The New York Rangers hired a new head coach recently, Gerard Gallant. After the organization cleaned out the whole front office, a lot of hiring needed to be done.
Two assistant coaches were hired this week. Mike Kelly and Gord Murphy both have worked with Gallant in the past. This has not been confirmed by the team online, but has been reported by multiple sources.
Kelly was the assistant to Gallant for three different hockey teams as well as Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship. He assisted Gallant in the QMJHL with the Saint John Sea Dogs as well as with Florida and Vegas in the NHL. This shows Kelly has a lot of experience working with young players which is beneficial for the Rangers.
Murphy was an assistant coach to Gallant for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Murphy was also recently an associate coach of the Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers AHL team. Murphy also coached the Rangers when David Quinn was absent with COVID, so he has a small amount of experience with this current Rangers team.
A third assistant coach has yet to be hired. Dan Girardi’s name has been thrown around as being the third assistant coach. It is possible as Girardi played for this franchise and could help on the defensive side of coaching.
A new coaching staff will be a good change for this organization. Unfortunately, David Quinn did not exceed any expectations and ultimately did not bring the team anywhere.
Gallant having experience with Kelly and Murphy is a plus as well. The connection and communication is already there. The team might have an easier job of communicating with them because of that.
We won’t know how well this works until the season starts, but this already seems like a job well done for the Rangers organization.
