Gerard Gallant 'can't believe' questions about Rangers job status
A contortion of fury and disgust progressively wiped over Gerard Gallant’s face as his end-of-the-season press conference went on Wednesday.
The Rangers head coach, whose second year at the helm ended way below expectations in a pitiful Game 7 first-round loss to the Devils, said he hadn’t yet spoken to president and general manager Chris Drury but that he has read what has been circulating about his job security in the media.
It’s disappointing, he said bluntly. Gallant also attributed it to coaching in New York, but that didn’t seem to make the line of questioning any less offensive to the 59-year-old.
“I can’t believe I have to answer some of these questions about me getting fired,” Gallant said. “If I can’t stand by my record and what I’ve done, I think there’s something wrong.”
The No. 1 reason why there has been so much speculation about the possibility of Gallant’s dismissal is because of how this postseason unfolded. Forget the early exit — it was the Rangers’ uninspiring performances in at least three of the games that has intensified the situation.
Had the Rangers come out and been competitive in each and every contest before bowing out to the clearly superior team, there probably wouldn’t be so much discourse about whether Gallant is the right man for the job moving forward.
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant speaks to reporters on May 3, 2023. Robert Sabo for the NY Post
That was not the case, however, which has left the Rangers’ fan base looking for someone’s head to roll.
It has set up Gallant as the logical candidate to pay the price, even though he’s the first coach in Rangers history to post back-to-back 100-plus-point seasons in his first two years with the franchise. Not to mention the fact he’s compiled a 99-46-19 regular-season record with a 13-14 playoff record.
Those are numbers that certainly don’t call for a coaching change, but again, there are more layers to the situation. The pressure for there to be consequences after the Rangers were shut out twice and scored just two goals in four losses is high.
“You got a long summer now,” Gallant said when asked how he wants his team to take this experience and apply it to next season. “The good part about that is they get to work out, they get to be ready for next year. We all left pretty pissed off.”
Parting ways with Gallant could be viewed as a rash decision made in response to a postseason result that could ultimately better this Rangers team in the future.
Look at the Avalanche, who couldn’t make it out of the second round three seasons in a row before winning the Stanley Cup last year. Look at the Lightning, who were swept by the Blue Jackets in four games in 2019 before winning back-to-back championships.
Neither of those teams made a coaching change during their respective stretches of hardship.
“It’s the way things work,” said Gallant, who has never made it through three seasons of any of the three previous NHL head-coaching gigs. “Those teams did that and you build a lot of chemistry over the years with those types of things.”
The players who were asked about Gallant in their exit interviews with the media all touched on the same traits that they like about their head coach. There appears to be a lot of respect in the locker room for Gallant, who was already known as a player’s coach, but has lived up to that reputation since the moment he stepped behind the Rangers’ bench.
It’s difficult to imagine Drury allowing Gallant, who has two years left on his four-year, $14 million contract, to speak on behalf of the organization if he leaning heavily toward letting him go. That is unless there is an overwhelming consensus from the players that they need to move on, like in John Tortorella’s case in 2013.
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant wasn’t happy with questions about his job status while talking to reporters on May 3, 2023. Robert Sabo for the NY Post
Gallant was still the head coach of the Rangers when the sun set Wednesday.
Early signs indicate he’ll be back for Year 3, during which Gallant will look to change his track record.
Source: New York Post
