We’ve presented final grades for the New York Rangers’ offense, defense, and goaltenders, but now it’s time to discuss the coaches.
Today I will present another round of grades for the New York Rangers organization, the coaches.I’ve always believed that coaches are by far the hardest people of any organization to judge, especially when they have the small sample size that Scott Arniel, Ulf Samuelsson, Benoit Allaire, and Alain Vigneault have.
Coaches obviously have a lot of responsibility on their plates, as their systems on the ice, personnel decisions, preparation, and strategies all greatly affect the outcome of a given season.
No, coaches are not the people who have the responsibility of executing on the ice, but their fundamental approach makes a huge difference.
If you don’t believe that a coach can have a significant impact on a team, just look at that team over in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins looked horrible with former head coach Mike Johnston at the helm.
There was player drama and the team just wasn’t performing. The systems and strategies that Johnston had in place simply didn’t work well for the players on the roster.
As soon at former New York Rangers assistant coach Mike Sullivan took over in December, everything changed. Statistically, Pittsburgh was the best team in the NHL from Christmas through to the end of the season.
They are now two wins away from another Stanley Cup Final appearance.
The Rangers’ current coaching staff had a pretty impressive first two seasons with the organization. While the Stanley Cup Final and an Eastern Conference Final appearances came up short, they raised expectations to an arguably unrealistic level.
So with unrealistic expectations and a very suspect roster, how much of the responsibility should Alain Vigneault and company bear?
It’s time to find out.
Benoit Allaire
Behind every world-class goalie is a world-class goalie coach, and that statement couldn’t be any more true for the New York Rangers’ goalie coach Benoit Allaire.
Allaire is probably the only goalie coach in history to receive a standing ovation during team introductions, and it’s well deserved.
Allaire’s biggest attribute isn’t necessarily coaching technique or positioning, but rather his uncanny ability to steer his students through the psychological war that goalies have to endure.
We’ve seen the hockey “zen-master” pick goalies up off of the floor, dust them off, and send them back into battle with renewed confidence on a number of occasions.
Following a brutal overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings in February, backup Antti Raanta was about as defeated as I’ve seen any athlete.
He basically admitted to the media during post-game press conferences that his confidence was almost non-existent and that he was very nervous throughout the game.
However, with the guidance and magic of Allaire, Raanta was able to find his game again and the once defeated net minder finished the season strong.
Grade: A
Ulf Samuelsson/Scott Arniel
Let’s be fair:
While both of these coaches have an impact on the team, no one truly knows to what degree they make decisions.
Is the defensive system Samuelsson’s or Vigneault’s?
Only the people in the locker room know for sure.
Either way, Samuelsson is the defensive coach so he certainly deserves a portion of the blame for his players’ poor performance throughout the season.
Yes, the players often made terrible decisions that lead to bad coverage and turnovers, but a continual lack of defensive adjustment had me scratching my head at times.
The Rangers’ defensive would make basic defensive gaffes that would continue without any improvement.
Opponents would be left alone in front of Lundqvist and the Rangers defensemen would never change their positioning to cover said players.
That falls on the coaching.
When coverage continues to be a problem it is either a result of players that lack skill or a system that doesn’t fit the players’ skill set.
Arniel’s power play had moments of brilliance throughout the season. At it’s best, the Rangers’ power play moved the puck quickly and efficiently which lead to productivity on the score sheet.
However, when the Blueshirts needed their special teams to come through in the clutch, they often sputtered out like a car with 200,000 miles on it.
Grade: C
Alain Vigneault
As good as AV was throughout his first two seasons as the Rangers’ head coach, he had an equally rough go of it this season.
Vigneault failed in four major categories this season: Player development, roster decisions, player preparation, and lack of adjustments.
Like his predecessor, Vigneault has demonstrated that his handling of young talent was less than ideal.
Players like Dylan McIlrath and Kevin Hayes were victims of yet another Rangers’ coach who looked unsure of how to deal with his young players.
Take Kevin Hayes for instance.
Benching a player can often send a message, as it will either give a player the chance to rest and reassess their game or serve as a slap on the wrist.
While I’ve been highly critical of Hayes this season, I’ve disagreed with AV’s handling of him.
A young and highly skilled player needs to taught and nourished, not publicly shamed and sat on the bench. You have to imagine that after being treated like a rebellious juvenile that Hayes might have tuned out the inconsistent coach.
Is it possible that AV held Hayes to unrealistic expectations? Most likely.
Then there’s Dylan McIlrath, who showed at times that he was capable of performing as a fifth or sixth defenseman but was never given consistent ice time to properly develop.
The McIlrath issue also hits upon Vigneault’s questionable roster decisions.
I mean, why wouldn’t you have Tanner Glass on the ice in the final two minutes of a big game?
Why not continue to match-up Dan Boyle against bigger and more physical opponents?
Sure, put Jesper Fast on the top two lines as he most certainly earned those roles.
The Rangers traded for Eric Staal? Let’s throw him on the third line and never surround him with the talent that he needed to be successful.
Check, check, check, and check.
The most shocking recurring issue of the 2015-16 season was a blatant lack of preparation for big games.
Just when you thought the Rangers were going to storm onto the ice like players who just heard an inspiring fire and brimstone speech, we often saw lackadaisical play.
Quite literally, the Rangers’ fans seemed more pumped for a handful of games than the players did this year.
That also falls on the coach.
And just how did AV deal with all of this adversity? Well actually, he didn’t deal with any of it.
Like John Tortorella, Vigneault seemed like a captive of his own stubbornness in 2015-16.
Vigneault Should Learn From Tom Coughlin
He didn’t make any adjustments and other teams took advantage.
One thing is for sure.
If Alain Vigneault continues to conduct his business like we saw this past season then he will have something else in common with Tortorella, and I’m not talking about his love of dogs.
In the end, a team’s performance falls on the shoulders of the coach and general manager.
Oh, we haven’t forgotten about Jeff Gorton.
He’s up next.