 93 | .567 | 3rd | 7 | 3 | 4 | .429 | |||
| 2019-20 | 56 | VEG | NHL | 49 | 24 | 19 | 6 | 54 | .551 | 1st | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2021-22 | 58 | NYR | NHL | 82 | 52 | 24 | 6 | 110 | .671 | 2nd | 20 | 10 | 10 | .500 | |||
| 2022-23 | 59 | NYR | NHL | 82 | 47 | 22 | 13 | 107 | .652 | 3rd | 7 | 3 | 4 | .429 | |||
| 3 yrs | CBJ | NHL | 142 | 56 | 76 | 4 | 6 | 122 | .430 | ||||||||
| 3 yrs | FLA | NHL | 186 | 96 | 65 | 25 | 217 | .583 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | |||||
| 3 yrs | VEG | NHL | 213 | 118 | 75 | 20 | 256 | .601 | 27 | 16 | 11 | .593 | |||||
| 2 yrs | NYR | NHL | 164 | 99 | 46 | 19 | 217 | .662 | 27 | 13 | 14 | .481 | |||||
| Career | NHL | 705 | 369 | 262 | 4 | 70 | 812 | .576 | 60 | 31 | 29 | .517 |
Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/7/2023.
The Rangers will now be searching for a new head coach once again. While Gallant did have a strong showing during his time in New York, there is one area that the team definitely needs to improve, getting their young players producing consistently.
During the Rangers round one loss to the Devils, Alexis Lafrenière had no points, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil both had just one goal, and the trio was not nearly as productive as the year before. The Rangers need to get their young players going if they are to be successful in the next few years. While Gallant was a great coach for the veterans, he might not have been the best coach for the young players on the roster.