Rangers fill coaching vacancies with a few familiar faces

The Rangers finalize their assistance coaching positions at the NHL, AHL levels. 

On Tuesday morning, the New York Rangers announced the completion of their coaching staffs.

Gord Murphy, Mike Kelly, and Jim Midgley have been named Assistant Coaches on new Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant’s staff.

In addition, long-time NHL defenseman Steve Smith has been named an Assistant Coach with the Hartford Wolf Pack (the Rangers’ AHL affiliate).

Murphy as 18 years of coaching experience, 16 of which in the NHL. The past two seasons saw Murphy serving as the associate head coach with the Wolf Pack. He also stepped in as an assistant coach with the Rangers in the bubble in 2020 and assisted the coaching staff at times last year.

Murphy and Gallant were coaches together in Columbis between 2002 and 2007 as well.

Kelly is no stranger to Gallant, either; he was on Gallant’s coaching staff with both Florida and Vegas. He also spent time as an assistant coach in Vancouver between 2006 and 2008.

Midgley was most recently an Assistant Coach with Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship. He also served as an amateur scout for the Flyers last season. His coaching experience has been in the QMJHL over nine seasons.

After playing parts of 16 seasons in the NHL, Smith comes to the Rangers with 11 years of assistant coaching and scouting experience with NHL organizations. He was an assistant coach with Buffalo between 2018 and 2021.