Drury's Real Problem Isn't Behind the Bench, It's in the Locker Room

Before I go any further, I wanted to take this time to personally express my gratitude to Sam Rosen for all the joy and smiles he brought Rangers fans throughout his illustrious career.

Let's step back for a moment and appreciate the enormity of what we were all privileged to witness. The man was behind the mic for forty years. To put that in perspective, Johnny Carson was on the air for thirty and Gunsmoke twenty. Whatever your favorite among all his memorable calls may be - and there are literally dozens to choose from - know this: there will never be another like him. 

From the bottom of my heart, Sam, thanks for the memories. 

Enjoy your retirement. No one has earned it more.

Now onto the main topic.

Stop me if you notice a pattern.

After David Quinn was fired as Rangers coach, the players said "We need someone who will let us play."

So Chris Drury hired Gerard Gallant.

After Gallant was fired, they said, "We need someone who will provide more structure."

So Chris Drury hired Peter Laviolette. 

After Laviolette was fired, now they're saying, "We need someone who'll communicate more with us."

So I guess Chris Drury will soon hire Dr. Phil. 

You know, my parents never took me to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey when I was a kid, but having watched the Rangers this season, I now know what a circus looks like. 

It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to shit the bed the way these players did and NOT be embarrassed. But based on their exit interviews with Chris Drury that appears to be the case.

Here are some quotes from some of the players on break up day.

Mika Zibanaejad: "I think there was frustration. I think it's just when you don't know everything, we don't know what's going on. I feel like mentally, what I went through the first few months, was probably the toughest I’ve ever been through in my career."

Alexis Lafreniere: "I thought I had a good start and then struggled to be consistent in my game. Didn’t really make a difference."

K'Andre Miller: "Kind of hard to talk about my future here, obviously. I have a great agent that is going to help me throughout this summer’s process."

Not everybody was that tone-deaf. 

Vincent Trocheck: "I think it’s on us, inside this room, in order to make sure that the outside noise doesn’t get to us. Whether that’s talking to somebody individually or if it’s just sticking together as a team and as a family and I think we can get better at that. Lifting guys up instead of bringing guys down, I think that goes a long way."

Igor Shesterkin: "In my mind, something broke during the season, and went the other way. We couldn’t handle it. It was our job to try to find a way to get back."

For those unfamiliar with how flow charts work, I'll explain: the players are answerable to the coach; the coach is answerable to the GM; and the GM is answerable to the owner. And in case you're wondering, the chart only flows in one direction. Nowhere does it say that management is required to communicate what is going on to the players. Even if you believe it wouldn't kill Drury to learn a thing or two about business etiquette, the fact is he's not a fucking guidance counselor, and Mika Zibanaejad is not a patient in a group therapy session.

Of all the seasons in which the Rangers failed to make the playoffs, this was by far the most frustrating. And that's because unlike all those other teams, this one had no excuses. They were not in rebuild mode; there were no major injuries; and they had won the Presidents' trophy the year before. By all accounts they should be in the postseason right now.

The fact is no matter who Drury hires to replace Laviolette, if he isn't able to hold his players accountable, that coach will suffer the same fate as his predecessors. He will have a good first season, followed by the inevitable sophomore jinx. And that's because the real problem with this team isn't behind the bench, it's in the locker room. That isn't to suggest that Quinn, Gallant and Laviolette were blameless. Far from it. Quinn never quite made the adjustment from college to the pros; Gallant took the term "player's coach" way too literally; and Laviolette was stubborn to a fault. But as I wrote in an earlier piece, Scotty Bowman would have a hard time coaching this group.

And that's why it wouldn't shock me one bit if Drury brings back John Tortorella. Of all the coaches this franchise has had in its illustrious history, only Mike Keenan did a better job lighting a fire under his players butts. One thing you can count on: that putrid power play would never be allowed to stay intact. Torts would dismantle it after a couple of games. The man has all the patience of a compulsive overeater at a Chinese buffet. 

Of course with James Dolan interjecting himself into the process - he attended all the exit interviews - anything is possible. If the Pittsburgh Penguins decide to part ways with Mike Sullivan, he would definitely top the list of available coaches. While Sullivan does have an impressive resume, and is certainly qualified, the question begs why would you replace one underperforming coach with another? True, the problem in Pittsburgh is a front office that is in denial over the sorry state of its roster. But how much of that denial is to appease Sydney Crosby? And how much of that appeasement is on Sullivan's shoulders? Frankly, I'd be leery of hiring him. 

But that's just me.

Meanwhile, even though I don't have a horse in the race, here are my playoff predictions:

First round: 

Eastern Conference:

Caps over Habs 4-1 

Canes over Devils 4-2 

Leafs over Sens 4-2 

Bolts over Panthers 4-3 

Western Conference:

Jets over Blues 4-3 

Avs over Stars 4-2 

Golden Knights over Wild 4-2 

Kings over Oilers 4-3

Second round: 

Eastern Conference:

Caps over Canes 4-2 

Bolts over Leafs 4-3 

Western Conference: 

Avs over Jets 4-1 

Knights over Kings 4-1 

Conference finals: 

East: Bolts over Caps 4-2 

West: Avs over Knights 4-3 

Finals: Bolts over Avs 4-3

Drury Needs To Find His Mike Keenan

If there were any doubts that this Rangers team isn't playoff material, Tuesday night's lay down at the Garden should put them to rest. Artemi Panarin opened the scoring at 1:13 of the first period with his 30th goal of the season. From the ensuing face off on, the Calgary Flames controlled every facet of the game. They out-skated, out-hustled and out-chanced the Blueshirts over the next 58 minutes. The only reason the final score was 2-1 instead of 6-1 was because Igor Shresterkin refused to let his teammates get the ass-whoopin' they so richly deserved. At least someone showed up to play.

Not since they were blanked 5-0 by the New Jersey Devils on December 23, have the Rangers been so thoroughly dominated by another team this season. Stephen Valiquette's firm CSA Hockey tracks scoring chances for all 32 teams in the NHL and then computes the expected goals total for each team per game. The .6 expected goals total against the Devils and the .72 expected goals total against the Flames are among the worst in the league this season. According to Stat Boy Steven, the last time the Rangers had two games in which they were limited to 13 shots on goal or less was the 1998-99 season when they had three such games. Their record that season was a dismal 33-38-11 for 77 points. 

There's no sugar coating this anymore. After a stretch of games in which the Rangers began to resemble a playoff team, they have dropped six of their last eight. And while two of those losses came in overtime, both were the result of blown leads in the third period. Yes, they have played better since the beginning of the year, but that's only because they were so brutal in December. The sad truth is that this a deeply flawed team. As Bill Parcels used to say, you are what your record says you are. And right now, the Rangers are barely above the .500 mark. Even if by some miracle they should make the postseason, the likelihood is that they would get swept by the Washington Capitals, which is ironic given that they swept the Caps last season. 

Throughout the season, I have been hesitant to pin the blame for this calamity on Peter Laviolette. After all, this team had its best regular season in franchise history. You don't fire head coaches coming off that kind of success. And to be fair, it's not entirely his fault. The special teams have been anything but, the top scorers are underperforming and the goaltending has been inconsistent to say the least. Coaches can scream till they're blue in the face, but the last time I checked, they're not the ones wearing the jerseys. That would be the players, and after last night's performance, every one of them should be ashamed of themselves.

But fair or not, you can't fire all 22 players, even if at least half of them deserve it. You can, however, fire the head coach. It's obvious Laviolette has lost this team. When you can't even get up for a game with playoff implications, that is a direct reflection on the man standing behind the bench. Mike Keenan would never have put up with what we saw on the ice last night. Indeed, the Peter Laviolette of a few years ago would've blown a gasket. Something has to give. Even if Chris Drury has resigned himself to this team not making the playoffs, he cannot let this coaching staff return next season. Whether he does it now or waits until the summer, he must clean house.

But who does he hire as a replacement? After all, this will be Drury's third head coach in four years. Gerard Gallant took the Rangers to the Eastern Conference finals in his first season, then underachieved in his second; Laviolette guided them to the Presidents' trophy in his first season before the bottom fell out in his second. Notice a pattern here? I'm starting to think Scotty Bowman would have a hard time coaching this group. If you're James Dolan, you gotta be taking a long, hard look at your front office. The man fired John Davidson AND Jeff Gorton on the same day because he grew impatient at the progress of the latter's rebuild. Don't think for a moment he wouldn't do the same thing to Drury.

That's why the next head coach of this team has to be someone that will hold the players accountable. If there is one legitimate criticism of Laviolette, it's that he's been way too loyal to his veterans. Last night was a case in point. After two very uninspiring periods by his top six, rather than start the third with the Carrick line, he went back to his top six. His explanation at the post-game presser was that he needed goals and those players were more likely to produce them. While technically correct, the message he's sending to his players, particularly the younger ones, is that some contributions are more valuable than others. It's this sense of entitlement that is mainly responsible for the way the Rangers have underachieved this season. When more than half your roster knows that no matter how badly they play, they will still get their ice time, it can't help but foster a sense of resentment within the locker room. Not to mention the fact that your worst offenders literally have no incentive to improve their level of play.

Say what you want about John Tortorella, there were no sacred cows in his locker room. You earned your ice time by how well you played. Period. Just ask Marion Gaborik. The star winger was benched by the former Rangers coach for the crime of failing to go down to block a shot. Can you imagine what Torts would do with and to these players? Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider would be in group therapy. I'll tell you one thing: the post-game pressers wouldn't be boring, that's for sure.

But in all seriousness, Drury has to hire a coach that will stop coddling this team. He has to find his Mike Keenan the same way Neil Smith did after he fired Roger Neilson. Some things are beyond your control as a head coach. Bad calls, hot goalies, but a lack of effort isn't. It is anathema to a well-run organization. Take a good look at the teams that are currently in the playoffs and they all have one thing in common: their best players are pulling their weight. It's not Laviolette's fault that Kreider is having his worst season as a Ranger; it is his fault that he keeps dressing him over someone else who might inject some life into the lineup.

The 2024-25 season is all but over. The time to start thinking about 2025-26 is now. 

Rangers At the Break

Heading into the break, the New York Rangers record stands at 27-24-4. Their 58 points puts them just three behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final Wild Card spot. After a horrific December in which they went 3-10-0, the Rangers have gone 11-5-3 in 2025. The power play was 26.8 percent (7th best), while the penalty kill was 75.6 percent (tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Dicks for 16th best). The team's save percentage was .897 (5th best).

Now before I get into what the Rangers need to do going forward, I wanted to take a moment or two to give a shout out to the NHL and the NHLPA. Regardless of what happens tonight in Boston, the Four Nations Face-Off Tournament has been an unqualified success. Not since 1996 have fans been treated to this kind of competitiveness within the sport in what basically amounts to an exhibition series. Kudos all around.

The only blemish has been Charlie McAvoy. The Boston Bruin and Team USA defenseman sustained an injury on a cross check in the game against Finland, which was apparently misdiagnosed by Team USA physicians. He subsequently developed an infection and was hospitalized in Boston. His presence will be sorely missed tonight against Team Canada.

Apart from that, though, if I were Gary Bettman and Marty Walsh, I would do everything in my power to make sure something like this becomes an annual event. You don't necessarily need a round robin like we saw in this tournament; but perhaps a best 2 out of 3 featuring a team from North America vs. a team from Europe would suffice.

Imagine what the lineups would look like:

Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Sam Reinhart, Branden Pointe, Mitch Marner, Cale Makar, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, both Tkachuk brothers, Jake Guentzel, Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy and Connor Hellebuyck going up against Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov, Mikko Rantanen, William Nylander, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin, Filip Forsberg, Jesper Bratt, Mikael Granlund, Kirill Kaprizov, Andrei Svechnikov, Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. I'll gladly take that any day over what the NHL laughingly calls an All-Star game.

Now back to the Rangers.

If this team is going to make the playoffs, they need to get serious. No more blown leads like they had against the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens, all of which became OT losses. No more sleepwalking against a Pittsburgh Penguins team that was missing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. And no more reckless cross-ice passes in the offensive zone with 30 seconds left in the third period of a tie game that directly led to a regulation loss to the Avs. All told, the Blueshirts have given up six points over the last six weeks; six points they can ill afford to give up. If they had just three of those points back, they'd be tied with the Red Wings right now.

Starting Saturday, the Rangers need to go on a win streak. They play the Sabres in Buffalo, the Penguins in Pittsburgh and the Islanders at UBS Arena. Anything less than 3-0 against those teams is inexcusable. Indeed, between now and the end of the regular season, they probably need to go 20-7. If that seems like a tall order, it is. But that's what happens when you dig a hole as deep as the Blueshirts have.

In order to accomplish this herculean feat, the big boys are going to have to come through. Assuming Chris Drury doesn't clean house at the trade deadline - unlikely - it's time for Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider to pull their respective heads out their asses and wake the fuck up. Since the arrival of J.T. Miller, Zibanejad has 2 goals and 6 assists over his last 5 games. He needs to keep that pace up if this team has any chance of making the postseason. Likewise for Kreider, whose shorthanded goal against the Bruins proved to be the game winner.

Adam Fox also needs to step it up. It is unacceptable for a player as gifted as he is to have only four goals on the season, and keep in mind two of those goals were empty netters. Though he was never a particularly fast skater, this season he's looked more like Carol Vadnais than the former Norris trophy winner we all know and love. Vincent Trocheck has filled the leadership void created after Jacob Trouba was sent packing admirably, but even he needs to step it up offensively.

But while the players must ultimately bear the lion's share of responsibility for this nightmare of a season, their head coach isn't without blame. The fact is Peter Laviolette has been way too patient with this group. Case in point: Alexis Lafreniere. Over the last few weeks, the young winger has looked lost; his failure to back check has led to several glaring goals against. It is high time Laviolette employed some tough love and sat him for a game or two, if not for his sake than to send a message loud and clear that lack of effort will not be tolerated. You don't have to be John Tortorella to get your team's attention. 

Bottom line: The Rangers have the horses to make the playoffs. Whether or not they do depends on how badly they want it.

Why the Rangers Shouldn't Take Their Foot Off the Gas Pedal

As the regular season begins to wind down, the New York Rangers are currently leading the Metropolitan Division by one point over the Carolina Hurricanes. They are also in first place in the Eastern Conference and are tied with the Vancouver Canucks for the NHL lead. By any and all accounts this has been the best Rangers team to take the ice since that Presidents' Trophy winner of 2014-15.

But while this team continues to amaze even its staunchest critics, there are a growing number of fans who would prefer that they finish in second behind the Hurricanes, and you'll never guess what their reason is.

You see it has to do with which team the Rangers would face in the playoffs. If the Rangers finish first in the Metro, but second overall in the East, their opponent would be the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, if they were to finish in second, they would face either the Philadelphia Flyers or the surging Washington Capitals. The prevailing sentiment among this group is that if you're the Rangers, you'd much rather play the Flyers or the Caps than the Lightning.

There are three flaws in this thinking. I'll list them in order.

One: The Lightning aren't nearly as good as some are making them out to be. Yes, they've been hot of late, but since their last Cup in '21, they have turned over half their roster. The Rangers won the first two games of the season series 5-1 and 3-1, and were 28 minutes away from a series sweep. So thorough was their domination that halfway through the second period of game three, the Bolts had managed a paltry eight shots on goal. If that's your idea of a tough matchup, I shudder to think what an easy one would look like.

Two: Anyone who's seen this Rangers team play over the last few seasons knows all too well that they have a nasty habit of playing to the level of their opponent. For instance, some of the best games they've played this season have come against teams like the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Hurricanes. However, they've also had some of their worst games against teams like the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets. Now I'm not suggesting that the Flyers are as bad as the Sharks or the Jackets; far from it. But the idea that somehow the Blueshirts are just going to breeze by Philly is absurd. This is a John Tortorella-coached team. They will be a tough out, no matter who they play.

Three: Apparently, these fans must've been in a coma over the last twelve months, because this was the same stupidity we heard out of most of the players last season. It doesn't matter where we finish in the standings, they said, we can flip the switch come playoff time. How'd that work out? Oh, yeah, not so well. After going up 2-0 over the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers dropped four of the last five games and were unceremoniously bounced from the postseason. Arguably the most talented roster in decades never made it out of the first round. The fact is there is no switch. You're either ready for the playoffs or you're not. This is the message Peter Laviolette has tried to instill on his players from the start of training camp, and from what we've seen so far this season, that message has gotten through.

Look, are there inherent risks in going all out to finish in first place? Of course there are. But this is hockey, not baseball. You can get injured just as easily in second gear as you can in fifth. For me, the greater risk is taking your foot off the gas pedal because, as we've seen, there's no guarantee you can get the engine back up to speed.

Besides, if the Rangers finish first overall, their first-round opponent would be the last Wild Card team. That would be either the Detroit Red Wings or the aforementioned Flyers or Caps. They would also have home ice advantage throughout the playoffs. What's better than that?

Yes, there's the matter of the Presidents' Trophy curse. Turns out it's a real thing. In the salary cap era, only two winners of the trophy have gone on to win the Stanley Cup: the '08 Red Wings and the '13 Chicago Blackhawks. That's two out of a possible eighteen. Not a very good showing. And it gets even worse when you consider that the '23 Bruins and the '19 Lightning - both of whom had the best won-loss records since those legendary Montreal Canadiens teams of the 1970s - were eliminated in the first round.

But fear of a curse is no excuse for slacking off. This team is clicking on all cylinders. It would be the height of irresponsibility to throttle back now.

As the motto says, No Quit in New York!

NHL Power Rankings: Separating the Contenders From the Pretenders

Before I get to the power rankings, I wanted to take a minute to personally thank Gary Bettman for shutting down the NHL over the Christmas holiday. It isn't everyday that a commissioner of a major professional sports league decides to remove his sport from all public exposure at a time when millions of fans are home with their families. Way to go, Gary.

And to think this league had the nerve to only raise the salary cap $1 million because the players still owed $70 million in back escrow. To quote Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Now onto the pièce de résistance.

Unlike traditional power rankings, which are typically league based, I've decided to break mine down by conference. Until the NHL goes to a 16 team playoff format, it doesn't make sense to do it any other way. I've also decided to break it down further by contender and pretender, and to omit the very worst teams in each conference. Why waste time on the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Chicago Blackhawks?

As always, don't take it too seriously. It's all done in fun.

Eastern Conference:

Contenders:

New York Rangers: They're off to their fastest start since the '94 Cup team. And they've managed to do it with only two scoring lines. Just imagine how much better they'll be once Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko return. With Igor Shesterkin regaining his Vezina-trophy form and Jonathan Quick in reserve, they will be very tough to beat in the postseason.

Boston Bruins: The retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí haven't stopped this team from once more ascending to the top of the standings in the Atlantic division. What they lack in offensive explosiveness, they more than make up for in grit. They have the defense and goaltending to go all the way.

Florida Panthers: Last year's Cup finalists are no fluke. With Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart, they are loaded up front; and with Sergei Bobrosky in net, they have a clear path back to the finals.

Toronto Maple Leafs: The fab four - Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares - might be the most talented quartet in the NHL. They are fast and lethal. The only question mark - and it's a big one - is their goaltending.

New York Islanders: Their minus 4 goal differential is a concern, but their offense - long a sore spot - is starting to percolate. They're tough as nails to play against, and with their goaltending, they will give any opponent they meet in the first round fits.

Philadelphia Flyers: If you had the former Broadstreet Bullies as contenders prior to the season, you're a better man than me. I didn't even have them as a "close but no cigar." But John Tortorella has somehow managed to get this team to believe in itself. The return of Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson hasn't hurt either.

Pretenders:

Washington Capitals: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The Caps are a painful reminder that no matter how good your defense is, you can't win in this league when you have the second worst offense.

Tampa Bay Lightning: One game they look like the team that won back-to-back Cups; the next they look like the San Jose Sharks. They are finally paying the price for manipulating the salary cap. Karma truly is a bitch.

Carolina Hurricanes: They've never had great goaltending or elite-level forwards, but now their defense is leaking like a sieve. Hard to believe this is a Rod Brind'Amour-coached team.

New Jersey Devils: Serves me right for picking them to win the Metro. Tom Fitzgerald was trying to create an east-coast version of the Edmonton Oilers. He seems to have succeeded, though not the way he intended.

Detroit Red Wings: Since Patrick Kane's arrival in Motown, the Wings are 2-6-1. Maybe Steve Yzerman should've gotten himself a legit goalie instead of a future hall of fame winger.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The oldest team in the NHL underachieving for the second straight season. Gee, who coulda seen that coming?

Buffalo Sabres: Don't beat yourself up. I, too, was taken in by their potential. They can score; it's stopping the other team from scoring that's the problem.

Montreal Canadiens: They're still a year or two away, but credit Marty St. Louis for turning around a locker room that had gotten used to losing.

Western Conference:

Contenders:

Vegas Golden Knights: They can role four lines and their defense is big and battle tested. Vegas's strength is their depth throughout the lineup. They won the Cup last season and are the odds-on favorites to repeat.

Vancouver Canucks: In just over a year Rick Tocchet has transformed this perennial underachiever into a bonafide contender. They have the best goal differential in the NHL, the number one offense and the sixth best defense.

Los Angeles Kings: Very quietly, Cam Talbot is making his bid to win the Vezina trophy this season, which would be quite a feat given he was supposedly washed up last season. They're deep down the middle and have the best defense in the league.

Dallas Stars: This is a team that can compete with the best in the league. The only concern is in goal where Jake Oettinger hasn't quite gotten back to the level of excellence he showed last season.

Colorado Avalanche: Their core is as elite as it gets; it's the rest of the roster that gives you pause. Still, they are quite capable of making a deep run in the playoffs.

Winnipeg Jets: They traded arguably their second best center and got better. Connor Hellebuyck might be the most under-appreciated goaltender in the league, and Mark Scheifele is finally emerging as a leader on this team.

Pretenders:

Nashville Predators: Like the Washington Capitals, they're using smoke and mirrors to conceal their deficiencies. It'll catch up to them eventually.

Edmonton Oilers: Don't be seduced by the wins in New York and New Jersey. This is not a team that is built to go four rounds. Would loved to have seen what they could've done in the '80s when defense was optional.

Minnesota Wild: As long as they have that dead cap weight on their books, GM Bill Guerin will struggle to fill out a roster that will be good enough to compete in the regular season, much less in the postseason.

St. Louis Blues: The only reason they might sneak into the postseason is because the Western Conference is so weak in the middle. Don't let that fool you. They're in rebuild mode.

Calgary Flames: Boy was I wrong about this team. I figured the problem last year was Darryl Sutter. Turns out it was the roster all along. Makes you wonder how the hell Brad Trelving got the gig in Toronto.

Seattle Kraken: After coming within a win of advancing to the conference finals last season, they are in contention for biggest disappointment of the 2023-24 season. Which is saying a lot given how many teams could qualify for that distinction.

Arizona Coyotes: How 'bout this for the storyline of the year? The Yotes are sellers at the trade deadline yet still manage to make the playoffs. Don't laugh, it could happen.

Rangers Need To Find Their Own Tom Thibodeau

Before I get to the Rangers head coaching vacancy, I want to send a shoutout to "JD" John Davidson, who according to The New York Post, will be rejoining the Columbus Blue Jackets as President of Hockey Operations, his old job. JD was a class act and he deserved a much better fate than the one he got at the hands of James Dolan. I wish him nothing but the best.

Now onto to the head coach.

With all the talk about rebuilding, it's worth noting that the most successful rebuild going on at Madison Square Garden has nothing to do with the hockey team. It involves the basketball franchise that since the 1972-73 season has made the finals just twice. The New York Knicks are the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and this Sunday they will begin a best of seven series against the Atlanta Hawks.

Just seeing the words "Knicks" and "postseason" appear in the same sentence is like seeing the words "Nickelback" and "outstanding rock band" appear in the same sentence. Well almost. Since their last trip to the NBA finals in 1999, the Knicks have made the playoffs six times and only twice have they advanced to the second round. Going into this season, they had seven consecutive losing campaigns.

The man most responsible for this tremendous turnaround is head coach Tom Thibodeau. Not since the glory days of Red Holzman have the Knicks had a coach who commands the respect of his players the way this man does. A coach who is equal parts teacher and disciplinarian; a coach who preaches defense first, and who got his players to buy into a team concept in a league that is obsessed with individual stats. If Thibodeau isn't coach of the year, the award is meaningless.

As Chris Drury conducts his search for the next head coach of the Rangers, he would be wise to take a good hard look at what his counterpart - Leon Rose - accomplished by hiring Thibodeau, and then copy it. The days of a head coach screaming at his players is over. To earn their respect, coaches these days have to wear multiple hats: Yes, they still have to hold players accountable, but not by humiliating them the way John Tortorella often did. To succeed with today's players, coaches have to have a temperament that can both inspire and correct at the same time. 

As much as I liked David Quinn, he just wasn't able to get through to the veterans on this club. Players like Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin resisted Quinn's calls for a more conventional north-south style of play that teams like the Islanders and Bruins have adopted successfully. The result was that this team, exciting to watch though they may have been, severely underachieved and missed the postseason, despite having more talent than last year's roster.

Whoever Drury hires as Quinn's replacement has to be able to harness that talent while also convincing it that this isn't the 1980s anymore. Today's NHL is about aggressive forechecking and driving to the net. It's about taking care of your own end first and getting the puck in deep. No reckless, cross-ice passes that can wind up in the back of your net. You get a scoring chance, you take it. Period!

The Capitals / Bruins series is a case in point. All three games in this best of seven series so far have gone into overtime and all three have been low-scoring affairs. No 9-0 or 8-3 blowouts. No sequence of three or four passes by self-indulgent players trying to come up with that "perfect" shot that in the postseason almost never materializes. The best teams in the league are simply too quick and too big to let that happen. The core of this Rangers team never fully accepted that reality. The next head coach will be tasked with driving it home.

With that in mind, who will Drury choose? So far, Gerard Gallant is the only candidate that's been interviewed. Gallant has an impressive resume. In his last two stints as HC he led the Florida Panthers to a second division title and the Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup finals during its inaugural season. However, Gallant was fired from both jobs in only his third year behind the bench, and that is a red flag for a team looking for long-term stability.

Another candidate is former Arizona Coyotes' head coach Rick Tocchet. Though the Coyotes severely underperformed during Tocchet's four-year reign, the team's defense did improve dramatically. Last year, it was 3rd in the league. The Coyotes also made the play-in round in 2020 and beat the Nashville Predators before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs.

We likely won't know until after the playoffs are over who the next Rangers head coach will be. That's because one candidate is Rod Brind'Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes who is unsigned beyond this year. In his three seasons behind the bench, the Hurricanes have been one of the toughest teams in the NHL to play against. Last year, they swept the Rangers in the play-in round. This season, they finished first in the Central Division and came within two points of winning the President's Trophy. They currently have a 2-0 lead over the Predators in the first round of the playoffs and are among a handful of teams that have a legitimate shot of winning the Stanley Cup. 

Brind'Amour wouldn't be the first Stanley Cup-winning head coach to switch teams. Barry Trotz left the Washington Capitals after they won the Cup in 2018 to become the Islanders' head coach. And let's not forget Mike Keenan, the last Rangers' coach to hoist Lord Stanley, departed for the St. Louis Blues barely a month after the season ended.

The bottom line is this: In addition to deciding on a head coach, there's the upcoming Seattle expansion draft as well as the league draft, not to mention off-season trades and/or potential free-agent signings. Drury has a lot on his plate. The moves he makes over the next couple of months will go a long way towards determining whether the Rangers progress as an organization or slide into oblivion. One thing's for certain: with Dolan taking a sudden interest in the hockey operations, you can bet the ranch Drury's leash will be a short one. 

Where Do the Rangers Go From Here?

Now that the season is over, I thought I'd share some thoughts on what lies ahead for the Rangers. I'll confine my comments to the coaching staff and personnel.

Torts, Part Deux?

John Tortorella is out in Columbus, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who was paying attention. While the Blue Jackets did make the playoffs four times during his tenure, the bottom fell out this year and both sides had had enough. It's also no secret that James Dolan likes the former Rangers head coach and feels he never should have been fired back in 2013. But while Tortorella is still a good coach, his act is wearing a little thin around the league. He was single-handedly responsible for the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to Winnipeg for Patrik Laine and then benched the latter when - surprise - he wound up in the doghouse. If Chris Drury decides to make a change behind the bench - and all reports indicate David Quinn's chances of being retained are 50/50 at best - he should stay as far away from Tortorella as possible. Quite frankly, the game has passed him by.

Kinkaid or Georgiev as backup goalie?

If, like me, you were wondering why Quinn decided to start Keith Kinkaid instead of Alexandar Georgiev in the season finale in Boston, it probably had to do with determining which goalie the Rangers are going to keep as Igor Shesterkin's backup. Both Kinkaid and Georgiev are signed through next season, but Kinkaid is making $825,000 while Georgiev is making $2.4 million. Assuming the organization believes Shesterkin can handle a workload of 60 games and Kinkaid can cut it in the backup role, they will likely expose Georgiev in the Seattle expansion draft and use the savings to re-sign Brendan Smith to a one-year deal. Keep in mind, Tyler Wall is also in the system and is currently on an entry level contract through next season, so the Rangers have depth at this position.

Eichel or No Eichel?

As expected, the Jack Eichel trade rumors have started up again. The Buffalo Sabres' center missed most of last season with an upper-body injury, but that hasn't stopped every beat writer around the NHL from pontificating on when, not if, the Rangers will land him, especially since Eichel has already hinted that he wants out. But as talented as Eichel is, he's basically a Mika Zibanejad clone. And at $10 million per season, he would tie up a substantial portion of the team's available cap space for the foreseeable future. Not to mention that in order to get him, the Rangers would have to pay a hefty price in players and perhaps even draft choices. The smart move is to bulk up on the wing and leave the center slot alone for now. But if Drury is under orders to improve this position, he should head down the Jersey Turnpike to Philadelphia. The Flyers had a horrific season and could be persuaded to move Sean Couturier for the right package. Couturier is a bonafide 30 goal scorer, who weighs 210 pounds, isn't shy in the corners, and, most importantly, won 56 percent of his face-offs this season. And his $4.3 million salary is far more manageable than Eichel's.

True Grit!

Not to beat a dead horse, but Oliver Wahlstrom scored his 12th goal for the Islanders Monday tonight against the Bruins. He could've been a Ranger. That being said, a number of unrestricted free agents will be available this off season and several of them could be attractive targets for the Blueshirts. Among the forwards, Blake Coleman - who I wrote about in my last piece - and Barclay Goodrow, would be outstanding additions. On defense, Jamie Oleksiak might be the best value in the league. He weighs a whopping 250 pounds, and at 28, he could anchor the backline for years to come. Then there's rookie Morgan Barron who made a favorable impression in the last few games of the season and should earn a spot on next year's roster. Imagine a fourth line of Goodrow on the left, Barron at center and Julien Gauthier on the right; and a third line of Coleman and Chris Kreider flanking Couturier in the middle. That would be a formidable bottom six. I'd like to see the Isles push those guys around.

The Messier factor.

Look, The Captain is my favorite Ranger of all time, but under no circumstances should he be given a prominent role in this organization. The last time the Rangers made the mistake of giving someone who was clearly unqualified the keys to the kingdom, it was Phil Esposito. And it took Neil Smith three years to overcome the damage he did. If Dolan wants to give Messier a job, he should hire him as an announcer for the MSG network. Maybe he can take over for Steve Valiquette, who seems to be bucking for an analytics position within the organization.

The Bottom Line.

The Rangers will have approximately $24 million in cap space to sign their own free agents and/or other teams free agents. That gives them a leg up on just about every team in the NHL. How well Drury spends that money will determine whether this team progresses or regresses. Based on how well Dolan handled not making the playoffs this year, the pressure to succeed couldn't be greater.

NHL Playoff Predictions - Play-in Round

After a four and half month sabbatical due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs will finally get under way August 1. The two hub cities - Toronto and Edmonton - will host the playoffs; Toronto the Eastern conference, Edmonton the Western conference.

The Play-in round - or as we used to call it back in the day the preliminary round - will consist of four best of five series per conference between the lower eight teams: five through twelve. The winners will play the top four teams in each conference. Because the top four teams play three games each in a round robin the final seeding is yet to be determined. That and the fact that the league has decided to reseed after each round, makes it impossible to predict what the matchups will be in the second round.

However, we do know, and have known for some time, what the matchups are for this round. Before I get into my picks, some observations. First, there's no way of knowing what effect such a long layoff will have on each team. Consider that in the 1991-92 season, the Rangers were the clear favorites to win the Cup. Then the players went out on strike just before the playoffs began, and even though the stoppage lasted only last ten days, it was enough to disrupt the Blueshirts momentum heading into the tournament. They struggled to beat the Devils in seven in the first round, then got ousted by the Penguins in the second. Just imagine what the Bruins must be thinking.

That being said, since everyone's in the same boat, my gut tells me that the best talented teams will prevail, assuming, that is, that no one tests positive for the virus. If a Sidney Crosby, an Artemi Panarin, or an Alex Ovechkin were to test positive, that would be a game changer. The fact that the playoffs are taking place north of the border in two Canadian cities where the virus for the most part is under control gives me hope that the NHL, of all the sports leagues in North America, may come out unscathed.

So, without further ado, let's get started.

Eastern Conference:

Penguins (5) vs. Canadiens (12). Forget all the hype about Carey Price possibly stealing this series for the Habs. They're just not that good a team. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has the scoring to turn this into a laugher pretty quickly. Pens in three.

Hurricanes (6) vs. Rangers (11). Now you know why Carolina voted no to this playoff format. The Blueshirts, in addition to sweeping the season series against the Hurricanes, had one of the best second-half records in the NHL. When you consider they have two of the best forwards in the league playing on two separate lines, top scoring on the backline and superior goaltending, if Dougie Hamilton can't go, this could get ugly fast. Rangers in four.

Islanders (7) vs. Panthers (10). The Putty Tats do have balanced scoring up front, I'll give them that, but the Islanders style of play and defensive-minded system will take its toll. Both coaches are Cup winners, but only one has the players that can win in the trenches. Isles in four.

Maple Leafs (8) vs. Blue Jackets (9). If the Leafs can't win a series with all the games played in their own host city they should be ashamed of themselves. Fortunately for them they catch a break here. John Tortorella is a great coach but, unlike last season when his team swept the Lightning, he doesn't have the horses this time around. Leafs in five.

Western Conference:

Oilers (5) vs. Blackhawks (12). How pissed are the Oilers? By all rights, they should be the four seed playing round-robin games. Instead they get stuck playing the Hawks, who, let's be honest, are at least three seasons removed from being a serious playoff contender. Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are going to have a field day. Edmonton is putting together a team that looks strangely like the one that captured five Cups in seven years three decades ago. Oilers in three.

Predators (6) vs. Coyotes (11). With Nashville, you never know what you're going to get. Since going to the finals three seasons ago, they've been perennial underachievers. Against a Phoenix team that's somewhat undermanned, they should prevail, but I wouldn't bet any money on them. Preds in five.

Canucks (7) vs. Wild (10). When J.T. Miller is your leading scorer that's not saying much. Still against a Minnesota team that did its best to put the rest of the league to sleep this season that might be enough. Interesting tidbit: Miller will be facing another ex-Rangers teammate in Mats Zuccarello, which will only mean something in New York. Canucks in five.

Flames (8) vs. Jets (9). Call this a tossup. Two seasons ago, the Jets made it all the way to the conference finals before being upset by the Vegas Golden Knights. So that's probably enough to tilt the series in their favor. Plus they have the likely Vezina trophy winner. Jets in five.

As in my past predictions, don't put much stock in these. I do them primarily for fun.

Enjoy the games. We've certainly waited long enough for them.

21 And Counting

In the end, the team that was built with one goal in mind - to win the Stanley Cup - not only failed in its mission, it didn't even manage to get back to the finals. The Presidents' Trophy Rangers were blanked on their home ice for the second game in a row. The team that hadn't lost a game 7 in its building since, well, forever, was thoroughly drubbed by a Tampa Bay Lightning team that only three days earlier had been lit up for seven goals. Like that great T.S. Eliot poem, they didn't go out with a bang but with a whimper.

Consider this: the Rangers scored more goals in the 3rd period of game 6 in Tampa (five) than they scored in all four games at the Garden combined (four). They were so inept in their building they made the Lightning players look like Bob Gainey clones. For those of you too young to remember, Bob Gainey was arguably the greatest defensive forward to ever play the game. He was to hockey what Bill Russell was to basketball.

So how did this Jekyll / Hyde of a series turn out to be the nightmare of all nightmares for the Rangers? Well, first off, it wasn't just this series. The Blueshirts had been flirting with disaster ever since the playoffs began. Let's not forget that they were 1:41 away from going down in five to the Capitals. Face it, if Braden Holtby doesn't whiff on Chris Kreider's shot, they never make it into overtime and instead of talking about their disappointing exit in the conference finals, we're talking about the great upset in the second round. And even the five games it took them to dispatch the Penguins - easily the weakest team in the playoffs - were all close games. The last two wins, both in overtime, could easily have gone the other way.

Funny, for a team that racked up a franchise-record 53 wins, they never once dominated in any of their postseason contests. Even in the three games where they managed to get their offense going - game 6 against the Caps and games 4 and 6 against the Lightning - they were badly outplayed for huge stretches by their opponent. In each game, their world-class goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, either held onto to a lead his team seemed determined to hand back or gave his team the chance it needed to regain its footing and surge ahead. To say he was the team's best player would be an understatement.

Even last night, Lundqvist did his best to give his team a chance to win. He stood on his head for two periods, making save after save. He robbed Tyler Johnson point blank just outside his crease. The save was eerily similar to the one he made on Steven Stamkos in game 6. However in that game, seconds after the King made his heroic stop, his team responded by scoring a goal. Last night, there was no heroics by the men in blue. This time, there was no last-minute goal to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Even their world-class goalie looked mortal in that all-decisive 3rd period.

So now that this season is over, what do the Rangers do next? To be sure, Glen Sather has some decisions to make. While the core of this team is certainly good, it was obvious from the opening drop of the puck, it had some glaring weaknesses. I addressed some of them when the playoff began. To be sure, those roosters came home to crow in the conference finals.

For starters, I'm fairly certain Marty St. Louis has played his last game as a Ranger, perhaps even the NHL. He looked every second of his 39 years in this tournament. Expect Sather to utilize his $5 million salary elsewhere. The Rangers have some cap issues, thanks to the trade for Keith Yandle, and even with the league expected to increase its salary cap by $4 million, Sather will have to use all his skills to tweak this team so it can go the distance in the postseason.

Here's what I would do if I were the G.M. I would definitely sign Derek Stepan, but I would not offer Carl Hagelin a contract. If he files for arbitration and he wins, I would trade him. He did absolutely nothing after the Pittsburgh series. If anything, the style with which he plays is the reason the Rangers are playing golf right now instead of getting ready to play for the Cup. Instead of a flashy skater, I'd try to pry away a punishing winger who can park his ass in front of the opposing goalie's net and score a few goals. The Ranges don't have a single forward outside of Kreider who is capable of doing this. In fact, so inept were they, Alain Vigneault was forced to use defenseman Dan Boyle up front on the power play several times in this series.

Then I'd address the face-off issue that plagued this team throughout most of the season. It was nothing short of an embarrassment that their number one face-off man happened to be their number four center. Every other team in the final four all had centers with impressive face off stats. I would make every effort to get a center who can win a face off AND score. I like Dominick Moore, but if he is your go-to guy to win a face-off in a crucial spot in a game, you're screwed.  Either way, you're not going very far in the playoffs. Period!

Think about it. A first line consisting of Derrick Brassard, centering Rick Nash on the left and a healthy Mats Zucharello on the right, followed by a line of, say, Antoine Vermette centering Derek Stepan on the right and Chris Kreider on the left. The Blackhawks have even more cap issues than the Rangers, so it is unlikely they will be able to resign Vermette in the off season. If Sather is creative, he can have a formidable 1-2 punch upfront. Stephan moving to wing makes perfect sense. The way he positions himself in the offensive zone, he looks more like a winger than a center anyway. If Sather can't address the center issue via free agency, maybe Kevin Hayes could be part of a package to land one.

That would leave J.T. Miller centering Jesper Faust and James Shepard on the third line, with Dominic Moore centering a yet to be determined fourth line. A little too lean for your tastes? Consider that the Lightning got all but two of their goals in this series from their top two lines. Depth only means something if your top gunners come through. In this series, the Lightning's top gunners ran rings around the Rangers top gunners. It wasn't even close. Take away the five point night Brassard had in game 6 and it was a joke.

And then there's the coach. Alain Vigneault was the polar opposite of his predecessor. He treated his players like men with respect and dignity, unlike John Tortorella, who acted like a dickhead most of the time and drove his players like a drill sergeant. When he was fired, you could hear the entire Rangers' locker room exhale.

But Vigneault has two glaring weaknesses that unfortunately came back to bite this team. The first is he is stubborn to a fault. Not once in this year's playoff, or last year's for that matter, did he make any adjustments to his system.  It was clear that every team that played them knew what to expect. The Capitals pounded and pounded the Rangers and kept them primarily to the perimeter of the ice, limiting their scoring chances. The Lightning applied the same strategy, but unlike the Caps, had the talent to make it work. The result was that the Rangers, after winning the first game 2-1, never won another close game in the series. Credit their coach, John Cooper, for having the smarts to switch gears and convince his team to change their style from offense first to defense first. He definitely outcoached Vigneault in this series.

The second weakness is almost as bad. For all his professional demeanor, Vigneault is simply too loyal to his players. They rarely, if ever, were benched for their failures. Yes, they might miss a shift or two for a blown assignment, but they could always count on their coach having their back.  When it was painfully apparent that St. Louis had nothing in the gas tank, Vigneault still put him out on the power play. Compare and contrast him to Joel Quenneville, the Chicago Blackhawks coach, who pulled his goaltender when he gave up questionable goals in the Nashville series and even benched the player his GM traded a number one draft pick to obtain. In Quenneville's world, it's pretty simple: play well and get ice time, struggle and you ride the bench.

Sather must get his coach to be more amenable and less tolerant. If it was fair to criticize Tortorella for his shortcomings, then it's only fitting to hold Vigneault accountable for his. Systems and loyalty are all fine and dandy, but when that system isn't working or your players aren't measuring up, changes must be made. Throughout this whole season there were two constants: the Rangers were as predictable as dirt and, for the most part, they had carte blanche. If this isn't corrected, expect another disappointing postseason next year.

The good news is that, with a little tweaking, the Rangers have the horses to compete for the Stanley Cup next year; the bad news is that their window of opportunity is rapidly closing. Lundqvist is 33. Billy Smith, the great Islander goaltender, won the last of his four Cups when he was 33. The sands of time are running out on the King. He has maybe two or three years left in his prime. If the Rangers don't win the Cup by then, this team, which as played more playoff games than any other team over the last four years, will have to start over and rebuild.

And for the millions of Rangers' fans who have waited patiently since 1994 for another championship, it won't just be 21 years and counting; it might well be a decade or more.

Ironic, isn't it? When Sam Rosen said that '94 championship would last a lifetime, who knew he was being prophetic?

Rangers Face Tough Challenges In Pursuit of Cup

53 wins, 113 points, both franchise bests. The New York Rangers go into the 2015 post season as a clear-cut favorite to win the Stanley Cup. They are healthy and they have won 6 of their last 7 games.  What could go wrong?

Well, at the risk of being called a Debbie Downer, there are three legitimate obstacles standing in the way of the Blueshirts' quest to secure their first championship in 21 years. I'll list them in no particular order.

1. A crowded field. As I pointed out in my last posting, while the Rangers have had a helluva regular season and are most definitely the NHL's favorite son, they are by no means an only child. The Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals are all genuine contenders to get to the finals. The Canadiens' Carey Price, injured in last year's conference final, is healthy and a legitimate Vezina Trophy candidate. If the Rangers meet them - a strong likelihood should they advance to the third round - Price could go toe to toe with Henrik Lundqvist. If the series goes seven, the Habs are certainly capable of winning at the Garden. Translation? The Rangers are hardly a lock to make it back to the finals.

2. A woeful power play. If there is an Achilles heel to this team, it is their power play, or rather lack of one. The Rangers' power play finished an anemic 16.7 percent, tied for 21st in the NHL. In their last game against New Jersey, the Devils, borrowing a page out of the Broadstreet Bullies' era - handed the Rangers seven power play opportunities. They converted just one. That simply isn't good enough for a team looking to hoist the Cup. The Capitals, by contrast, boast the number one power play in the league. In what promises to be a low-scoring post season, special teams will play a crucial role. If opposing teams know they can take liberties with the Rangers without paying the price, this could be a very short playoff run. The only saving grace here is that the Canadiens' power play is just as woeful.

3. The Presidents' Trophy curse.  Since the trophy was first awarded in 1986, only eight teams that have won it have gone on to win the Cup. Eleven failed to even make it to the conference finals. More ominous was that Alain Vigneault coached two of those failed trophy winners in Vancouver. One of them a first round exit to the L.A. Kings in 2012; the other a thrilling seven game loss to the Boston Bruins in the 2011 finals. Speaking of the Bruins, they were last year's Presidents' Trophy winner, and they lost in the second round to the Canadiens. In fact, of the last six Cup winners, only one, the Chicago Blackhawks, sported the league's best record. And that was during a lockout-shortened season. Being number one isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

But while the Rangers do have some challenges, it's only fair to say that, all things being equal, I would much rather be in their skates than anybody else's. There's a reason why they won the Presidents' Trophy. They were clearly the best team this season. Despite losing their number one goalie, and arguably the NHL's best net minder, the Rangers not only didn't miss a beat, they went into fifth gear. They are the league's fastest and deepest team and they have the three best defense pairings of any playoff team. Since mid December, they have been in a league of their own. After enduring the likes of John Tortorella for five seasons, this team has a quiet confidence that Tortorella's never had. Alain Vigneault has gotten these players to buy into his system and the results speak for themselves.

So round one begins Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Blueshirts should have little trouble getting past them. The Pens have been dreadful down the stretch and are missing half their defense due to injuries. And Marc Andre Fleury will be no match for Henrik Lundqvist in goal. It will be crucial for the Rangers to not get extended deep in this round. Five games should suffice.

After that, the Caps or the hated Islanders await. That series should go at least six games. Buckle your seat belts, kids. We're in for quite a ride.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

A year ago, I took Rangers' G.M. Glen Sather to task. The Rangers had just been been rudely bounced by the Boston Bruins in the second round of the playoffs and Sather "relieved" John Tortorella of his coaching duties. While no one was shedding any tears over Torts' exit, Sather, I felt, had to share in the blame for the team's dismal performance.

Since being hired by the Rangers, Sather has had a rather strange and often bewildering tenure. He hired former Islander center Brian Trottier as coach, then fired him 54 games into the season. Sather hired Tom Renney, who led the team to four consecutive playoff appearances. But when Renney couldn't get passed the second round of the playoffs, he was replaced by Tortorella. In 2012, Tortorella coached the Blueshirts to the conference finals, only to lose to the New Jersey Devils. It was generally acknowledged by many that it was Tortorella's style of coaching, combined with his shortening of the bench, that contributed to the team's failure to advance to the finals. They simply ran out of gas.

While Sather was responsible for drafting players like Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan and Marc Staal, he's also been responsible for some of the worst free-agent signings in the club's history, like Eric Lindros, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. Yes, he signed Marion Gaborik, but when the winger wound up in Tortorella's doghouse, Sather traded him away. And while he did get Derick Brassard in return, Gaborik leads all players in goals in this year's playoffs with 11. The nightmare that was the 2012-13 season was as much Sather's fault as it was Tortorella's.

But if it was fair to hold Sather accountable for the wheels falling off last season, it is now equally fair to give him credit for the team's resurgence this season.

Of all the moves Sather has made, perhaps none were more critical then the signing of Alain Vigneault as head coach. It goes without saying that Vigneault was the polar opposite of Tortorella. While Tortorella ran his players ragged, played favorites and often chewed them out in public, Vigneault has treated them like adults, gotten valuable contributions from his role players and has earned the respect of the entire team. His calm and collected persona was the perfect tonic for a team that, for over four years, lived under a reign of terror.

By rotating four lines throughout the playoffs, Vigneault has managed to keep his team fresh. Thursday night's conference-final finale was a text-book case of how to coach a team. The Rangers speed and relentless forechecking pinned a Canadiens team that looked exhausted in their zone most of the night. The only goal of the game was fittingly scored by the fourth line. Under Tortorella, they would never have seen the ice so late in the game.

But Sather didn't stop with just hiring the perfect head coach. His controversial decision not to buy out Brad Richards' contract could have blown up in his face. Had Richards not rebounded this season and decided to retire afterwards, the Rangers would've been stuck with almost $6 million of the remaining $17 million Richards is owed against their cap. That would've been a huge pill to swallow. But Sather rolled the dice and, so far, has been rewarded. Richards has been one of the team's strongest leaders and steadiest players.

The story gets better. Sather's most difficult decision was to trade his captain, Ryan Callahan, who was demanding more money than the team was willing to pay him, to Tampa for winger Marty St. Louis. Throughout the balance of the regular season, the trade looked very much like a bust for the Rangers. But in the playoffs, St. Louis has been a valuable cog in this improbable run. The tragic passing of his mother acted as a springboard for a team that was trailing three games to one against the Penguins and looked dead in the water. Since then, the team has won seven of nine games and is now four wins away from its first Stanley Cup in twenty years.

But perhaps Sather's most clever move as G.M. occurred five years ago when he stole defenseman Ryan McDonagh from the Montreal Canadiens for Scott Gomez. McDonagh has not only been the Rangers' best blue liner this season, he's tied with Derek Stepan and St. Louis for the team lead in points this postseason with 13. Talk about redemption.

If the Rangers go on to win the Stanley Cup this year, Sather will have had a lot to do with it. He made all the correct moves when it counted. It will also mark the sixth time he has been the architect of a championship team; the other five coming with the Edmonton Oilers. He deserves much of the credit for climbing out of the hole he was partly to blame for digging.

He will also have the last laugh.