Parting ways with Gerard Gallant is a mistake for the New York Rangers

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:

Career coaching record
	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.

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