Bad news for the “FIRE AV!” crabs: Not only did the Rangers extend Vigneault’s contract through the 2019-20 season…they gave him a raise.
Larry Brooks of the New York Post first reported the story late Monday night. The NHL then picked it up, followed by NBC’s Rotoworld and just like that, Rangerstown was apprised of the situation. No “bogus headlines” here. That just happened.
More gum chewing – at times furious gum chewing, more enigmatic player benchings, more repetitive Québécois-accented pressers and more mole all add up to…more winning?
Obviously. His accomplishments behind an NHL bench are already impressive and they are mounting. Vigneault’s career to-date is a study in endurance, success and consistency.
In 15 combined NHL seasons (1101 games and counting), Vigneault’s 597 career wins place him 15th all-time on the NHL’s win list. He took time off because he thought his career was over, but he came back, kept winning and took home a Jack Adams Award in 2007. That is endurance.
Since 2013, he has coached the Blueshirts to a 175-97-23 record over 295 consecutive regular season games. Before the end of this season – barring a collapse of orange and blue proportions – Vigneault will surpass Frank Boucher for 3rd all-time in Rangers franchise history for wins. That is success.
He will also overtake his predecessor (and tonight’s opposing coach), John Tortorella, whose Rangers career spanned 319 regular season games, for 5th all-time in total games with the franchise. None of Vigneault’s Rangers teams have missed the playoffs. That is consistency.
There is, of course, the other consistency – the one to which his critics immediately turn anytime someone tries to explain why they like Alain Vigneault: He has consistently failed to close out a season with a Stanley Cup win.
It’s foolish to try and argue with results, whether they work for or against one’s argument. Vigneault could set regular season records for wins, total games coached, kittens saved, diseases cured, bridges built…whatever: without a Cup, Ranger fans (and their counterparts) are always going to harp on the gaping void where a career capstone Cup victory should be.
(Cue: Collective mumbling about Lundqvist…)
“This is a smart move by the Rangers, as he’s shown that he’s one of the better coaches in the league.” – Rotoworld
It’s hard to imagine a less offensive guy engendering more split sentiment than Vigneault. Fans are as quick to text, tweet or post #INAVWETRUST as they are to call for his dismissal.
His style with the media can be characterized as ‘tactically bland.’ Vigneault warmly engages reporters and interviewers, calmly fields most questions thrown his way and generally protects his players publicly. But he rarely gives away anything that hasn’t seemingly been cleared through prior discussion. He is a master at staying on message. He may liven up the script with some “friendly uncle” chuckles, but if you listen to him regularly, he’s a brick wall. Some like hearing him speak, some have been bored with it for years and others are just…routinely confused. At times, it seems like he actually enjoys that.
Vigneault was chosen over a Rangers legend – nay, an NHL legend – in Mark Messier back in 2013. That turned a lot of people off. The decision-making there was reminiscent of the Yankees going to Joe Girardi over Don Mattingly in the wake of Joe Torre’s departure from that organization. New Yorkers like their favorites and are wont to lament ad nauseum should one of them get the snub in favor of even the most qualified candidate. Vigneault was the clear choice in that pair, but some fans have simply never warmed to it.
Immediate success in 2013-14 went quite a long way for AV in unlocking a cold Rangerstown heart. The honeymoon lasted at least until the Los Angeles Kings’ Alec Martinez beat Henrik Lundqvist in a double overtime Cup clincher. Another New York reminiscence rings true on that one – in Nas’ immortal words from ‘Shook Ones Pt II’: “And when things turn for real, my warm heart turn cold.” It got real right there for Vigneault as the harpies came down out of the rafters.
In New York, when a local team has a shot at a title and (*GASP*) misses that shot, the body fanatic aims it’s vitriol stream directly at the head. It has happened with every head coach I’ve seen come and go in this city’s professional sports world. Losing that Cup Final still overshadows everything else Vigneault has done in New York. It doesn’t matter whether that’s fair or not. It’s New York and that is what happens here.
You know what else happens here? People can make lots and lots of money. Rangers GM Jeff Gorton, team president Glen Sather and Garden chair Jim Dolan certainly make theirs and they’ve seen fit to make sure AV makes more of his own. He has at least two more seasons to make good on his his raise.
Different line, same song: in New York “Ain’t no such thing as halfway crooks.” You’ve been paid, Mr. Vigneault – stop bein’ shook:
Bring us a Cup.