6 Potential Candidates to Replace Gerard Gallant as Rangers Head Coach

Welcome to New York, Gerard Gallant.

If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

But understand that you can also be shown the door after winning 99 games across two regular seasons and another 13 in the playoffs, just because expectations are that high.

That's what officially happened to the 59-year-old on Saturday, when the Rangers announced that the coach and the team had mutually agreed to part ways shortly after their brief postseason run ended with a Game 7 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

The first-round exit came after New York had won Games 1 and 2 on the road and a season after they'd advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. They brought in superstars Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko at the trade deadline to take it a step further this time around, which made the abrupt elimination even harder for the organization to swallow.

The B/R hockey team reacted to the news and quickly compiled a list of six candidates general manager Chris Drury might consider filling the position, supplying a few brief pros and cons for every suggestion.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments section of the B/R app.

Bruce Boudreau

Mitchell Layton/NHLI via Getty Images

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 23: Head coach Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals address the media after Game FIve of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs against the New York Rangers on April 23, 2011 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. The Capitals won 3-1. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/NHLI via Getty Images)

Reasons Rangers Should Hire Bruce Boudreau: He's a good guy, a world-class communicator and a players' coach.

He's succeeded in Washington, Anaheim and Minnesota, leading those three franchises to the postseason and capturing the Presidents' Trophy with the Capitals in 2010 with a 121-point season.

His arrival in Vancouver during the 2021-22 season heralded a dramatic change in fortune that nearly got the Canucks to the playoffs after an abysmal start.

Reasons They Shouldn't: The feel-good magic wore off quickly and Boudreau was axed after 46 games this past season.

He was behind the bench in Washington with Alex Ovechkin and never got closer than the second round in four postseasons.

New York needs a proven X's-and-O's guy—according to MoneyPuck.com, they were in the bottom half of the league at 5-on-5 play in expected goals percentage during the regular season—and it's not clear that Boudreau has those chops on the highest level.

Kris Knoblauch

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 17: Handling coaching duties for the New York Rangers against the Philadelphia Flyers are Hartford Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch (seen here watching warm-ups), Wolf Pack Associate Head Coach Gord Murphy and Rangers Associate General Manager Chris Drury. Due to the NHL COVID-10 protocol, the Rangers coaching staff were not available for tonights game. at Madison Square Garden on March 17, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Reasons Rangers Should Hire Kris Knoblauch:

You want to go outside the box?

Here's your guy.

Knoblauch, just 44, hasn't coached a game in the NHL as a full-time head man but has subbed in eight times while David Quinn and Gallant were out with COVID.

He's familiar with the youngsters in the organization after several years as the AHL coach at Hartford. And while it's not on the same level as the NHL, Knoblauch has the Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division Final of the AHL Playoffs.

Already in the organization, Knoblauch would more than likely be a cheaper and ready-made option than the others on the list.

Reasons They Shouldn't: No offense intended to the fine people of Connecticut, but coaching in Hartford is not the same as coaching in New York.

The roster is full of the sort of star power that doesn't always mesh well with young coaches.

Would Knoblauch get the same type of buy-in from a veteran like Artemi Panarin when things are going rocky on Broadway? The smart money here says it's unlikely.

Peter Laviolette

Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

MONTREAL, CANADA - APRIL 06: Head coach of the Washington Capitals Peter Laviolette handles bench duties during the third period against the Montreal Canadiens at Centre Bell on April 6, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals 6-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Reasons Rangers Should Hire Peter Laviolette: You want experience? He's a 20-plus-year NHL coaching veteran at age 58, and he knows the Metropolitan Division well enough considering he'd been there with Washington for three seasons before being fired in April.

He's also got a his name on the Stanley Cup thanks to a run with the 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes and he got close again in both 2009-10 with Philadelphia and 2016-17 with Nashville, losing both finals in six games.

Reasons They Shouldn't: All that said, the road hasn't been so smooth for Laviolette in recent years, with one playoff series win in his last two playoff appearances with the Predators before he was fired and a 3-8 record in two series with the Capitals before they missed the postseason for the first time nine years.

So, if you believed Gallant was a retread pick, Laviolette is hardly different.

Joel Quenneville

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 18: Head coach Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks kisses the Stanley Cup trophy during the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Championship Rally at Soldier Field on June 18, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Reasons Rangers Should Hire Joel Quenneville: There's not another coach out there with three Stanley Cup titles and nearly 969 career coaching wins, not to mention a successful working relationship with Artemi Panarin and (if he stays) Patrick Kane in Chicago.

More numbers? He finished 22 regular seasons as an employed NHL head coach and reached the playoffs in 20 of them. That's pretty special.

And there's no smoke without fire. According to various NHL insiders, Quenneville is considered a coaching option for the Blueshirts. But there are questions as to whether he's even eligible to be hired.

Reasons They Shouldn't: As anyone who follows hockey knows, Quenneville comes with a lot of potential backlash.

His part in the Kyle Beach sexual assault case will undoubtedly be scrutinized by the media and fans alike. There's also the open question if NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will reinstate Quenneville into the coaching ranks. Though the league didn't suspend Quenneville, Bettman told ESPN that the former Chicago coach would have to meet with him if he wanted another job in the NHL.

That'll prompt a lot of discussions, particularly in a media market like New York, about whether he's the appropriate hire.

Mike Sullivan

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 11: Head coach Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates with the Stanley Cup Trophy after defeating the Nashville Predators 2-0 in Game Six of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Reasons the Rangers Should Hire Mike Sullivan: He's still got a job in Pittsburgh, though it's tenuous at best given the Penguins' first playoff miss in more than a decade and the recent front-office dismissals of both Ron Hextall and Brian Burke.

Add to that the suggestion that he's a rumored wannabe choice of Rangers GM Chris Drury.

If the Penguins and their new front-office management decide to go in another direction, Drury would be interested in bringing in the former assistant coach with the Rangers, according to the Athletic.

Reasons They Shouldn't: Playoff miss aside, there's no guarantee Pittsburgh is going to want to part ways with a coach who's won two Cups and made the postseason eight times across 10 NHL seasons with two teams.

Toward that end as well, he's already signed to a contract extension that'll keep him on the Penguins payroll through the end of 2026-27.

Darryl Sutter

Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 13: Head coach Darryl Sutter of the Los Angeles Kings holds the Stanley Cup after his team won Game Five 3-2 in double overtime over the New York Rangers in Game Five of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final at the Staples Center on June 13, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. The Kings won the game 3-2 and win the series 4-1. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)

Reasons the Rangers Should Hire Darryl Sutter: Following Quenneville and Sullivan is another two-time Cup winner in Sutter, who won in Los Angeles in both 2012 and 2014. The latter win is particularly memorable to New Yorkers, given that it came against the Rangers.

He came in to coach the final 30 games for a wayward Calgary team during the 2020-21 season and quickly turned the Flames around, leading to a Pacific Division championship the following season before a second-round loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

Reasons They Shouldn't: He's a hard-driving, hard-speaking and high-expectations type of coach, which often means he engineers a quick turnaround with a new culture but just as quickly loses the ear of the players when his messages wear off.

The Flames stumbled to fifth in the Pacific in 2022-23 and missed the playoffs, prompting his dismissal.