Gerard Gallant Reportedly Still Looking To Prove Rangers' Past Failures Were Not Entirely His Fault
Gallant just spent two years with the Rangers from 2021-23.
In his first season with the expectations not overly high, Gallant led the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2015.
Peter Laviolette Reportedly Eager To Prove Rangers' Collapse Was Not His Fault Peter Laviolette reportedly still has the itch to coach.
However, in his second season, the Blueshirts had an underwhelming year and despite all of the talent on the roster, they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the New Jersey Devils.
After losing to the Devils, Gallant said something about this Rangers core that still rings true today.
'Talent doesn't mean a thing,' Gallant said. "It's great to have talent, but when you gotta play together and work together…'
Gallant was used as the scapegoat. Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury decided to relieve him of his duties after that playoff loss against the Devils.
The 61-year-old coach is reportedly still under the impression that he is not entirely to blame for the Rangers' past failures.
'I don't know if he's (Gallant) been in any of these particular interviews this year, I just don't know,' Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said. 'I have heard he's eager to prove that when he got let go by the Rangers, It wasn't only about him, and he wants an opportunity to show people that. We'll see if he gets an opportunity with teams to talk about that.'
The Rangers fired Gallant's successor, Peter Laviolette after just two seasons as well and recently replaced him with Mike Sullivan.
Sullivan will attempt to break the two-year trend that Gallant and Laviolette have set.
Meanwhile, Gallant is just looking for another opportunity to prove himself, but it seems that his Rangers days still haunt him to this day.
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Rangers mailbag: Will Panarin extend? Drury's cap usage? Prospect outlooks?
Most of the Rangers have scattered back to their offseason homes this summer, but a group has stuck around the tri-state area. Adam Fox, Matt Rempe, Jonathan Quick and Brett Berard are all doing their summer training at the Prentiss Hockey Performance gym in Stamford, Conn. 'Being together every day, it's been a good bond that we've created,' Berard said Thursday before playing in the Shoulder Check Showcase charity game, which is also in Stamford. 'Lucky to be with those guys. They're all world-class people, world-class players, too. I've learned a lot so far.' Advertisement 'It's all competitive,' Rempe added. 'You've got Quickie in there: he's (39) and still slinging the weights around. It's unreal.' All four of those Rangers participated in the Shoulder Check game — Fox, Berard and Rempe as players, and the veteran Quick as a coach — and Rempe said he's itching for the season to get going again. Speaking before the game, Berard said he suffered a torn labrum last November. 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Chicago was an up-and-coming team in a wholly different spot than the Rangers, whose playoff miss in 2024-25 came after a stretch of sustained postseason appearances. I'm also going to exclude Peter Laviolette's Hurricanes and Ducks, who won in the two years directly after the salary cap's introduction. During a time of significant change for the NHL, only seven players (minimum 30 games played) who finished the 2003-04 season with Carolina were gone by the start of the 2005-06 season. Anaheim, meanwhile, made the conference final the year after the lockout, so there were three calendar years between it missing the 2003-04 playoffs and winning the Cup in 2007. Advertisement That leaves the Golden Knights and the Blues. Both were consistent playoff teams, then missed the playoffs in disappointing seasons directly before winning the Cup. To add context to your question, 12 of the 22 players (55 percent) who appeared in the 2024 playoffs for the Rangers are now gone. Vegas reached the conference final in 2021 — the year before its postseason miss — and 11 of the Golden Knights' 25 players (44 percent) who played in that playoff run were gone by the start of the 2022-23 season. The Blues won a playoff round in 2017, and nine of the 23 players (39 percent) weren't with the club when its championship season began. There are a couple of interesting similarities between Vegas, St. Louis, and New York: All traded for center upgrades either in the midst of or directly after their respective playoff-less seasons. The Golden Knights got Jack Eichel during the 2021-22 season, the Blues added eventual Conn Smythe winner Ryan O'Reilly before 2018-19 and the Rangers acquired J.T. Miller this past January. The three clubs also all made coaching changes either directly after failing to qualify for the postseason or early in the next season. Most recently, the Rangers hired Mike Sullivan, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, after firing Laviolette immediately after the season. These teams' situations are not parallel, though. Vegas and the Blues had strong groups of defensemen the year they won the Stanley Cup; it's yet to be seen if the Rangers have upgraded enough there after a woeful defensive season in 2024-25. Additionally, St. Louis and Vegas had better seasons than New York did in the years they missed the playoffs. The Blues and Golden Knights each had 94 points in 2017-18 and 2021-22, respectively. The Rangers had nine fewer (85) this past season. Vegas also had rotten injury luck in 2021-22. Alex Tuch — a key part of the trade package for Eichel — didn't play before the deal, and Eichel was coming off neck surgery and played only 34 games for the Golden Knights. Captain Mark Stone, key forward Max Pacioretty and defenseman Alec Martinez all missed more than half the season, and Reilly Smith and William Karlsson both were out at least 15 games. Health circumstances factored into the disappointing Vegas season more than it did with the Rangers, who were relatively healthy in 2024-25. Advertisement Plenty of teams have tried to turn over their rosters quickly and had less-than-historic results. Most Stanley Cup winners in the cap era were consistent playoff teams without exception in the years leading up to their championships. All of that is to warn that just because other teams successfully navigated seemingly similar situations to New York's doesn't mean the Rangers are likely to get the same results. Who leads the Rangers in scoring this year? — Michael B. The safe bet is that Artemi Panarin will lead the team in points. He has done so in each of his six seasons with the club, after all, and has been durable throughout his career. J.T. Miller had 103 points in 2023-24 with Vancouver and 99 in 2021-22, so he could challenge for the team lead. His production returning to that level would be a massive boost for New York. What is the plan past next season, especially with Panarin? Despite the moves made in the past six months, this does not seem like a team ready to compete for the Cup, and with his contract up at the end of next season it was surprising there was no talk or effort to move him. — Kyle B. Panarin, who will turn 34 early in the 2025-26 season, was eligible to sign an extension starting July 1. I asked Chris Drury in July about how much he was prioritizing an extension, but he declined to comment. 'I'm not going to get into private conversations I have with players and agents,' Drury said. 'They are just that to me: private. But as I said in the past, Artemi is a big piece of our team and our organization. We think the world of him as a player and (are) thrilled he is a Ranger.' I would not take that to mean the Rangers don't want to extend Panarin. He's been one of the most productive players in the league since signing a seven-year, $11.64 million average annual contract in 2019. New York has set itself up to have significant cap space next summer (around $29 million, according to PuckPedia). Some of that will have to go to restricted free agents — namely Braden Schneider, who will be due a new deal — but Drury will presumably want to target big-name players. Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov and Eichel are all pending unrestricted free agents, though it's unclear if any of them will actually reach the market. If the Rangers don't even have a chance to bid on one of them — a very real possibility — it will have a whole lot of money to spend, and bringing Panarin back would make total sense from a hockey perspective. Plus, depending on whether Panarin is willing to compromise on AAV, the Rangers could have room for both him and another major addition. There will be other impactful players in next summer's class, even beyond the franchise-altering names. Panarin's age will factor into the Rangers' thinking. Even with its cap space, New York presumably wouldn't risk a high AAV deal with term for someone in his mid-30s. He has yet to show signs of regression, but the older he gets, the more likely that becomes. Advertisement Panarin's name not surfacing in trade rumors should not be a surprise. The Rangers have eyes on returning to contention this season, and it would be hard to do that without their leading scorer. Additionally, the winger has a no-movement clause, so he could block any deal the Rangers tried to complete. Of course, there's more to hockey with Panarin's situation. As The Athletic's Katie Strang reported in April, Panarin and Madison Square Garden Sports — the company that owns the Rangers — paid financial settlements to a Rangers employee last year after she alleged that Panarin sexually assaulted her. The Rangers put out a statement saying only that, 'The matter has been resolved,' and Panarin declined comment when asked multiple times in the aftermath of the report. Adam Fox is too small and possibly the slowest player in the league. The power play was poor last year. Is there an option on the roster to run the power play and limit his minutes? — Curt C. There are certainly other options to quarterback the top power play, but none who would make the team better than if Fox were running it. He didn't have his best season in 2024-25, but he was also better than the general narrative around him seems to suggest. He still had strong underlying numbers, and his even-strength points were actually up from 2023-24 (40 vs. 38). New York is far better with him on the ice than off it. Limiting his minutes is the last thing Sullivan should do. You're correct that the power play struggled this past season. It was a huge difference between the Presidents' Trophy-winning club in 2023-24 and the disappointing one in 2024-25. Fox shares in responsibility for that, but he's not alone. Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad had their lowest power play goal outputs since 2016-17, and Panarin's power play production (26 points) was its lowest since the shortened 2020-21 season. Vincent Trocheck went from 24 power play points in 2023-24 to 12. It's also worth noting that, when Fox missed eight games with an upper-body injury late in the season, the power play went an abysmal 2-for-26. That was tied for third worst in the league during that stretch. The power play continued to struggle when Fox returned, but on the year it was much better in games in which he was healthy (19.02 percent success rate in 74 games) than in games in which he wasn't (7.7 percent success rate in eight games). Were the Rangers in on Isaac Howard, who ended up in Edmonton? Second query: We saw a number of prospects make their NHL debuts last season with the Rangers. Are there legitimate others in the pipeline? — John G. The Rangers might have had internal discussions on Howard, the Lightning's 2022 first-round pick, but my sense is they weren't one of the main players for him. The Oilers ended up acquiring him for Sam O'Reilly, their 2024 first-round pick. EJ Emery and newly drafted Malcolm Spence are likely the Rangers' two biggest prospects who haven't debuted, but both are set to play NCAA hockey this season at North Dakota and Michigan, respectively. Neither is in line to play NHL games this year. Advertisement Of the prospects who haven't already played NHL games, goalie Dylan Garand will likely get a look if Igor Shesterkin or Jonathan Quick get hurt. He's coming off a strong year with AHL Hartford and played at World Championships with Team Canada. Adam Sýkora could also be getting close to an NHL debut. Colleague Scott Wheeler ranked him No. 6 in the Rangers' prospect pool in January, and he now has two full AHL seasons under his belt. Perhaps Noah Laba or Carey Terrance get a look this year if the injuries put the Rangers in need of a center, but the team also signed veteran Justin Dowling for organizational depth up the middle. What's the plan with Dylan Garand? — Collin E. Garand, 23, is still a restricted free agent, but there is no concern about whether he and the Rangers will get a deal done, according to a league source. He will still be exempt from waivers this coming season, so New York can assign him to AHL Hartford without any fear of losing him for nothing. He should be the No. 1 there and, as stated last answer, potentially get NHL action depending on injuries. If he has another good year, he could put himself in position to be Shesterkin's full-time backup in 2026-27. Do you see players like Brennan Othmann and Brett Berard eventually becoming long-term Rangers, or are they just young trade bait for a restricted free agent or tradable superstar available within the next year or two? — Robert B. It's too early to say whether Othmann or Berard will be long-time Rangers, considering they have yet to establish themselves as full-time NHLers. Both showed promise last year and should have chances to contend for roster spots at training camp. As for whether they could be trade bait: Berard and Othmann could be add-ins to a trade, but neither would be a centerpiece in a deal for a big-name player. There's a world in which one or both are neither long-timer Rangers or involved in major trades. Will Sullivan give the kids — Gabe Perreault, Brennan Othman, Brett Berard, Scott Morrow and Adam Edström — enough NHL ice time early in the season to prove their worth? Can they all be sent down without being subject to waivers? — Michael K. Sullivan showed a willingness to play young players in Pittsburgh. Matt Murray, Bryan Rust, Olli Määttä and Conor Sheary were among the young players he relied on his first year as Penguins head coach en route to a Stanley Cup. But for Sullivan to trust a young player, he has to earn it, just like everyone else. He stressed in his opening news conference that no Rangers player is entitled to ice time. 'It really is an individualized process,' he said. 'I don't think you can paint every player with the same brush. … Part of the art of coaching is trying to figure out what that daily recipe is that's best for the players. Sometimes it's time in the American League as a young player, sometime it's time in the National League depending on the types of minutes that player can play.' It's imperative for developing players to get reps, so if those players are regular scratches, they probably should go down to AHL Hartford for more consistent playing time. Edström is the only one you listed who would require waivers; the others can be sent to the Wolf Pack without risk of losing them to a claim by another team. Why can't Drury seem to keep the cap manageable? Are we doomed to be in a perpetual cap crunch with him as general manager? Seems like we are in a cap crunch, then he pulls a rabbit out of his hat and then six months later we are still in a cap crunch. He seems to be better at shedding cap than using it wisely. — Ptlaino Some of this is the reality of being a salary cap team. General managers around the league are constantly trying to figure out ways to keep their cap sheets under the upper limit. Advertisement Your critique of his use of cap space is fair. It's impossible to know what the market would have been for some pending unrestricted free agents or restricted free agents, but some of the contracts Drury gave out after trading Jacob Trouba were a bit head-scratching, considering how much every bit of cap flexibility matters. Could he have saved some room on the extensions for Juuso Pärssinen (two years, $1.25 million AAV), Urho Vaakanainen (two years, $1.55 million AAV) and Will Borgen (five years, $4.1 million AAV)? Possibly, though perhaps not on Borgen, given what other defensemen got on the open market this summer. Taking Carson Soucy's $3.25 million cap hit ahead of last deadline could also age poorly if the defenseman doesn't bounce back to 2023-24 form. Saving $100,000 here and there can add up to the ability to sign a role player. Drury might have limited himself a bit in that regard. He did, however, negotiate a good deal on the Vladislav Gavrikov free agent contract. The former Kings' defenseman — who had elite shutdown numbers this past season — almost certainly could've netted more in free agency than the seven year, $7 million AAV deal he got from the Rangers. As mentioned earlier, the Rangers will have significant cap space after the 2025-26 season. How Drury manages to use it will greatly impact the team's ceiling in the coming years.
