On May 5th, James Dolan decided it was time for the New York Rangers Organization to part ways with Jeff Gorton and John Davidson. Ownership is apparently unhappy with the Rangers success or lack there of this season and decided it was time to make changes. Rash decisions some might say. First off, the fact that the Rangers finished how they did this season should be more than good enough. In a shortened season in the league's toughest division, this group of young guns almost made playoffs and that's with their star players missing time due to covid, injuries and Russian hit pieces. The fact that Dolan can look at this team and think the year wasn't a success for what it was just goes to show you how little he knows or cares about hockey.
Nevertheless, it's onward and upward for the Rangers, it's truly a shame that JD and Jeff Gorton have been sent packing, however Chris Drury has earned a promotion and we are in very capable hands with him as General Manager. Now the million dollar question is, what happens with David Quinn? I'll be honest, if someone should've been fired for lack of results I am baffled it wasn't him. That being said, he may not be safe just yet. Chris Drury, James Dolan and I'm sure Glen Sather will sit down with Quinn sometime this week to officially evaluate his season and determine if he is their guy going forward. There are several things that help David Quinn's case as well as hurt his case.
What helps him the most is he seems to have a solid personal and professional relationship with Chris Drury and quite frankly, that could matter a lot. If Chris Drury is our guy going forward we have to trust his decisions and we have no reason not too as he's done a terrific job with the organization so far. Drury was one of the ones who reached out to bring in David Quinn a couple seasons ago. Since then, he has done a lot of good things as well as some not so good things. On top of his relationship with Drury I do think there are some points to help his cause that will be talked about in the evaluations, but it may not be enough.
Now here's what hurts him. On top of the things he hasn't done right, there are a lot of big name coaches potentially available, Rod Brind 'Amour was one of them, however he just re-upped with Carolina for three more years over the weekend. The Rangers could look to make a coaching change if they have guys in mind they really like such as Gerard Gallant or newly available, former coach of Drury and the Rangers, John Tortorella. In addition to the big names, there are a lot of other names the Rangers should consider and some are right here in house. I'll have another article talking about who the Rangers should consider as replacements coming later this week barring any announcement saying Quinn will remain at the helm.
On top of the grass being greener, Quinn certainly has some flaws. His panic line changes were a distraction to this team's success at key times of the season. His obvious preference of Brett Howden over other players was very questionable. Quinn had no problem reducing other players’ ice time throughout the season, including a period and a half benching to Mika Zibanejad. All the while Howden has been struggling since the end of last season and barely saw any reduced ice time as a result of it. Morgan Barron is already proving to be a better option for the bottom six than Howden has with a lot more potential. On top of this, Quinn’s bias to Howden has resulted in hindering other players’ ice time, most notably, Julien Gauthier. Other than taking a couple unnecessary penalties, Julien Gauthier has done nothing to warrant being a healthy scratch for the extended period of time that he has. Everything about his game has been solid and he has a lot of potential that is obvious to everyone except apparently Quinn himself.
Quinn’s usage of his young promising stars was also a major concern at points during the season. It took Quinn FAR too long to give Lafreniere a chance on the top line and there were night’s he only saw a couple minutes of ice time. This was primarily when the Rangers were flirting with the potential of making a push for playoffs and to be fair, penalties really affected his ability to get Lafreniere there at times but at the end of the day, this was a major issue and something that raised a lot of flags. Kaapo Kakko being another one who’s ice time took a hit at different points and that was part Quinn’s fault, part COVID’s as he dealt with effects from that following his hiatus with the virus.
Overall, I can’t see a situation where JD and Jeff Gorton lose their jobs and David Quinn gets to keep his. If management is unhappy with the direction this team is currently headed it doesn’t make much sense to keep the same coach around, especially after already uphauling half the front office. With exit interviews beginning as I finish up posting this piece, a decision will likely be made at some point within the week on whether Quinn will get one more season to show what he can do. I think it’s likely the Rangers move on but with the way this season has gone, it’s pretty much impossible to predict what will happen anymore.
Chris Feldman
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