Headlines

  • Islanders Name Mathieu Darche General Manager
  • NHL Announces General Manager Of The Year Finalists
  • Maple Leafs Won’t Renew Brendan Shanahan’s Contract
  • Blackhawks Hire Jeff Blashill, Michael Peca
  • Sabres Gauging Bowen Byram’s Trade Market
  • Blue Jackets Shopping First-Round Picks
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

New York Rangers Fire Coach Alain Vigneault

April 8, 2018 at 9:02 am CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 3 Comments

Hours after putting up an egg in their 5-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, the New York Rangers fired their head coach Alain Vigneault after five years. After four playoff appearances, the Rangers struggled, finishing 34-39-9 on the season. In all, however, Vigneault had quite a bit of success in his time in New York, which included taking the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013-14, his first season with the team. He led the team to a 226-147-37 record over the five years.

The firing also came after Vigneault himself stated in his post-game press conference that he deserved to stay and defended his record, according to Newsday’s Colin Stephenson.

“Yes, yes. Without a doubt,’’ he said when asked if he thought he would hold on to his job despite the Rangers’ 34-39-9 record, which caused them to miss the playoffs for only the second time since the NHL lockout that canceled the 2004-05 season. “I think my staff is the right staff for this job. I think — and this is just my opinion — but I think one of the strongest assets of this organization is its coaching staff and their experience.’’

Some of Vigneault’s struggles were not his doing as the Rangers decided to rebuild on the fly, sending out a letter on Feb. 7, telling fans about their decision to rebuild the team. The Rangers followed that by selling off several veterans including Michael Grabner, Rick Nash, Nick Holden, J.T. Miller and captain Ryan McDonah.

However, Stephenson also points out several issues that came up this season that forced the Rangers to head in that direction. After re-designing its defense with the acquisitions of star free agent Kevin Shattenkirk and re-signing Brendan Smith, the team was hoping to possess one of the best defenses in the league. Instead, the team started slowly at 1-6-2 in its first nine games and was 3-7-2 after 12 in which Vigneault almost lost his job. The team was able to right the ship after that, but only because of the impressive play of both the team’s goaltenders in Henrik Lundqvist and Ondrej Pavelec. Neither goalie was able to sustain their great play.

Injuries also played a part. Shattenkirk was playing hurt, while Smith came into camp out of shape and never returned to form before eventually being sent down to the AHL. Winger Chris Kreider missed 24 games due to a blood clot that led to surgery on his ribs. Center Mika Zibanejad missed nine games with a concussion, while Shattenkirk had knee surgery in January and never came back.

The Athletic’s Rick Carpiniello writes (subscription required) that there were other reasons as well that stand out when it came to Vigneault. The coach’s lack of success at the blueline have been issues for years as his system had failed repeatedly. Vigneault had undergone three different defensive assistant coaches in three years, including Ulf Samuelsson, Jeff Beukeboom and Lindy Ruff and replaced most of the defense and still failed to get them going. His tough love was also an issue as he butted heads with many players, especially Miller and Pavel Buchnevich. However, the most telling numbers is the team’s record from Jan. 7 to Feb. 25, when Vigneault led the team to just a 5-16-1 record.

Vigneault has a 648-435-98 overall record throughout his career with the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks and the Rangers. He won the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year in 2007.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to report the news.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Alain Vigneault| Montreal Canadiens| New York Rangers| Newsstand| Vancouver Canucks Bob McKenzie| Brendan Smith| Chris Kreider| Henrik Lundqvist| J.T. Miller| Kevin Shattenkirk| Michael Grabner| Mika Zibanejad| Nick Holden| Ondrej Pavelec| Pavel Buchnevich

Dallas Notes: Seguin, Nichushkin, Heiskanen, Spezza, Lehtonen
Main
Atlantic Notes: Bruins, Boucher, Ristolainen, Zetterberg, Bertuzzi
View Comments (3)

Comments

  1. met man

    7 years ago

    Chris Drury is a young exec in the organization who would be a great choice to be the next head coach.He can relate to the influx of recent draft picks and new young talent in the near future.

    Reply
    • morebreakdowns

      7 years ago

      i am all for giving Drury a shot to interview

      Reply
  2. acarneglia

    7 years ago

    Good riddance

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Islanders Name Mathieu Darche General Manager

    NHL Announces General Manager Of The Year Finalists

    Maple Leafs Won’t Renew Brendan Shanahan’s Contract

    Blackhawks Hire Jeff Blashill, Michael Peca

    Sabres Gauging Bowen Byram’s Trade Market

    Blue Jackets Shopping First-Round Picks

    Islanders Obtain Permission To Interview Brendan Shanahan

    Devils Expected To Hire Brad Shaw

    Daly: NHL, NHLPA Have Made “Good Progress” On CBA Talks

    Bruins, Don Sweeney Agree To Two-Year Extension

    Recent

    Offseason Checklist: Utah Mammoth

    Eastern Notes: Treliving, Flyers, Byram

    NHL Won’t Open Expansion Process, Open To Right Bids

    Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis Healthy, Sean Walker Questionable For Game 3

    Snapshots: Ylönen, Lipinski, Concussion Protocol

    Kings Retaining Marc Bergevin As Senior Advisor

    Islanders Name Mathieu Darche General Manager

    Golden Knights, Penguins Interested In Maxim Shabanov

    The Anatomy Of A Stanley Cup Champion

    Ivan Prosvetov Eyeing NHL Return

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Brock Boeser Rumors
    • Scott Laughton Rumors
    • Brock Nelson Rumors
    • Rickard Rakell Rumors
    • Mikko Rantanen Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2024-25 Salary Cap Deep Dive Series
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Primers
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Active Roster Tracker
    • Arbitration-Eligible Free Agents 2025
    • Draft Order 2025
    • Trade Tracker
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls
    • Waiver Claims 2024-25

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version