Rangers get permission to speak to John Hynes for head coaching job
The Rangers have been granted permission by the Predators to speak to John Hynes for their head coaching vacancy, The Post has learned.
After parts of four seasons in Nashville, Hynes was dismissed from his post as head coach of the Predators on Tuesday.
The Rangers, who are into the fourth week of their search for a new bench boss after parting ways with Gerard Gallant earlier this month, wasted no time in exploring Hynes as a possibility.
Hynes would be a familiar face for Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury, who was teammates with the former Devils head coach at Boston University from 1994 to 1997.
Prior to his time coaching the Predators, Hynes earned his first NHL head coaching gig across the Hudson River with the Devils ahead of the 2015-16 season.
The Rangers have been granted permission to speak with former Predators coach John Hynes. AP
John Hynes behind the bench during a Predators game in March 2022. AP
He coached in New Jersey for parts of five seasons before he was dismissed in 2019-20.
The Predators hired him just over a month later.
The 48-year-old Hynes is another veteran option next to Peter Laviolette, who is believed to be a front-runner for the Rangers job.
Over his eight seasons coaching in the NHL, however, Hynes has never made it out of the first round of the playoffs.
The Rangers traded the rights to center Jayden Grubbe to the Oilers on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Grubbe, whom the Rangers drafted No. 65 overall in 2021 and has been in the Western Hockey League ever since, was subsequently signed to a three-year entry-level deal by Edmonton.
The Rangers now have five total picks in this year’s draft in Nashville.
Source: New York Post
