The New York Rangers have fired Head Coach Alain Vigneault. Although the Rangers missed the playoffs this season, it was not the fault of the coach or the players. The one to blame for this terrible season is GM Jeff Gorton.
The Rangers would have made the playoffs. They had a good chance, and they most likely would have made the playoffs. In the middle of the season, the Rangers even led the Metropolitan Division. However, Captain Ryan McDonagh and Kevin Shattenkirk, as well as Chris Kreider, got injured. Due to these injuries, the Rangers fell out of the playoff picture. Instead of trying to rally the team and make a push for the playoffs, the team management lost hope and gave up on the season. The general manger, Jeff Gorton, signed a letter that was posted to the team’s twitter account telling the fans that a rebuild was coming and that they would be making changes for the future. After that, everything went downhill. The Rangers traded Rick Nash, Michael Grabner, and Captain Ryan McDonagh. While the Rangers did acquire some good players and came out of the trade deadline with a three game winning streak, they struggled to get back in contention for the playoffs. I think this is because they tried to play a lot of young players and rookies that were not on the same page. In the last few games, it was pretty clear that they were out of sync.
Head Coach Alain Vigneault is the right coach for the Rangers. He led the team to four straight playoff appearances, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first season as the coach. Coach Alain Vigneault is cleary not at fault for missing the playoffs. Vigneault tried to hold the team together and win games in the midst of trade rumors and speculations.
