Rangers and Gallant Agree to Part Ways

Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images

What a strange two years this has been for the New York Rangers.

Last year, the team came within two wins of reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2014. This was after a regular season in which they were the seventh-best team in the league, thanks to a 52-24-6 record and 110 points.

This season, the Blueshirts again eclipsed the 100-point mark with a 47-22-13 record and 107 points, which was good for ninth in the league. Despite having another solid regular season, however, the team got knocked out by the New Jersey Devils in the first round of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs in seven games.

In what was somewhat of a surprising move, the Rangers announced early Saturday evening, May 6, that they and Gallant agreed to mutually part ways. It is surprising, given how much success the team had under Gallant in the two regular seasons he was at the helm and also the fact that he and his team had the league’s third-best team one loss away from being trounced from the playoffs.

In looking at it the other way, it is easy to see why Gallant is no longer the team’s head coach. After going up 2-0 in their series with the Devils, the Rangers would lose their next three games, win Game 6, and then get shutout in Game 7.

It was the team’s losses in Games 4, 5, and 7 that were really discerning. The team scored just one goal in those three games combined while also not hustling, not playing with any sense of urgency, not winning battles along the boards, not creating enough offense, being careless with the puck, and looking completely lost out on the ice.

It was not supposed to be this way for the Rangers this season. After acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko and then getting Patrick Kane just before the trade deadline, this team had aspirations of winning the Cup.

With those acquisitions, they had a deep enough offense, a strong defense, and an all-world goaltender in Igor Shesterkin. When you put those three things together, you have a team that should win at least one playoff round.

That did not happen, and because that was the case, Gallant was the fall guy.

In this week's episode we discuss the Gavrikov signing, K’Miller trade, NYR’s outlook and more.How to support us and our sponsors:Columbia Sports ApparelESPN+ SubscriptionFanaticsDraft Kings – CODE ITRThanks for listening! Please rate and review our show on your favorite listening platform. Check out our partner's website at www.insidetherink.com for all your latest hockey news.
  1. A Key Day on Broadway
  2. Don't Cry-der Because It's Over
  3. Can the Rangers Cop Robo?
  4. Guest Will Wright : 1st Pick this Year or Next?
  5. Fortune Telling w/ Joe Fortunato

Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Patrick Hoffman

Patrick covers the NHL for Inside The Rink. He has previously covered the league for The Ultimate Hockey Fan Cave, WTP Sports, Sportsnet.ca, Kukla’s Korner, Spector’s Hockey, NHL Network Radio blog, TheHockeyNews.com, The Fourth Period, Stan Fischler’s “The Fischler Report”, as well as a slew of others.

Leave a Reply

San Jose Sharks Sign Jeff Skinner

San Jose Sharks Sign Jeff Skinner

The San Jose Sharks signed forward Jeff Skinner to a one-year deal with three million AAV.

Read More

Winnipeg Jets Re-Sign Isaak Phillips

Back in January, the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks completed an AHL trade sending Dmitry Kuzmin to the Rockford IceHogs in exchange for Isaak Phillips. Today, the Winnipeg Jets announced that they’ve signed restricted free agent Isaak Phillips to a two-year, two-way contract carrying an average annual value of $812,500 in the NHL. The 23-year-old […]

Read More
Carolina Hurricanes Sign a Forward and a Defenseman

Carolina Hurricanes Sign a Forward and a Defenseman

Carolina Hurricanes Sign a Forward and a Defenseman

Read More